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Day 4 on the GR34: walking from Port du Loch to Audierne (Brittany, France)

July 4, 2018 by Maria Fernandez

Grande Randonnée 34 - Audierne - Brittany, France - www.simonking.bike

Day 4 on the GR34: map & data

© OpenStreetMap contributors
Total distance: 7.69 mi
Total climbing: 250 m
Total time: 04:06:16
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Average speed 1.9 mph, including stopping for breakfast

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This was going to be our shortest walking day, with a swift bus ride to Quimper in the early afternoon.

It’s good that we didn’t do this four-day walk the other way around, from Audierne to Douarnenez. As it turned out, Day 1 was the hardest of the four, and this the easiest.

Leaving Port du Loch

We left the hotel without breakfast and headed for the port. From there, we walked along the beautiful beach for about ten minutes.

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Grande Randonnée 34 - Audierne - Brittany, France - www.simonking.bike

8.03 – Leaving the Anse du Loc’h

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Click to see the photo gallery
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Soon we joined the GR34, in search of the perfect breakfast spot.

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Grande Randonnée 34 - Audierne - Brittany, France - www.simonking.bike

8.12 – Breton house in the morning sun

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The day before we’d bought sliced cheese and ham, and some promising crêpes. Simon carried them while I took pictures of the Breton landscape.

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Grande Randonnée 34 - Audierne - Brittany, France - www.simonking.bike

8.18 – Simon running away with our tasty breakfast

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Soon, a convenient bench appeared on the path, and we sat down for breakfast.

The view was awesome, so even the sliced cheese tasted yummy.

Arriving at Pors Tarz

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Grande Randonnée 34 - Audierne - Brittany, France - www.simonking.bike

9.03 – Pors Tarz & its 19th century wall

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We pressed on and arrived at a small port called Pors Tarz, a most interesting place with one of those impressive walls you often see in Brittany.

I don’t remember seeing a winch before. A winch is an ingenuous device for pulling small boats out of the water, mostly fishing boats.

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Grande Randonnée 34 - Audierne - Brittany, France - www.simonking.bike

9.07 – A winch to help boats land

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We kept on the GR34 and soon arrived at another idyllic beach: Anse du Cabestan.

There were a couple of people in the distance, and no one else.

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Grande Randonnée 34 - Audierne - Brittany, France - www.simonking.bike

9.38 – Anse du Cabestan, near Trez Goarem

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In many ways, we found Brittany surprisingly similar to Scotland.

It wasn’t only the wonderfully impenetrable language and the friendly people, but also the landscape, and the gorgeous thistles.

A few weeks later, in Shetland, the similarities would be even more striking with those endless cliffs.

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Grande Randonnée 34 - Audierne - Brittany, France - www.simonking.bike

9.55 – Some familiar thistles

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Some cool cannons

The Pen An Enez cannons date back to the 18th century. Today, only a couple remain, but you get an idea of what they’d have looked like at war.

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Grande Randonnée 34 - Audierne - Brittany, France - www.simonking.bike

10.00 – The Pen an Enez battery of cannons

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After admiring the cannons, we continued on the GR34 until we got to the Pointe de Lervily. There, we headed inland.

We walked through several villages, never too far from the coast.

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Grande Randonnée 34 - Audierne - Brittany, France - www.simonking.bike

10.54 – Houses near the Sainte Evette beach

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Then we rejoined the GR34 and got to the village of Trescadec. Lighthouses don’t get much cuter than this.

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Grande Randonnée 34 - Audierne - Brittany, France - www.simonking.bike

11.16 – Lighthouse in the village of Trescadec

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Audierne, the end of our walk

We got to Audierne earlier than we’d planned. The first thing we did was to head for the tourist office to get the times for our bus to Quimper.

Audierne is the largest town in the area, with a population of about 3,700 people. Its Breton name is: Gwaien.

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Grande Randonnée 34 - Audierne - Brittany, France - www.simonking.bike

11.27 – Arriving in Audierne

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Reading about Audierne I’ve learned another interesting fact. On 23 August 1944 the battle of Audierne Bay took place here. The victorious allies sank eight German vessels, and that put an end to Operation Kinetic.

What in the past was a fishing village has been transformed, and little remains of its fishing industry. Today, Audierne is primarily a yacht port, and a most elegant spot.

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Grande Randonnée 34 - Audierne - Brittany, France - www.simonking.bike

12.05 – Audierne port & town

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We had some time to kill before our bus, so we sat in an outdoor cafe and watched the pretty boats, the hungry gulls, and people strolling about.

Then, we jumped on the bus 53, and got to Quimper in less than an hour.

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Our 2018 holiday in France

A week in Les Sables d’Olonne (Pays de la Loire): from 22 to 29 June, 2018.

Cycling to the salt marshes north of Les Sables d’Olonne (Pays de la Loire): 24 June, 2018.

Cycling from Les Sables d’Olonne to Sainte Foy (Pays de la Loire): 28 June, 2018.

Walking around Douarnenez (Brittany): 30 June, 2018.

Day 1 walking on the GR34 (Brittany): 1 July, 2018.

Day 2 walking on the GR34 (Brittany): 2 July, 2018.

Day 3 walking on the GR34 (Brittany): 3 July, 2018.

A visit to Quimper (Brittany): 4 & 5 July, 2018.

A tour of Nantes (Pays de la Loire): 5 & 6 July, 2018.

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I took all the photos with the Panasonic.

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Filed Under: Abroad, Blog, Walk Tagged With: France, GR34, Walking

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