Treguier

The magnificent cathedral at Tréguier is now dedicated to St Yves, Brittany's male patron saint, but the site was originally associated with Tugdual, one of the seven Founding Saints. He is said to have come from Wales (or possibly Devon) in the early 6th century. Like so many of the holy men who immigrated from Britain at this time, Tugdual had powerful relations. His mother was the sister of Riwal, king of Domnonée.

St Samson

The original church at Dol-de-Bretagne was the seat of St Samson (c480-565). He came from the monastery of Llanwit Major in Wales, and settled in north-east Brittany through connections with King Judual. His historical existence is testified by the Acta of the Council of Paris, recording his presence in 560.
The current austere cathedral building replaced an earlier one destroyed by English King John (who was seeking to add Brittany to his territory) in 1203. One tower was never completed due to lack of funds. The vast interior is well worth seeing: it includes a rare (in Brittany) early renaissance bishop's tomb.
Dol itself is interesting for two reasons: the founder of Brittany, Nominoe, used the episcopy politically, making it the Metropolitan see for Breton bishops, rather than Tours. It is also the original home of the Scottish Stuart dynasty. They are descended from a Breton seneschal, stewart in English, who was given lands in Scotland after the Battle of Hastings.

The start of our trail in eastern Brittany.....

Our chosen stretch of the Tro Breiz project is from St. Malo to Dol de Bretagne. As this route takes in the Rance Valley, the area which I am fortunate enough to call home & where Denise & her family have their 2nd home, it seemed a natural choice. However, just an afternoon’s coastal walk to the east of St. Malo is a site which is on the Tro Breiz route that we couldn’t ignore. We therefore started our walk on the rocky coast at Rotheneuf.
After the 19th century parish priest, Abbe Adolphe Julien Foure (1839-1910) suffered a stroke at the age of 30, which left him deaf, mute & partially paralyzed, he retreated to this rocky coast to live as a hermit. Over the course of 25 years, Abbe Foure proceded to carve into the rocks over 300 faces & figures; many of which are fantastic, bizarre & even grotesque. There are rumours that these figures represent the pirates that terrorised the area in the 16th century. Others say that they are all local characters of the time. Whatever the truth is behind them, these sculptures are a tribute to the endurance of one man alone in the elements with only rocks, the sea & his faith for company.
When I look at this site now, however, I can’t help but wonder how much longer it will be before nature reclaims it entirely as the lichens are spreading, & the constant wear of stormy seas is taking its toll.
As the tide was low that afternoon, we were able to walk most of the way from Rotheneuf to St. Malo on the beach, & our morning’s visit to the sculptured rocks certainly gave us a lot to talk about on the way.

Lesley and Denise

St Malo

The Welsh monk St Malo ( or Maclou) is said to arrived at the settlement of Alet around the end of the 6th century. He built his first religious foundation at this former centre of the Coriosolites tribe. Remains of a rather later Romanesque church can still be seen there at place St-Pierre. Later the town moved a little to the east to occupy the rock on which the famous ville close of St-Malo now stands, taking the name of this founding saint. The current cathedral of St-Malo, well worth a look, is dedicated to St-Vincent.

Blazing a Trail

TRO BREIZ - Treguier to St Brieuc

2nd May 2009. Sue, Roger, Sybil and Phil.
We met at Treguier, where we visited the Cathedral of St Tugdual and explored the surrounding area. The cathedral is also the centre of worship of St Yves, Patron Saint of Brittany, and it seemed to us that he featured rather more prominently than St Tugdual himself. The Cathedral spire is interesting in that it is decorated with piercings in the form of the symbols on playing cards, evidently in acknowledgement of financial help given by the town’s casino towards building costs. To the north of the cathedral , in a small square, is a very moving war memorial in the form of a grieving Breton woman clothed in a cape of mourning.
We then crossed the River Jaudy and followed the riverside route northwards in search of the Allee Couverte marked on our map. This is some 2 km north of Kerbors and looks out over the Jaudy estuary. It is in the form of a chamber, with massive capstones supported on vertical stone slabs. We will hope to do some research on this structure, and report on it in a later bulletin.

