Bretagne (Part II) – Morlaix & Roscoff

Central Morlaix

On our third day in Bretagne we headed further north close to the town of Morlaix, to a chateau called Chateau du Bois de la Roche, near Garlan and a few minutes outside of Morlaix.

On the way we first visited the coast taking D887 out of Port Launay to Camaret-sur-Mer. This is a rugged coastline with a lighthouse out on a point. There’s numerous trails to take and worth doing. If you drive right out to the point of Camaret there is parking and you’ll find the trail. Be careful with your footing in some of the areas!

After that we continued on E60 and on the way we turned off before Brest to visit Landerneau. We were close to Brest but decided to skip it. Its rather large town, much of it new as it was bombed quite a bit during WWII, so we decided on Landerneau instead. Landerneau is actually quite similar to Quimper. We enjoyed walking its old town streets, lined with well-preserved half-timbered buildings.

We continued on to the Chateau to get checked in and take a nap. The Chateau is owned by a German who bought the chateau with his wife some years before. Unfortunately shortly  the purchase of the chateau she died of cancer. He now rents out rooms, helped out by his son, while he takes care of the large property. Our room was on the third floor, shared with two other rooms. They were empty, which means the common sitting area and the shared bathroom, were all for us to use. This is something to be aware of when taking a room at a Chateau; do you get your own bathroom? If not, do you mind sharing? We prefer our own, but forgot to ask this time. Fortunately it worked out for us.

Its a large chateau with a grand salon, entryway with marbled curving staircase and a large dining room with fireplace, which is where a well-stocked breakfast is served. There’s not a lot going on in many of these chateaus, and they are usually outside of town, so you won’t have a lot of things to do. For us, as we are out exploring all day, that is not a problem. But keep it in mind.

The next day, after a wonderful continental breakfast at the chateau, we headed north to Roscoff taking D58. A very pleasant town to walk and explore and definitely should be on your schedule. On low tide you can walk over to the island of Isle de Batz and explore its town. The town of Roscoff is pleasant, as is the promenade that follows the ocean. It would be a good place for lunch, but it was early for us. We then headed back, with stops in Sant-Pol-de-Leon, Cantarec and Locquenole for lunch. We followed the inlet on D73, very pleasant, and found Locquenole and the restaurant Excalibur along the way. The Excalibur is something you’d expect to find in London, in a back alley. One side is the bar, the other side room for tables, and the walls are covered with paraphernalia, mostly about 70s bands such as the Rolling Stones. Very comfortable, funky and fun. Highly recommended. You’ll find it right off of D73 at the entrance to Locquenole. We enjoyed crepes, (the best of our trip), washed down with a draft beer. There’s nice walk situated right behind the restaurant up to a viewpoint, if you need to walk it off.

We took D73, which turns into D769, and lead us right into Morlaix. What an interesting town! Its at the end of a long inlet as it begins to turn into a river. To allow boats to moor at the base of the town, they have established a lock. Boat can sail up or return to the sea during high tide, but during low tide the inlet is dry. So there is a nice marina at the beginning of the town. The river has then been covered over after the marina to provide a large plaza and parking area. All this is between steep hills on either side of the banks of the river. Right in the middle of the town is a train bridge that goes right over top of the whole town. Looks great and adds to the character of the town. Morlaix turned out to be a  wonderful surprise as we didn’t know what to expect. We returned for dinner at the Convivium.

Restaurants in Morlaix

Convivium – Opera et Pupil

On a sidestreet off of the main road, Convivium delivers great Italian food (Sicilian) and it was so good we wanted to go back the next night, but unfortunately it was closed. We started with a beef carpaccio which was superb, followed by lasagna and pizza and washed down with an excellent bottle of Bordeaux (excellent price as well). Well worth it if you are getting tired of crepes.

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