Languidic Pont Kerran Circuit

In Breton, Pont Screign and Poulvern evoke places full of water. The trail passes through a wetland area recognizable by its vegetation, including large clumps of grass called sedges. The washhouse, probably built like most washhouses between 1860 and 1930, served the village of Poulvern, which has since become part of the village of Languidic. It has been concreted, offering twelve inclined washing slabs. Unused, it is now empty of water.

The Pont Screign valley, fed by several streams, was dug in 1992 with the creation of a decorative pond. Ideal for walks, this artificial environment silted up over the years. Too rich in organic matter, which encouraged the excessive growth of algae and plants, and colonized by two invasive species, water primrose and Brazilian watermilfoil, its maintenance became problematic. Between 2022 and 2024, the municipality, with the support of the department, removed the pond and restored the meanders of the stream, which regained its natural course with clearer water. Just a stone's throw from the village center, the site remains a favorite walking spot for the residents of Languidic and hikers alike.

A stone's throw from the village, ideal for walking and sports with its paths and fitness trail, the communal wood of Pont Screign extends over about 5ha30. On the slopes of the hillside, you will discover plots of land planted with pines and firs, as well as species of the Breton forest; beech, oak, chestnut ... under which grow holly, honeysuckle, brambles and moorland composed of ferns, heather, gorse and broom. The wood was secured with tree felling in 2011. It was then replanted and landscaped: nearly 900 plants of forty different species, hardwoods and softwoods, were planted to form a botanical trail.  The old embankments indicate the property boundaries. Reserves of timber and firewood, the forests were also used to provide additional food such as chestnuts, bedding for animals with the collection of leaves and ferns, tool handles and even brooms. Broom was used to sweep the earth floor of the house, butcher’s broom or small holly was used to clean the pots, birch brooms were used to sweep the yard and hawthorn was used to collect the leaves fallen in the fields. Large pits excavated near the road were small quarries to extract construction materials.

Already included in the Napoleonic land register in 1835, the village road, running partly along the stream coming from the Pont Screign pond, directly linked the village of Coët Mégan to Languidic. It also provided access to wetlands, once predominant on both sides of the river. Used as pasture and to make hay, these plots are now colonized by willows and high vegetation including angelica, large hogsheads and water dropwort; these umbelliferous plants are recognizable by their large white flowers. This natural environment plays an essential role in the water cycle. It acts like a sponge, storing rainwater in the winter, helping to limit flooding and returning water to the river in 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. The wetlands have been inventoried and are now protected. In Languidic, they make up 11% of the town’s surface area, i.e. nearly 1,200 hectares.

Built under the mandate of Mr Guillerme, between 1919 and 1953, this washhouse, for the use of the inhabitants of the village of Coët Mégan, has kept its charm with its cut stones. It consists of two basins, one with up to seven washing stations and a second, smaller one for rinsing. This operation was carried out in the basin closest to the spring in order to always have clean, non-soapy water. This source now has a pumping device. The water level in the basins was once regulated by removable boards slipped into the notches cut in the edge stones. The quietness of the site, well sheltered behind the wooded slope, should not hide the physical drudgery of washing laundry by hand. The laundry was boiled in a cauldron placed on the tripod over a wood fire. Before soap became widespread, gorse or apple ash, rich in potassium carbonate, was added. Once wrung out, the laundry was then transported in the wheelbarrow to the washhouse. The women, kneeling in a box filled with straw, soaped, rubbed on the sloping slabs, rinsed and wrung out the laundry, using the beater and the brush. It was then laid out on the grass for drying before being ironed.

The Coët Mégan water treatment plant was commissioned by the municipality in November 2009 to treat the town's wastewater. With a capacity for 6,000 inhabitants, it replaces the Cité Louis Nicol one built in 1962. The treatment uses activated sludge. In a circular aeration tank, the wastewater, mixed with bacteria, is stirred and kept in suspension. The supply of oxygen from the stirring process enables micro-organisms to break down waste and transform it into settleable mineral matter, or sludge. This is then separated out from the water in a clarifier and treated separately on reed beds. The old lagoons have been preserved. The purified water is released downstream into the Pont du Roc'h river, a tributary of the Ria d'Etel.

