SEA SIDE
A succession of beaches
Locmaria's coastline stretches over 6 kilometers from Porsmilin beach to the tip of the Grand Minou (you read "Grand Minou" correctly, just before the famous Petit Minou lighthouse on the way to Brest). With crampons on, on a July afternoon, you'll see summer in full swing at Porsmilin, Portez and Trégana, three pretty south-facing beaches where families and surfers like to meet up before the Tuesday concert. A little ice cream for the road, and soon you won't be hearing cast-iron shuffles clattering in the gardens: make way for the silence of the customs path. Is it really?
FULL OF EYES
On the GR®34
On this stretch of the GR®34, birds sing in unison, reptiles scamper about in the bushes (green lizards, and not only), waves crash loudly against the cliffs while hikers, some of them Compostela pilgrims, chat and philosophize against the blue sea.
Along the way, you'll be amazed by the subtle scent of gorse, the coastline and a number of remarkable sites: the Ru Vras windmill and customs house, the Déolen shoreline and the old telegraph cable station, the Dalbosc cove, and the Toulbroc'h fort and blockhouses, now a rendezvous for lovers contemplating the Tas de Pois de Crozon from one of Brittany's most beautiful balconies.
HERITAGE
The cliffs of Déolen
On your way, the surfers' paradise of Déolen cove nestles between the cliffs. These vertiginous cliffs are riddled with caves carved out by the waves - veritable sounding boards! Déolen is geologically a calanque: during high tides, the entire cove can be covered in foam. And it's a great vantage point for stormy weather!
Now privately owned, the large white building you'll see perched on the valley was France's first center for transatlantic telegraph communications! From 1879 to 1962, it linked Europe to America via submarine cables, including the Direct between Déolen and Orleans in the USA, which was the longest and heaviest submarine cable ever laid. Some of these cables still lie on the ground.
SPORT & RELAXATION
Bodyboarding courses and paddle outings await you from Porsmilin beach. Take the plunge!
Hungry? Treat yourself to a meal at L'Albatros overlooking the sea, or at Breiz Izel in the heart of town.
CAMPAIGN SIDE
Walks and hikes
Spotted in the 5th century by Saint-Sané in the heart of a sacred forest, Locmaria-Plouzané is a rural commune offering beautiful bocage landscapes. Several hiking trails, mountain bike circuits and cycle paths make it easy to get around the typically Breton countryside, where cows, tractors and seabirds share the fields. As you turn the bend of a hamlet, you'll see relics emerging from the vegetation: the Lesconvel chapel, the Kereven menhir, the Keriscoualc'h stele, one of the largest in Brittany, a 13th-century cross, a manor house and a wash-house...
TRADITIONS
"In addition to washing clothes, the washhouse was used to wash the pigs' intestines before preparing sausages and andouilles. And, on Sundays before mass, the men would give it a thorough wash!" Janine Cornen, 2009.
THE BOURG
Living heritage
With its lively little shops, the village of Locmaria is ideal for a picnic by the Ti Izella lake or a cultural outing with the kids. A unique heritage awaits you here, which the members of the Locmaria Patrimoine association will be delighted to show you: the church, which houses polychrome wooden statues from the 17th century, two steles emblematic of the Iron Age and Christianized, a miraculous fountain and ancient washhouses. In summer, guided tours of the Manoir de Kerscao are available.
Your stopover in Lanvenécoise will end as it began, in style, at the chapel of Saint-Sébastien. Once you've passed through the gates and skirted the double row of trees, your footsteps will echo down the aisle. Or are those pulses coming from somewhere else?