Queven Circuit of the Scave to the Scorff

Rising at the Saint-Eloi washhouse fountain, this stream passes through Kervégant wood and collects pure water from the treatment station before flowing into the river Scorff.  It can easily be followed through the parc de Kerzec, as it is lined by willow trees and the characteristic plants of wetlands.

This curious ruin is not a well, but a manhole giving access to a water conduit supplied by the park’s springs. In 1886, the town of Lorient looking for freshwater, was catching water from streams in the surrounding rural communes. Along its aqueducts, the network brought water by gravity to the north of the town. It was untreated and stored in a reservoir called “Petit Paradis” (little paradise). Water from the Scorff was added in 1911, and the system was in operation until 1960.

At the Roze, the Scorff estuary widens considerably. This small bay, full of reeds crisscrossed by a dense network of small channels, receives the waters of the Saint-Eloi stream from the small valley of Radenec. In previous time, cows grazed here. This protected site is rich in fauna and flora: many nesting, migrating and over-wintering birds have chosen to stay here, grey herons, common curlews, little grebes.

From the 17th century, the estuary, being the only navigable part of the river Scorff, offered the French East India Company and the Navy sites and direct river access to shipyards and storage of gunpowder and munitions... The Le Mentec powder store, built in 1878, was reinforced in concrete by the German army from 1940 to 1944. It includes nearly 500 metres of galleries in the cliff and a wooden bridge linking the town of Caudan to the powder store, to safeguard the transport of munitions. The bridge burnt down in 1944 during the bombing, and the site was occupied by the French navy until it finally closed in 2003. Since then, it has been awaiting rehabilitation.

Lining the steep slopes of the estuary, this woodland of about twenty hectares offers a great view over the meanders of the river Scorff. Wandering the paths, you will discover the trees characteristics of the Breton forest ; beech, oak, birch, etc. This diverse woodland promotes the development of saplings, brambles and ferns on the floor, serving as a refuge and food store for mammals, birds, molluscs and insects.

Rising in the department of the Côtes-d’Armor, the river Scorff flows for 75 km before joining the sea. Nearing Pont-Scorff, the start of its 12-kilometre estuary, it mixes with the rising seawater, and joins the river Blavet in the bay of Lorient. Here and at Le Roze, the influence of the sea is strong, offering a landscape of salt marshes and mudflats. Century after century, accumulating sediment from the river and the sea filled up the valley floor, giving the Scorff its meandering aspect and allowing the mudflats to be colonised by salt-loving plants, called halophiles

At the bottom of the valley, this stream and its marshy edges play a fundamental role in the water cycle. The wet area acts like a sponge and stocks the winter rainwater; it helps to limit flooding and provide water to the stream during dry periods. Acting like a natural filter, the soil and plants that develop here help to improve the quality of the water by eliminating pollution. This environment is also colonised by willow trees, easily recognisable in the spring by its white flowers or catkins.

This chapel facing the river Scorff was destroyed during the war in 1940 and rebuilt in 1954. From the 18th century it was a place of pilgrimage for sailors from the French East India Company. They came here to seek the protection of the Virgin Mary and Saint Anne, the patron saint of the Bretons. The tradition has lasted until today as boaters come to have their boats blessed on 15th August.

Unlike plants on the path, those in the salt marshes fill up with salt to capture water. There are grasses suited to this environment; red fescue, couch grass and cordgrass, but also rushes, blackgrass and clubrush. Other specific plants develop the most characteristic of which are sea purslane, arrowgrass, plantain, aster and sea thrift. Scurvy grass, from the cress family can also be found, recognisable by its round leaves and small, cross-shaped flowers. 

With its salt marshes, woods and cultures, the estuary landscape offers shelter and a food store for birds and birds of prey that hunt small mammals in this vast spaces, woodland, river and marine birds. You might see little egrets, kingfishers, cormorants and seagulls feeding on fish, seeds, insects, spiders, etc., molluscs, small crustaceans, especially when the salt marshes are covered by high tides.

Many fish and crustacean live in these brackish waters; you can see trout, mullet, plaice, sea bass, shrimp, oysters... Other species are only passing, such as salmon, and eel that head for the Sargasso Sea to reproduce in the autumn. These species are an important source of food for the local population. Up to the 20th century, fishing for salmon using boats with square nets suspended on long rods, was authorised. The scarcity of fish has now put a stop to this practice. Migrating salmon can travel thousands of kilometres, braving dangers and overcoming obstacles to feed, and return to their native river to breed without losing their way.

Freshwater from the river Scave on this mudflat has led to the rapid development of phragmites, otherwise known as reeds. In this Natura 2000 listed habitat, fish find refuge during flooding and feed on the micro-fauna present: plankton, molluscs, crustaceans, insects, etc. Many small mammals and birds feed and nest here. You may see the waterhen, the sedge warbler, the bluethroat, the common sandpiper or the common snipe. The common sandpiper, with its dark grey back and white belly, winters in this area. It is easily recognisable by its rapid flight just above the water. It is easier to see this little wader when it is feeding on the mudflats.

This bridge and path are the ruins of 307 km of railways built by the department of the Morbihan between 1885 and 1910. Linking Lorient to Plouay, the “potato train” transported everything; passengers, baggage, postal packages, animals, cereals and other agricultural produce, building materials. With competition from roads, it declined around 1930 and was dismantled before 1939. It started up again during the war only to be removed in 1947. Since 1960, the pipe carrying water from the Scorff to supply the town of Lorient, passes under the bridge and path.

Bearing the inscription “In reparation for the blasphemy and profanation of Sunday”, the Calvary was built in 1895, a period of extreme tension between the Church and the very recent Republic (1875). At a place called Croizamus, young people who preferred secular entertainment to religious services, gathered at a tavern on Sundays. They liked to meet there to the sound of a piano and the new and exotic Tango tunes. Fervent Christian women were incensed and financed the building of a cross near this place of perdition.