1st July 2009. Sue, Roger, Sybil and Judith.
We again met at Treguier, and found that it was Market Day – a Wednesday. The market is very extensive, occupying Cathedral square ad extending down the hill to the area by the river. The weather was fine and the market was crowded. The usual mix of food, clothing and miscellaneous items were displayed, and included a man from Reunion who was selling Batic tablecloths and mats made in Zimbabwe.
We then left the town in search of the three chapels mentioned in the Tro Breiz booklet and took minor roads to St Nicholas. We found the small chapel which, however, was enclosed within a private garden and thus appeared inaccessible. The adjoining house was in a style known as Maison Anglaise. They feature an extension of the roof to cover a balcony on the upper floor. We then went on to Traou Meur and the second chapel. This was a small restored chapel in a street lined with houses and gardens, and was firmly locked! No notice about opening times. We found a broken pane in a window at the back, and splinters on the inside sill indicated that it had been broken recently. Our third chapel, St Voltom, was in a lovely position overlooking the Jaudy, A school party were picnicking there, playing games on the grass around the chapel and the small calvaire close by. The chapel was restored, but very sympathetically. Very simple inside, with plain wooden pews, a beautiful modern stained glass window depicting fishes. Two carved and painted wooden statues, one of St Voltom with a Bishop’s mitre, and a simple one of Mary and Jesus. We picnicked on the foreshore near Bilvero and watched the tide slowly coming in. As it advanced up the tiny creek in front of us several mullet appeared and began to feed, darting to and fro just below the surface. Having returned to our car, we noticed a newly restored building close by. Sue got out and began peering through the windows, then realised that there were people inside. Awkward! She hastily got back into the car, but too late; a lady opened the door and asked if we wanted anything? So we had to confess that we were being curious! Which she seemed to quite understand, and was extremely pleasant, especially when we explained what we were doing. We declined her very genuine invitation to come in, explaining that we had to move on to the garden at Kerdalo. These are at Tredarzec, signposted from the D20. They are privately owned but open to the public in most months of the year. Visits for groups can be arranged throughout the year. Created by Prince Peter Wolkonsky who had the dream and his daughter carried this on to create this lovely great garden. She is married to landscape architect Timothy Vaughan. We spent about 2 hours wandering around it and could have spent longer. There is good parking and also a Portaloo (clean)! Entrance is 8 euros. There is an illustrated guide book in very good English! 4 euros. We were told that in the first and second weeks of May there is a good display of Rhododendrons and Azealeas.

Finding the way

The original route or routes used by medieval pilgrims following the Tro Breiz are not known in any great detail, but some parts can be pieced together through research. There is evidence that the old Roman roads, still major highways in later periods, formed important links: for example, a pilgrim from Morlaix took the 'Roman road nearest the shore' on his way to Dol. Another Roman road connecting Vannes and Quimper must also have been part of the chain.
There are many place-names containing references to pilgrims (although these may just as likely refer to those on the Compostella trail), such as Le Champ du Pèlerins and La Fontaine-aux-Pèlerins. Some see an allusion to the 'Green route of Hope'(of salvation, by completing this journey) in names like Le Chemin-Vert and Les-Croix-Vertes. The investigation of toponyms continues!
Another approach involves looking at where pilgrims would have stayed along their route. Abbeys and establishments of the Knights of St-John, such as that at La Feuillée, made natural stopping-places for pilgrims anxious about security. And certain chapels and fontaines along routes between the great cathedrals are known to have been focal points for spiritual travellers on the Tro Breiz: for example, La Trinité (photo above) near Melgven.
In our project we are not necessarily trying to follow the old routes as closely as possible, but to combine good walking with attention to significant religious sites between each cathedral town.

Update

Update

Our project to walk the route of the Tro Breiz has been met with lots of enthusiasm from keen walkers. Currently, we have volunteers to walk sections of the route from the start point at St Pol-de-Leon, towards Morlaix, then onwards to Treguier, St Brieuc, St Malo and Dol-de-Bretagne. Most parts of the route from Vannes to Quimper and then north back to St Pol-de-Leon have also been requested to be walked by those living in nearby villages.
At present, if anyone would like more details about walking part of the route (short or long distances can be chosen), further information can be found by going to the Brittany Walks website. There are some beautiful parts of Brittany stretching from Dol-de-Bretagne in the east, to the southern parts of the route which we are looking for further keen walkers to volunteer to walk, or perhaps you may be interested to join others who are already walking the western and northern parts of the route, come and join us!