Douarnenez and Locronan: The Sardine Port and the Granite Village
Brittany, France
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Penn Sardin
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250
XP
+100 France
= 350 total
2 days
Douarnenez and Locronan: The Sardine Port and the Granite Village
250 + 100 XP
Douarnenez was built on sardines. The first cannery opened at Tréboul in 1853, went bankrupt, and was bought by the Chancerelle brothers in 1855; it is still running under the Connétable name and is reckoned the oldest working cannery in the world. The town's women were nicknamed Penn Sardin — sardine heads — for the job of topping the fish. Nine kilometres inland, Locronan kept its Renaissance granite houses round its paved square, and every six years the twelve-kilometre Grande Troménie walks Saint Ronan's circuit; the Petite Troménie, six kilometres, is walked every other year on the second Sunday of July.
Required Activities
1
of 4
Visit the Port-musée in Douarnenez, with its traditional boats afloat in the harbour and its museum in a former sardine cannery
2
of 4
Walk the coast path east out of Douarnenez to the Plomarc'h and find the Gallo-Roman salting vats cut there, built on a scale far beyond local need because the salted sardine was crushed and left to macerate into garum, then buy a tin from the Chancerelle shop in town
3
of 4
Cross Locronan's paved square, built where two Roman roads met, into the church of Saint-Ronan and the little Pénity chapel on its south side, where the saint's effigy lies on the spot of his hermitage, then walk out onto part of the Troménie circuit and find some of the twelve calvary stations that replaced twelve menhirs of the Celtic year
4
of 4
Check the tide tables and cross the 300 m to the Île Tristan on foot at a big low water, to the manor, the fort and the lighthouse on an island the Conservatoire du littoral now owns
Visit the Port-musée in Douarnenez, with its traditional boats afloat in the harbour and its museum in a former sardine cannery
Walk the coast path east out of Douarnenez to the Plomarc'h and find the Gallo-Roman salting vats cut there, built on a scale far beyond local need because the salted sardine was crushed and left to macerate into garum, then buy a tin from the Chancerelle shop in town
Cross Locronan's paved square, built where two Roman roads met, into the church of Saint-Ronan and the little Pénity chapel on its south side, where the saint's effigy lies on the spot of his hermitage, then walk out onto part of the Troménie circuit and find some of the twelve calvary stations that replaced twelve menhirs of the Celtic year
Check the tide tables and cross the 300 m to the Île Tristan on foot at a big low water, to the manor, the fort and the lighthouse on an island the Conservatoire du littoral now owns
Before you go
The Île Tristan can only be reached on foot at low water on a high-coefficient tide; check the tide tables before you set out and do not linger on the causeway. The Petite Troménie at Locronan is walked on the second Sunday of July, the Grande Troménie once every six years.
The Ménez Hom, 329 m, stands about 16 km north across the bay. The walk between its two summits and the view over the Baie de Douarnenez are a separate outing.
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
250 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
350 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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