Located in the Northeastern part of the Bretagne region of France is the small coastal town of Ploumanarch. It was declared "Frances Favorite Village" in 2015 and is considered to be one of the most beautiful places in the region.
It's not the town itself that makes this location so special, it's actually what surrounds it, a stretch of rocky coast line that glows pink in the sunlight. The area is aptly referred to as the "Pink Granite Coast."
To be honest, I went into this hike with fairly low expectations. The photos online were nice and the descriptions of the location sounded interesting but I figured it would mostly be an exaggeration. But I thought, "what the heck, it's something to do outdoors, so why not?"
In actuality the site far exceeded my expectations.
One thing that you can't tell from photographs is just how large the granite boulders actually are. They're much larger then the photographs online and this post portray.
House for Scale
The rocks are really quite massive. They range in size from a small car to a large house depending on the area.
The color of the stones is very impressive as well and not really an exaggeration like I originally thought. They almost appear to glow in the sunlight with a sort of orangey pink hue that stands out nicely against the deep blue of the ocean and the green of the surrounding vegetation.
The color seems to change though depending on the sunlight and where the shadows fall on the rocks. In some areas the pink granite boulders are also intermixed with grey granite which gives a sort of two tone effect.
There are several large car parks in the area located immediately next to the walking path. If you visit the site I recommend getting there fairly early because they fill up quickly as the day progresses. From there its just a short walk over to the smooth hiking path that follows the coastline.
Something to keep in mind is that the pathway is roped off in order to protect the surrounding vegetation. The path is about 2 meters or so wide and it gets crowded in the afternoon. Bikes and walking sticks are not permitted on the path according to signs posted at the entrances and dogs need to be on a leash.
The roped path was installed a few years ago. Up until recently people were allowed to wandering through the area freely and make their own trails through the natural growth. The result of that though, was that nearly all of the natural vegetation in the area was trampled and destroyed. The roped path was installed in order to restore the land to its natural beauty. Pictures of the what the area looked like 10 or so years ago are posted along the trail and it basically looked like a rocky desert. I much prefer the abundance of wild flowers and greenery that have come back since the trail was constructed.
The path does open up in several places along the way though and you are allowed to climb onto the boulders to take pictures and interact with the landscape.
There are several interesting spots to explore along the way as well, including a lighthouse, an island with a castle, an old chaple with bullet holes riddled through one of the walls and my personal favourite, a massive stone peninsula that looks like the set of some Disney adventure park.
The peninsula looks small from far away but its actually quite large. You will see that once you get up to it and begin walking the pathways carved between the massive boulders.
Here is another shot of the lighthouse and the two-tone grey and pink granite.
There were several large outcroppings of rock along the hike that were great locations to take photos. The whole area is very photgenic.
This spot in particular had a ledge that was wide enough to sit on. It offered an amazing view of the water and rocky outcroppings below. Something to note is that the area is home to a wide variety of sea birds including a large population of Puffins. They live on one of the islands thats only accessible by boat. The coast is too crowded with people for them so you're actually unlikely to see them while hiking.
I sat on the ledge here briefly to snap off a few photos before moving on. This spot was about halfway along the hike. Overall we walked for about an hour and a half to two hours, very casually.
Nearing the end of the hike we came to a small touristy village with public bathrooms, cafes, restaurants and gift shops. There was also a small beach that looked out towards an Island with an old castle in it.
I think that it must take some skill to navigate a sail boat through that rocky water, but what a great way to see the coast!
Last Words
Not only did this location exceed my expectations but I would say that it was one of the most unique and beautiful outdoor activities that we've done in France so far. I would highly recommend the Pink Granite Coast to anyone in the area visiting the Bretagne region.