Vestiges (34)

Relics of Brittany's past

This kilometre marker stone on the Nantes-Brest Canal towpath is a relic of the great waterway built in the 19^th century right across Brittany (but not starting in Nantes nor ending in Brest). The original concept was to create a safe inland route in Napoleonic times when the British navy was blockading many Breton ports. It became a significant commercial enterprise but was soon overtaken by swifter transport as the railway network developed. This stone near Gouarec bears the location Côtes du Nord, the name of Côtes d’Armor right up until 1990, when the rather chilly connotation was discarded for something more evocative of the famous north coastline.

My guide to the Nantes-Brest Canal is now in its fourth edition, and I also wrote an account Crossing Brittany (or Cross in Brittany as I now think of it) of my experience in walking the canal in its entirety twenty years ago.

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