Lanester - Boat cemetery circuit

With its 163 kilometres of river, the Blavet rises in Bourbriac in the Côtes-d’Armor department. It flows to Guerlédan where a hydroelectric dam built in 1930, forms a lake of 304 hectares. From the 19th century, the river was channelled and the part as far as Pontivy served as a section of the Nantes-Brest canal. As far as the gates of Hennebont, bridges and locks were built, and a tow path used to pull goods barges.

Overlooking a meander on the Blavet, the natural forest has colonised the plateau and slopes of this narrow valley. Along the walk, you will discover the characteristic trees in a Breton beech wood; there are also oaks, birch, holly, mountain ash, wild pear, yew, elderberry, hawthorn, etc. This diversity promotes the development of saplings in the undergrowth and other plants like brambles, ferns, bilberry, oxalis, mosses, etc.

This washhouse fountain that once supplied the village with domestic water, was restored at the start of the 20th century. Washing laundry by hand was difficult work, done by the women; they carried the laundry in a wheelbarrow, from the village to the washhouse, drew water to soak the washing and boiled it in a cauldron on a tripod over a wood fire. The work was completed at the washhouse, with repetitive gestures made kneeling down, with a beater and a brush to soap, rinse and wring.

This place is imprinted with a history strongly connected to the island of Groix; from 1920, the owners of tuna fishing boats from Groix placed their boats here over winter. Sheltered for a season on the mudflats, the boats returned to fishing in the spring. During the Second World War, these fishermen were called up to the front and hid their boats at the end of the mouth of the Blavet, so as not to be requisitioned by the Germans. Unfortunately, many of these soldiers never came back from the front and their boats remained, damaged by bombs and gently sinking into the mud. Later, other old sailboats and wooden trawlers were added to the site, which is now a boat cemetery. The last witnesses of traditional fishing and know-how, their ghostly silhouettes provide this historical place with a mysterious atmosphere.

It is no accident that the Romans set up a fishing ground here on the foreshore, and on the headland, salting tanks. Creating a wide bend in the Blavet estuary, the Le Resto peninsula is ideal for landing boats and net fishing for species swimming up and downriver: salmon, mullet, seatrout and eels. Archaeological digs in the 1980s revealed the ruins of a fishing road, now buried in the mud and, further upriver, the ruins of a small factory. Comprised of buildings and four salting tanks protected by a slate roof, it was in operation until the end of the 3rd century, for salting and drying fish.

The Blavet estuary starts upstream of Hennebont, at the last lock Polvern. Here and over 15 kilometres, the river water mixes with the incoming sea. The landscape reveals this meeting between fresh and salt water. The wooded banks alternate with reedbeds and marshes, flooded during very high tides. The influence of the sea is strong here, offering a landscape of salt meadows and mudflats. Century after century, sediment has filled the bottom of the valley, giving the Blavet its meandering aspect, and allowing the mudflats to be colonised by salt-loving plants called halophiles.

There are some signs of occupation of Le Resto in the Neolithic period. It takes its name from “rest” or “essart” (clearing), referring to the land cleared by Middle-Aged peasants who lived in temporary dwellings during the work. In the heart of the village, Saint-Yves’ chapel, also known as Notre-Dame du Resto, was built with the pink granite from the Côtes-d’Armor departments, at the start of the 1950s. It replaces a building from the 15th and 16th centuries, destroyed by allied bombardments in 1943.

Offering a strategic view over the Blavet estuary, the Rocher du Diable (Devil’s Rock) has obviously been used as an observation and inspection post at various times, especially for craft coming upstream to Hennebont during wars and conflict. According to local legend, the devil had an armchair here, which was destroyed by the occupants during the Second World War.

Between the moorland and the undergrowth, these rocky slopes are not ideal for crops. They are ecological corridors and serve as sanctuaries and food stores for birds, molluscs, insects and mammals. While they may be difficult to see, foxes, squirrels, deer, wild boar, badgers, etc., leave traces of their passage. This is the case for a herd of wild boar, which can travel up to 20 km overnight, looking for food, including dried fruit, seeds and even some small mammals. Their wide footprints can be seen in soft ground and their hiding places, located in small hollows on the ground, often in a place that is covered and difficult to access.