Languidic is bounded to the north and west for 18 km by the wide river Blavet. However, two thirds of the town’s watercourses flow into the catchment area of the Ria d'Etel, in particular the Rion. Considered as the source of the Etel river, the Rion, which rises further east near the hamlet of Penhoët, flows upstream into the Pont du Roc'h river. Its waters then flow into the ria at Nostang after flowing from Languidic to Brandérion. This watershed is characterized by a granitic subsoil, emerging here in large boulders along the river, scattering the sandy riverbed with rocks eroded by the water. In spring and summer, aquatic plants such as buttercup, insects such as water striders and dragonflies... and, with a bit of luck, fish such as trout can be observed. The banks are lined with ferns and sedges.

A little further up on the right, you can see the remains of the Coët Mégan water mill. Already there in the 18th century, in 1835 it consisted of a U-shaped building backed onto the river, with a dwelling to the west and a diversion canal to the east. A path passed through the mill courtyard, joining to the north the “chemin du bourg” and Coet Mégan, to the south, Coët Mégan and the surrounding villages. Another path went down to the east of the village of Kergrain Kervréhan and crossed the diversion canal over a bridge. The current concrete bridge is recent. River water was the main reliable source of energy under the Ancien Régime and was channelled to a wheel connected to the camshaft gear system. This system was used to grind the grain and produce flour. In Languidic, there are no less than four mills downstream on the river Pont du Roc'h: Kermoro, Kersol, de Gaillard and du Roc'h. It is perhaps the lack of water during baseflow in this part of the river that led the former lord to build two windmills on a hill near the village of Coët Mégan. Circular on maps from 1835, and still visible on the aerial map between 1950 and 1965, they were completely destroyed by operations in the opencast granulite quarry of Coët Mégan. Closed in 2012, this quarry occupied an area of approximately seven hectares.

Here, where the river Rion and Divine meet, joined further upstream by the Pont Screign stream, the river takes the name of the Pont du Roc'h, literally stone bridge, named after a bridge located much further downstream at the boundary between the towns of Languidic and Brandérion. These banks still resound with the cries and games of the children who once worked on the farm tending cows in the unfenced pastures. It was a great opportunity to observe nature, understand it, invent all kinds of games, all the while keeping an eye on the livestock: climbing trees, playing hide-and-seek, picking hazelnuts, creating toys with trees and plants. Willow, easy to bend, was used to make small carts and animals; the hard, solid chestnut tree was used for whistles; the hazel tree for arrows and swords. Elderberry is hollow and was used as a blowpipe to fire blackberries and blueberries. The girls made braids and rattles with rushes, doll's heads and clothes with meadow carnations and bindweed. On the banks of the stream, anything was an excuse to have fun: races with small makeshift rafts that were dropped into the current, building dams and small water mills, fishing and even mud fights.

Pont Kerran, named after a nearby village, was called Pont Kergrain in 1835, another nearby village. The present structure, probably built in the 20th century, consists of two arches and a central pier, reinforced upstream by a spur to withstand the current. On the way back to the village, you will pass by a poplar grove. Poplar plantations developed in France during the 20th century, particularly in old abandoned wetlands. This softwood species is ideal for the manufacture of pallets, plywood and light packaging. Poplar has a good growth rate and high productivity. Further on, you will cross the Divine stream. End The syndicate of the Ria d'Etel, has worked to fill the outlets under the road with granulate. This removed the existing waterfall, enabling fish to pass and sediment to move on. The town bought a plot of land and built a footbridge to ensure the continuity of the pedestrian route in complete safety.

Walking along the edge of the fields, one becomes aware of the gradual development of the villages after 1850. In 1835, the village Languidic was organized around its church where the roads converge in a star. There are some 80 houses surround the building, some overlooking the square, some overlooking the backyards and surrounding streets. A few houses were also built along the main road from Hennebont to Baud and to the south-east towards the chapel Notre-Dame des Fleurs, a beautiful 15th century building in flamboyant gothic style. Although the organization of this central space remains unchanged, the church was rebuilt between 1876 and 1879, as were many of the houses. But above all, urbanization extended this original core, first between 1850 and 1940, along the main arteries, then after 1950 in the form of suburban housing estates. The most recent, houses with gardens, small public green spaces and pedestrian continuity, reflect the population of Languidic, which has grown and become younger since 1999 after a sharp drop from 1950. Close to the Nationale 24 road, and with around 8,000 inhabitants, it has in fact returned to the population level of the 1900s, which was then spread over the 109 km² of its vast surface area. In fact, Languidic was the largest commune in the Morbihan before the recent regrouping of certain communes.