All walks are different but the most interesting ones fall into one of three broad categories.
First of all, there are mountain walks, which – to use a musical analogy – are a lot like opera. Full of excitement and drama, they always make you anticipate the next narrative twist along the route in the expectation of something sensational.
City walks are the hard rock of hiking: rough, edgy and raw. The best of them also convey a dark sense of danger and menace, forebodings of apocalyptic gloom shimmering through the urban fabric. In fact, I have always believed that all truly great city walks have a bit of Gimme Shelter in them.
Waterside walks, conversely, are the easy listening of hiking, sweet and relaxing. You know what you are letting yourself in for: they rarely disappoint, although it is also fair to say that only the very best of them manage to climb to any great height of subtlety.
But it is known to happen …
… which is why a more careful differentiation is required.
Canal walks may be charming and sweet but they are also predictable, tending to drift towards the lounge music end of easy listening, while lakeside walks sit a notch above them: they can provide drama although you literally see any surprise coming from miles away.
Seaside walks, meanwhile, come in many guises and offer the greatest range of variety: some are merely soothing, but at their very best, they can be as dramatic and powerful as anything that you can experience on an Alpine trail.
Seaside hikes that can pack such a big punch are highly uncommon, which is why Northern France’s Granite Coast stage of the GR34 stands out so much, even when seen in the context of the other sections from the Brittany Coastal Walk.
It is a rare treat indeed.
Brittany on the Rocks
The Granite Coast owes much of its distinctive flavour to the highly articulated shape of the Northern Brittany coastline. Following the many zigs and the zags along the route, you can rarely see further than a few hundred metres.
Any changes that come therefore come suddenly, and the Granite Coast has worked a few such changes into its score, going from lyrical …
… to dramatic …
… and, finally, to gentle and dreamy.
The GR34 is known as the favourite walk of the French, and the Granite Coast stage – particularly the 6 kilometres between the beaches of Ploumanac’h and Trestraou – are its best bit.
Is this therefore the best walk in France? The logic may be flawed, but if you are in the middle of the hike, you will feel ready to make the argument.
At the very least, the stage is a perfect little gem, a self-contained three-act drama embedded into the more complex narrative of the wider GR34.
It starts with a playful little overture, provided you come from Saint-Guirec in the west – where the line E buses from Lannion stop – and follow the trail clockwise around the peninsula.
Soon, the hike finds its theme of sea, sky and rock, its riffs and its rhythm – and then, it just cranks up the volume from loud …
… to louder …
… and even louder than that.
This is not just hard rock: this is granite rock, and what’s more, it comes to you from both sides of the trail, in full stereophonic mode, until – near the Mean Ruz lighthouse – you are surrounded by it on all sides.
This, indeed, is Brittany on the rocks.
It continues like that for a while, but then, suddenly, it’s all over. The landscape turns smooth, a rich green replaces orange as the prevailing colour, …
… until, after half an hour or so of this mellow finale, you reach the beach of Trestraou near the holiday village of Perros-Guirec.
This is a good place to stop for a hot drink and a snack – the beachfront is lined by cafes and restaurants – and perhaps to call it a hike in order to return to your base.
We took bus line E in the morning from Lannion (where there is a train station) to the Carrière Ploumanac’h, and the same bus stops on its return near the Trestraou beach. I
f the two-hour hike from Ploumanac’h to Trestraou is too short for your taste, we suggest you continue on the line E bus in the morning for a little longer, perhaps all the way to Tregastel.
Check your options with the help of a Google map and the bus schedule.
The village of Perros-Guirec is rather sprawly, and the village centre is a good 20-minute walk away from the Trestraou beach.
The good news is that much of this route passes by the beachfront which has its own the gentle charms: the appeal of a gentle calm after the storm.
Drama, excitement, sudden twists: the Granite coast stage of the GR34 proves that seaside walks can do all of that, too. And what’s more, it not only offers operatic heights of drama: the granite rock of the Brittany coast has a lot of Gimme Shelter in it, too.