A 22-hectare site in a suburban setting, the Goden marsh combines salty and brackish wetlands along the edges of the Blavet estuary. Originally designated for industry, it has become a sensitive nature reserve, maintained and protected to keep its biological wealth. As the tide comes and goes, the level and composition of the water changes, with freshwater and seawater mixing. The Goden marsh is also a paradise for birds.

Located at the bottom of the valley, this stream and the wetland that borders it play a fundamental role in the water cycle. The wetland acts as a sponge and stores rainwater in winter; it helps to limit floods and restores water to the river during dry periods. Acting as a natural filter, the sludge and plants that grow there help improve water quality by eliminating pollution. This environment is also colonized by the willow, easily spotted in spring by its white flowers or kittens.

The lavoir de Toulbahado, initially private, was bought by the municipality at the beginning of the 20th century to allow its renovation. It was frequented by the inhabitants of Pen Mané and Plessis. In Lanester, about fifteen laundries are still visible in several places of the municipality, they are part of local history. The majority of these laundries were built at the edge of the coastal zone, at the limit of marshy areas, where the springs are shallow and easily exploitable.

Made up of a mosaic of environments, the Goden marsh is a refuge for many species of birds. Water birds find a place to rest and feed there, while various species of passerines choose to nest in the reed bed. You can easily observe the Garzette egret searching the mud, or the kingfisher in search of a fish. The landscaped path and the observatory will allow you to make beautiful observations.

This stone dam on the stream of Plessis is the last vestige of a tide mill. The rising waters of the sea were held upstream, by the opening and closing of valves, which turned the two lateral wheels of the Plessis windmill, already existing before the Revolution. Between 1854 and 1867, the valves were rebuilt when the turbine systems replaced the wheels, transforming the mill into a flour mill. In the 1930s, it is equipped with an electric motor and will be damaged during the Second World War. Some 30 years later, the building will be rebuilt to create a garment factory, then again redesigned to accommodate housing in 1968.

Located in the heart of the village, the story tells that the chapel of Saint-Guénaël occupies the site of the last monastery founded by Saint-Guenaël, who ended his days there in the 6th century. Several times redesigned, the building retains openings from the 15th and 16th centuries. Housing statues and ex-voto boats, it welcomed the parishioners until the construction of the church of Saint-Joseph du Plessis in 1909. The annual pardon took place there in September, and once gathered the sailors of Groix and the roadstead, who came to be under its protection. His statue was led in procession to the fountain, only accessible at low tide. They had the reputation of curing eye diseases. Thus, until a relatively recent period, pilgrims poured the brackish water of the fountain on this stone. They placed a handkerchief in the cupules dug in this ancient millstone, intended to grind grain in the Middle Ages. Then, the faithful applied the cloth to their eyes, and the remedy seemed effective! It should be noted that salt water indeed enters the composition of eye drops.

Rivers and valleys have always been ideal for human settlements, although not always easy to cross. The Celts and the Romans created paths, where the river level was low enough to create a ford. On the Blavet, this crossing point was at Lochrist, prior to the construction of a bridge at Hennebont in the 13th century. Here in the 19th century, one hundred metres further upstream, small boats were used for the “passage du bonhomme” (man’s crossing). In 1904, a bridge was erected by Ferdinand Arnodin, suspended 50 metres above the Blavet to allow sailboats to pass. Damaged several times during the Second World War, it was renovated and used until 1974, when it replaced by a second structure. Only a couple of piles and their statues remain of the first bridge: the woman is to the west and is holding out a snuffbox to the man to the east.

The Le Mané (hill in Breton) manor was converted to a recreational chateau during the second half of the 19th century. Located strategically on a hill above the Blavet, it was the headquarters of a seigneury under the Ancien Régime (before 1789). A square tower and a turret were added to the manor in 1882. In 1910, the domain was purchased by Emile Marcesche, a renowned Lorient industrialist. He was known for his compassion towards women; appalled by the condition of women sorting coal during the First World War, he convinced the Morbihan bosses to create a compensation scheme in 1918. This scheme was France’s first family allowance fund.

In July 1981, a group of enthusiastic actors created the Festival du Pont du Bonhomme, a street theatre organised by the town of Lanester on the banks of the Blavet at the magical setting of the Kerhervy boat cemetery. They hold dance shows and put on amateur and professional plays.