Wandering Around Brest - Pt 1 Where is it Exactly?
Brest, for those who’ve never heard of it, is located in Brittany, a Region in the extreme north-west of France, an area closely connected with the Celtic Britons of Cornwall and Wales – hence its name. Since 1532, the Historical Country of Brittany has been a part of Metropolitan France, but as you might imagine, it still retains a strong independent and cultural identity.
The prefecture (capital) and largest city of Brittany is Rennes, with the region being made up of four départements, each with its own prefecture. Brest, with a population of 140,000 (370,000 in the metropolitan area), is the largest city in the département of Finistère, but the honour of prefecture goes to the more traditional town of Quimper.
It’s also worth noting that Nantes, which is now part of the Pays de la Loire Region, was not so long ago the prefecture, largest city and most important city of Brittany. Even though the majority of people in Brittany and the Loire-Atlantique département indicated in a 2014 poll that they wanted Nantes to return to Brittany, the powers that be did what they do everywhere, and ignore public opinion. Below is a map of the départements, prefectures and main towns of Brittany as it stands now – and before the authorities start mucking about with them again.
Visitors to Brittany often say that it reminds them of Cornwall, and in fact, one of the historical regions of Brittany was actually called Cornouaille: The reason for that though was the migration of Britons from Cornwall to Brittany, but it’s not just the historical connections that are similar, but the landscape and coastline as well, and to my mind, Finistère is the Breton département most like its English counterpart.
Just like Cornwall, Finistère is regarded as being at the extreme end of the country. Even its Breton name Penn ar Bed means ‘End of the World’, and it even has its own Land’s End called Pointe du Raz. Below is a picture I took of my wife at Pointe du Raz in 1991. She doesn’t normally like being involved in this sort of stuff, so I hope she’ll forgive me on this occasion. Obviously, I’ve scanned it from a print which means that it’s not a great picture, and I don’t mean because my wife’s in it – but I think it’s time to shut up now and change the subject.
There are a host of interesting places to visit in Finistère, but if I’m being totally honest, I don’t think that Brest would feature too highly on most people’s list of places to see – so why did I bother to come here?
Firstly, it was going to be a mother and daughter’s weekend preparing for my daughter Nadine’s impending wedding. Not only would I have been hanging around like a spare part, I would have probably been moping about the place mourning the loss of our lovely pet border collie Rosie, who had just recently died – and so I needed to get out and do something.
As it happened, a new route from Exeter airport to Brest had just opened up, a place which rang a few bells because I knew it was twinned with Plymouth, and for a very good reason. Anyone who has been reading my mini-series on Devonport will know how important the dockyard at Plymouth is to Britain’s naval defence, and it’s the same for Brest which is the second largest French naval port after Toulon.
The city is located near to the entrance of the Rade de Brest, a large bay which has the same strategic importance as Plymouth Sound – only larger. If Finistère is the French equivalent of Cornwall, then I was soon to find out that, in many ways, Brest is the French equivalent to Plymouth, and in the next post I’ll show you why.
POSTED – MARCH 2024
Originally posted 2024-03-20 16:00:39.
Some of the most interesting places are the ones where initial reaction is, ‘why bother to go there?’. Everywhere is worth a visit, even if just the once!
I couldn’t agree more. I’ve nearly always found that places that are not on people’s radar are the friendliest and most welcome, and the same applied to Brest.
I am very much looking forward to this series about Brest, not because I haven’t visited Brittany, but because I have visited just about everywhere else in Brittany apart from Brest. For me it will be the missing piece in the jigsaw.
I hope it doesn’t disappoint in that case, but you’ve probably missed it out because it doesn’t fit into the stereotype of the rest of Brittany. Thanks for commenting by the way.
I’ve never been to this part of France so I know I’m going to enjoy and be interested by this mini-series of posts 🙂 The coastal scenery looks as lovely as I would have imagined it to be, knowing its reputed likeness to Cornwall. Incidentally, although you don’t say so I’m sure you’re aware that not only does the Breton name mean ‘end of the world’, so does the French, Finistère. It comes from the Latin, Finis Terrae, or in French, ‘fin de la terre’.
I was aware Sarah, but I thought I’d do the honourable thing and use the Breton comparison. There’ll probably be a total of 3 posts about Brest, but most of my time spent in Brittany was spent in the pre-digital era which will involve quite a bit of scanning, the results of which are never as good as the original prints or transparencies.
It’s true the photo quality is never as good from scans, but that doesn’t make the images less interesting!
Especially if they bring back good memories.
You always make me smile with the nice down to earthness humour your posts. Lovely pics, especially of your wife. And I am glad I took a trip from London. Well an armchair one to pop over here today.
Thanks Shey. I’m glad you popped over 😊
I remeber years agao reading Frenchman’s Creek by Du Maurier and the pirate in it came from Finistere. And he talked about it a lot. So it was good to read this.
