Someone once said that the great rocks that pepper the landscape of the pink granite coast look as if giants have been stoning their enemies. Monumental boulders, cleft from the earth and shaped by the sea are one of the most astonishing and memorable features of this divine stretch of coast in the Côtes d’Armor department, Brittany.
They are everywhere from the beach to the cliff tops and even in residential gardens. Often homes are simply built around the rocks - not just because they’re very heavy and hard to move but also because they’re revered by the locals.
Thousands of years of being licked by the sea, blasted by wind and rained on, have left them shaped like animals or people and many have names such as the witch, the tortoise and the corkscrew. When you see them for yourself, you can’t fail to appreciate the grandeur of these natural phenomena – and make up some names of your own.
With hundreds of hamlets, seaside towns and pretty villages it’s hard to know where to go. If you have plenty of time, you can follow the GR34 coastal route which runs all the way round the shoreline of Brittany. But if you’re restricted to a few days or weeks, here are some of the most unmissable parts of the Pink Granite Coast where you’re likely to fall in love with the ever changing sky, the delicious cuisine, endless beaches, luscious countryside, hotels of charm and character (www.hotelscharmebretagne.com) magical forests and friendly folk…