We are going to shift gears a little bit and talk about something a tad different than all the wonderful granite-like things we’ve been exploring. It seems like Brittany France and Granite go hand-in-hand. And while that is completely exciting for us rock-nerds, the rest of you may not find it so fascinating. So, if you are reading this blog, get ready to have your world ROCKED. We are about to embark on a very special place, one so unique that there are only 3, yes THREE on the ENTIRE PLANET; one is in China, the second in Corsica and the third exists on a small, 30-kilometer expanse of coastline between Plestin-les-Grèves and Louannec in Brittany, France.

This wondrous place is called Le Côte de granit rose or Pink Granite Coast. Okay so I guess we aren’t finished with granite yet, but trust me it will be fun. Why is this granite so special? Its made up of 3 minerals; mica, quartz and feldspar. The amount of pink feldspar gives the rocks their pink-to-red hue.

Now we were eager to try to get back out to have a proper beach day, jour de plage, especially after our last trip to the Crozon Peninsula. However we were also venturing to new territory and so I couldn’t resist picking a few key places to “check-out” along the way to our perfect relaxing beach to enjoy. It was an attempt to combine our love of exploring with a bit of relaxing in the warm sun and sand.

First stop, Saint Michel en Gréve (not related to Mont Saint Michel or the Abbey du St. Michel. It gets kind of confusing since there are loads of places called St. Michel in France). This Saint Michel was a perfect start. We ended up pulling up to a long and wide parking area right on the sandy beach, which was currently at very low-tide. I kicked off my shoes and plunged my bare feet in the soft sand, elated as a school girl to be outside on such a gorgeous day.

There were heaps of shells and seaweed scattered about in a long line toward the looming city. There was a time when I couldn’t understood or appreciate the art of beach combing. Ever since our cruising days of old, I’ve learned to really enjoy such an activity–it could be the main event of a day in the islands. As we took our time finding the perfect unbroken shells, a flood of memories rushed back. Jake and I began to reminisce longingly for the simple days of old on a warm beach with nothing better to do but exactly what we’re doing now.

The experience was cut short when we approached the large stone wall that barricades the high tide from the little stone city, which is currently well out in the distance, making an easy walking path for us to follow. The city is super cute, not very crowded (which is how we like it). My favorite thing about it, is the no-dog-pooping sign, yet we see people pooping every which way quite frequently…makes you think.

From here we simply had to follow the coastline until we reached the next spot, which was kind of a random find. We’ve experienced several Pointe de something or other and all of them have been beautiful. They are almost always at the tip of a spit of land, looking out over the sea. So I found one on a map that seemed like it could be a nice spot for a view, maybe a picnic lunch? The Pointe de Bihit is absolutely gorgeous, one of those happy accidents that I’m glad we found (which was tricky since the road simply ended and we had to walk a bit to actually see the edge of the pointe.

I can’t believe the water is so blue like the Caribbean with luscious green foliage. I would expect this in the Med but not on the northern coast. Hindsight is a funny thing, because had we known how perfect this place was compared to the rest of our day, we would have spent more than 15 minutes here. But as neither one of us was hungry yet and I still had a bunch of places on my list, we opted to keep going.

We continued along, much slower now, following the coast. I kept making Jake stop so I could snap photos but eventually he just pulled over so we could get out and do it properly. And wouldn’t you know it, we ended up at our first big beach of the day, Greves Blanc. I could start to see the pinkish-red rocks and obviously they paired beautifully with the deep blue water.

There were a lot of people at this one, including loads of sailboats on moorings right off the sand. We took ourselves for a walk, secretly hoping that we discovered one of those French nude beaches. Now don’t ask me why we are weirdly hoping to see one of these…more to say that we’ve “experienced” it…not that either of us is keen to get in the nude on any public beach, but I just assumed central Europe would be full of them, not this one.

It was so fun to hop along the smooth-rolling rock-paths out as far as we could before the water stopped our progress. There were so many interesting features and facets almost like they were made of folded linen, not granite.