I know Frenchman’s Creek but never read the book, so now I know the connection.
I find a lot of Du Maurier of its day–obviously, this is adiff era. Quite honestly the ending made me want to throw the book against the wall. But I do remember Finistere being mentioned several times.
What made you want to throw the book at the wall?
Just no matter how it is dressed up it’s a romance but there’s no happy ending. Largely he makes his mind up for her. I can see why but it all jarred cos there had been zilch conflict from her the whole way about being a mother or a pirate’s bird basically.
Sounds like it was the man’s fault again then 🤪
Nah… she was the twat who just blindly agreed with him.
Ha! Ha!
Well, this could be timely, but then again, more likely just interesting. Living on the north east coast it was generally too much trouble to go to France so we went further afield. BUT, last year we had a week in Toulouse which, despite mishaps, I thoroughly enjoyed. About the same time, Ryanair announced a flight from Faro to Nantes. We have friends who left the Algarve to resettle in Brittany and it seemed a good opportunity to visit. I’m missing a key point here, aren’t I? Nantes isn’t the main airport in Brittany, it’s Rennes. Flights are booked, but our friends are 2 and a half hours drive away from Nantes and public transport options are limited. It will be a challenge…but interesting.
Nantes, like I say, was the most important city in Brittany until they altered the boundary, and perhaps one of the reasons was that it was quite a long way from the north coast. Who knows what the reason was, but if you haven’t been to Brittany before, then you’ll find it’s quite different from the rest of France. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it as long as the weather plays ball.
I had another friend who lived there and was always complaining about the weather. Fingers crossed for June!
Wonderful stuff once again. Now Brittany is already on our bucket list, and I was suggesting to my wife that we should go there this summer… we’ll see if anything comes of that.
Thanks Stephen, and it might not be a bad idea to go there sooner rather than later otherwise you’re going to need a bigger bucket.
Mrs Scooj sounded quite amenable to the idea, and a plan might be in the making for this summer.
I’m not saying it’s cheap, but a good way, should you decide to do it, is to take the car on the overnight Plymouth to Roscoff ferry. Having your own wheels in Brittany is the best way to get around I reckon.
Thank you, I was thinking along those lines. It makes sense.
One of first housesits was in Brittany and we did 3 of them (there’s a few expats in the area) and what an eye opener it was to experience a unique area of France. I might add it is an undervalued holiday destination. We never got as far as Brest, so I found your post added another dimension to what I knew of Brittany. Thanks, Malc.
Those house-sitting holidays certainly got you about Suzanne, and I agree with you about how undervalued Brittany is as a destination. The downside is that they experience the same weather as us, and everybody likes to see the sun when they go on holiday, although it doesn’t bother me so much nowadays.
It did, indeed, get us about to some lovely corners of the world. Yes, the weather would be a factor against holidaying in that area.
Thank you, Malc, for the interesting start to what probably will be a comprehensive story on Brittany. Your wife indeed looks lovely, and it is always good to see those connected with the writer. The photos of the shore do remind me of Cornwall, and I am looking forward to learning more and seeing more of the place I will not be visiting as obligations keep me here. I understand your feelings about Rosie, as I grief for Gaby, and always will.
Thank you again, Malc!
Joanna
Thanks Joanna. Apart from Brest, my forays around Brittany were in the days before I had a digital camera, but I’ve scanned a few prints, and although they aren’t of a very good standard I may still use some of them in a post. The trouble is I’ve still got loads more to sort that I took digitally from other trips as well. Most of us lose pets along the way and it’s a horrible time isn’t it?
All your photographic work, Malc, digital or not, is always very good, and interesting!
Gaby’s loss and pain I felt, and still do made me reluctant at having such a deep bonding with any other creature.
Joanna
Thank you for your kind words again Joanna, and I feel your pain about having a deep bond with a pet because I know how strong your feelings are for all animals.
Finistère is amazing, as are your photos Malc, including the one with your wife. Another interesting post! All the best!
Thanks Francesc. There’ll be a lot more photos in the next Brest post.
Phenomenal! You’re welcome Malc!
A nice introduction to whatever is to follow Malc. Tell your wife I think she looks lovely, she might forgive you for including the photo 😉 And Rosie sounds very sweet, it hurts like hell when they leave us doesn’t it?
Thank you Eunice. I really appreciate your kind words – and you’re right – I still miss Rosie.
Beautiful post!
I saw the Pointe du Raz when I was young and attending university, but the memory is always vivid
As we get older Luisa memories are so important to us, but it’s even more important to remember the good ones.
Thank you very much, dearest Malc, for your kind wisdom 🙇♀️
I always like to read that a post has kindled a nice memory for you Luisa 🙂
You’re sincerely welcome, dearest Malc ❤️
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