Hiking Crozon: (Almost) Pointe du Toulinguet

Mornings near Crozon are almost uniformly gray. The sun doesn’t rise until around 8 AM, so there’s half the morning gone already. If people in Brittany tell you they get up with the sun (like us), it definitely doesn’t mean they are early risers! Around lunch time, however, the skies lighten, the clouds break up, and blue sky miraculously appears on most days (in September, at least). Afternoon hikes are, therefore, highly recommended. (This has nothing to do with the time we spend drinking coffee and studying languages in the morning, really!)

This day’s hike took us out to the center prong of the Crozon peninsula trident, which ends at the Pointe du Toulinguet. We parked near some standing stones (there are many in Brittany).

Our hike first went to a fabulous beach, Plage de Pen Hat, we’d seen on our earlier hike to the Pointe de Pen Hir. Oddly, signs said swimming is forbidden, despite the crystal clear water and total lack of seaweed and rocks. (Post-hike research revealed that giant sinkholes with bad rip currents form while the tide comes in.)

Much to our surprise, we found fortifications cutting off the point. Visits to the point are only allowed once a year – and it happens to be next weekend. We have a plan for Saturday!

A key element of every hike is the free snacks provided along the way: blackberries. M now brings a baggie on every hike so his morning cereal can have fresh berries. On one of our hikes we found a motherlode – but we won’t reveal our best sources! We’ve also seen other berries – blue, red, black – but we’re not sure they’re edible, so we pass them by.