Brittany: Boating in the beauty of France's Celtic heartland
The marina at Redon, Brittany, France.
There are so many distractions these days — on a micro level with the little phone in our pockets, to the macro level of unhinged world leaders playing war games — that what we really need is to slow down and at least try to switch off.
As I was pottering along at 8 km/h on the River Vilaine on a magnificent evening, this was the thought that struck me. And it was only by slowing down to this level that I had the mental space and time to even formulate such a thought.
The first thing you need to know about river cruising is that you need no previous experience to become captain of one of these wonderful vessels for a week.
On board, you have everything you need for luxury-level survival; comfortable cabins with en suite bathrooms, bedding, cooker, fridge, kitchenware and utensils. Then you have the entire natural world around you.
Fish plop out of the water in search of food, swallows dive and swoop along the glassy surface of the river, cranes stand patiently with feet in the water’s edge.
Overhead, large birds of prey circle and get chased away by smaller nesting birds, while somewhere in the distance, people are hurrying by in their cars, missing the entire thing.
We began our decelerated journey in Cork in our own car, boarding the ferry that would take us to Roscoff in northern Brittany. From there, we drove through the heart of France’s unique Celtic land to our starting point at the twin village of Guipry/Messac.
Like so many other stunning towns in Brittany, you won’t find any mention of this place in a guidebook but that’s precisely what makes such a journey so special and why it brings back the magic and mystery of travel.
After a thorough but short briefing from the team at the Emerald Star (marketed internationally as Le Boat) base, we set off into the late afternoon sun (nothing is hurried about the departure), heading first down-river towards the busy town of Redon.
This is a major crossroads of two rivers (the Vilaine and the Oust), one canal (Nantes-Brest Canal), about five major regional roads and the railway. It also has a charming historical centre.
Going through the lock here is a fun exercise carried out in the middle of a busy town, with people stopping to see the action and where a lock-keeper looks down from a tall tower.
Your first-mate — or wife in this case — helps to hold the boat in place while the lock chamber fills with water. Once you’re at the correct level to take on the next bit of the journey, the lock gates open.
You smile, wave goodbye and thanks to the lock-keeper in their tower and then you’re on the Nantes-Brest canal heading upriver.
The landscape changes constantly as you potter along and soon we were going past Île aux Pies (Magpie Island), an island overrun by nature that looked like it was left behind since Jurassic times.
The river here was wide, with a huge cliff face on one side, clearly popular with intrepid rock climbers.
We turned onto the next canalised section of the waterway that led to the impossibly pretty town of Malestroit — one of the local contenders for France’s popular Les Plus Beaux Villages de France, a TV show that pits France’s vast array of pretty villages against one another for the national title of the prettiest in the land.
We worked our way back downstream, stopping briefly by the little village of Peillac. Using the bike, I cycled the 1.5km from our mooring point to get some supplies at the local boulangerie and superette, which is what French people call a little supermarket.
It’s twinned with Naas as it turns out and the superette owner told me that he had journeyed to Ireland where, he promised me, he had enjoyed two weeks of brilliant sunshine.
MORE brilliant sunshine was following us with relentless joy as we navigated back through Redon and south this time towards the Morbihan coastline. Here, the mighty Vilaine does a great impression of the Shannon as it meanders slowly through flat countryside that becomes more canyon-like as you get closer to the sea. The river is much deeper here, evident in the huge number of sailboats that suddenly begin to dominate the waterscape.
We moored at the port of Foleux; a wide port straddling both sides of the Vilaine at a point where the tributary of the Trévelo joins the river. It’s a lively port, although fairly devoid of much else, apart from the capitainerie and a riverside bar.
The next day was our only day of rain. It was heavy and unrelenting but was already easing off in the evening when we moored at La Roche-Bernard.
This was the most spectacularly-sited port of call; a real maritime marina with masses of masts, where the river opened out towards the sandy coastline about 20km away.
Our mooring spot was very cosy — tied to an old pier right in front of the former customs house, which is now converted to two picturesque restaurants with extensive terraces.
People were going by night and day and as summer returned the following morning with temperatures soaring, the atmosphere in the town was ebullient.
Walking and cycling around La Roche-Bernard, we found that, once more, this was another atmospheric gem that remains unsung in online blogs and printed guide books.
The streets were prettiness personified. There was a “quartier artisanal” where artists’ workshops abounded, housed in cute stone houses from where you’d have expected Asterix or his chums to emerge.
There was a supermarket, restaurants, bars, bookshop-cafes — the café-librairie is a growing and popular phenomenon all across France and it began in Brittany — and boulangeries.
And there was an elevated little village square where Bretons relaxed with their pints or glasses of wine, watching the world go by.
The next morning, it was time to start making our way back to base. We planned to stop in a tiny hamlet en route.
Yann at the boat base had recommended it as one of the most charming spots along the river, although it looked like it had little more than a church and a few houses on a pleasant bend in the river, as well as an old moored sloop that looked like it belonged to a pirate.
We arrived in the evening at Brain-sur-Vilaine and took the short stroll from the pier to what was a very charming village, complete with a central bistro/cafe/superette/newsagent/tobacconist.
There, we immediately fell into company with half the village. We met the owners Véronique and Laurent, the local handyman (can’t recall his name), and the co-owner of the “pirate” boat, Didier, along with his dog Virus, so named because he was born in lockdown.
The next morning, I slipped into the by-now normal routine of cycling to the nearest boulangerie for some bread. It was another scorcher of a day.
Upon my return, all the people from the night before were out chatting and fishing by the river. Next to us, a young actor had moored his beautiful old wooden boat and was learning his lines. It was like being in the middle of a scene from the film Chocolat.
We bade goodbye to Brain — pronounced more like “bran” and not like the thing in your head — for the final two-hour voyage to Guipry-Messac.
At the boat base marina, we over-nighted amidst the other hire boats and private vessels before we would pack up and hand back of our live-aboard boat the following morning.
In the warm evening, we opted once more for the barbecue up on deck.
And after a feed of burgers, chicken, and side salad washed down with modestly-priced fantastic French wine, it was with a satisfied but heavy heart that we said goodbye to the bliss of the Breton boating life and turned our thoughts towards the slow journey back home.
- Conor Power travelled to France with Brittany Ferries (brittanyferries.ie) on the luxurious Pont Aven.
- The lead-in fare for the peak summer season (July/August) is €393 each way for a car and family of four, including en suite cabin.
- While in Brittany, Conor was a guest of Emerald Star (emeraldstar.ie). The boat he travelled on was a Mystique, sleeping up to eight, with heating, radio/CD, flatscreen TV/DVD player.
- A seven-night self-catered stay in Brittany, starting and finishing in Le Boat’s Messac base, on board a Mystique for the 2025 boating season, costs from €2,659 per boat. No boating license or experience necessary.
- This year, Emerald Star will operate in Brittany until October 31 2025.
- For comprehensive information on Brittany, see brittanytourism.co
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