At a certain point a decision had to be made; do we stay or keep going? I have a list of more places that need exploring and time is ticking. The primary goal is ahead, called Ploumanac’h. Its an old fishing harbor that is now a popular tourist seaside destination. It boasts the most beautiful coastline and quintessential “pink-coast” lighthouse that I was eager to see.

Back at the car Jake mentioned how hot and tired he was…I’m beginning to feel the same. Perhaps a break is in order? It shouldn’t be too much further down the road, according to the GPS. We were nearly there when all of a sudden the road turned extremely narrow with stone buildings towering above and all around. There were no cars in sight but people EVERYWHERE. Did we somehow lose our road and wind up on the sidewalk? The only escape was to keep moving forward. It was slow-going with all the people, but thankfully we spotted a car’s taillights and caught up, only to realize that we were in a long line waiting for parking…sheesh had we known this we would have gone a different way. Then we remembered, we’re in a mini-coop, so we squeezed by all the other suckers in their full-size sedans and managed to get out of the cluster and back on a clear road.

Too tired to care, Jake opted to park in the first open area, maybe not a parking spot but following suite with all the other cars, this would do fine. There was a nice walking path that lead back toward the town center and all the people, which I’m guessing were heading to the same place as us.

After 10 minutes we were amongst the throngs. The city was very cute, with a few restaurants and shops with their wares laid out in the streets for people to buy. It was too much for us so we skipped all of that and focused on the trail ahead. After spotting a couple of signs we knew we were heading the right way and continued on. I was barely paying attention to my feet as we scrambled over the slippery boulders and narrow rock bridges and then we came upon a beautiful sight. In my obsession with snapping photos of everything I lost Jake for a little bit, not too bothered since there was only one way to go. This place is really magical!

The trail continued on for several kilometers, but we strayed from the path to check out an interesting old church and of course the lighthouse monument. Its not as exciting up close but it did boast some very interesting rock-ways and staircases that lead to nowhere in particular. I presume its erosion but it leaves a very interesting backdrop and it makes sense why so many people flock here.

Our fatigue caught up and we worked our way back to the car, following a different trail. Turns out we found a nice shortcut. Its lovely here but far too crowded to give this our beach-day thumbs up, so on we go down the road…

…and after awhile it ended at the top of a very big hill with our beach far below.

I’m not exactly sure how we got up here but it was a nice view. If only I remembered our base-jumping parachutes we could get down this easily. The roads were difficult to navigate in French and with no address, we just had to pick and choose different roads. Eventually we found one that was heading down the way we wanted. It got so narrow that our little mini could BARELY fit between parked vehicles. At the bottom were so many cars that it was lucky that Jake found a little opening, though he had to parallel park (not his forte). It took awhile and a bit of swearing but we got there in the end, unscathed.

Both of us looked at each other and silently agreed that this is our final stop for the day, and will suffice perfectly for our late-lunch picnic spot. It really was perfect, everyone was down on the beach below and from here we had a nice grassy knoll and a big shady tree to enjoy the sights without the craziness of people.

The sea breeze was refreshing and the picnic was delish. We made slightly more gourmet sandwiches and had some peanuts to snack on with sparkling waters and more brownie treats to round it out. Our wariness set in now that we were sitting, and I felt like I could take a nap. The heat of the day shed itself in the shade and I began to get chilled. So we found a perfect, massive beach, but both of us were too tired and cold to want to go in the water or even bother walking down there…I guess beach day is over 😉

I made a mental note if we have a chance to make our way back out here, that we will definitely head back to the Pointe de Bihit for a proper day of relaxing, that is if we have a good window of weather and time. It was a lovely day and there are no regrets even though we didn’t get our ideal beach vacay-day, we saw so many beautiful places that neither of us can complain. And it was definitely more crowded out there / here, which makes going back to our little Kermorvan farm paradise so appealing. As soon as we made our way back home, I knew we were close when there was nothing but windmills and cows to greet us. Now THIS is my kinda beach.

Its going to be a very sad day when we have to say goodbye.