Hikes in Lanrivain

Primeval Forest and Rock ChaosThe gorges of the Blavet are very diverse in landscape, but unfortunately no longer continuously walkable. Therefore, this tour has been divided into a longer hike through an almost primeval forest-like landscape and a short detour to the enormous rock blocks of Toul Goulic.

The interior of Brittany holds many surprises. One example is the Toul Goulic Gorge near the villages of Lanrivain and Trémargat. Huge granite boulders, piled haphazardly on top of one another, form the stream bed through which a roaring stream carves its way. Due to the prevailing microclimate, the trees are unusually heavily covered with lichen. On the way back through a side valley, all you can hear is your own breathing, your own footsteps, the faint gurgling of another stream, and the sound of falling leaves—hiking with all your senses. One of the most beautiful forest hiking trails in the Côtes-d’Armor department winds through this unspoiled landscape, offering a wildly romantic and impressive natural spectacle.> How did this natural spectacle come to be? The hills of Brittany today are the remnants of a low mountain range dating back approximately 300 million years. Tectonic processes split the underlying granite layer into many individual segments. The continuous process of erosion exposed these segments. Rainwater then washed the softer sediments out of the soil, forming a gorge; on its slopes, the now-exposed granite boulders succumbed to gravity and rolled all the way down to the valley floor. There, they accumulated in the stream bed of Le Blavet, shaping the landscape as we see it today. From the start and finish point01 (245 m), we descend into the gorge along the trail behind the information sign. We ignore a left fork. Further on, many well-trodden paths lead downhill; the best way to find your way is to follow a half-height wooden fence. From a distance, you can already hear the rumbling of the Le Blavet stream02 (208 m). Huge granite boulders, arranged seemingly at random, lie piled on top of one another, with the water carving its way through this chaos. We follow a beaten path 60 m downstream to easily cross the stream there and immediately turn slightly right to follow the path that now leads upstream. There are only a few spots where fallen trees must be bypassed. The massive boulders give way, leaving just the stream. The narrow trail opens into a wider path. We leave the forest; to the right, you can make out a pond through the thicket. At the road, we cross the bridge and turn left at the next opportunity, reaching the dam of the Étang de Kerné Uhel03 (221 m) via the wide forest path. To the right, on the crest of the dam, there is a viewing platform. On the way back, we cross the green bridge and continue along the opposite bank back to the road. There, we cross the road and immediately turn right, passing a rusty gate. On the trail, we cross a small stream and continue walking alongside it. At a fork in the trails, we take the path slightly to the left and do not cross the stream toward the right. This side valley of the Le Blavet River also features scattered massive granite boulders. We ignore a right-hand trail that crosses the stream. During a gentle ascent, our trail joins another. We ignore a left fork and follow a dirt road to the main road, where we turn left. We leave this road by turning left, crossing the stream bed over an old bridge04 (180 m). Immediately after the bridge, we do not turn right but continue straight ahead. At the next fork in the trail, we do not take the obvious path straight ahead but head slightly left through the undergrowth; the path is barely visible. We cross the stream over a plastic pallet; from here on, the path is clearly visible again. On this original forest trail, we occasionally have to part the underbrush to find our way. Near massive granite boulders, we reach the roaring Le Blavet stream again in the Toul Goulic05 valley (179 m). In the ensuing maze of beaten trails, it’s difficult to find the way. Some sections of the trail are so overgrown that they are no longer passable, so we have to laboriously go around them. Just moments ago we could still hear the roaring stream, but now there is absolute silence, even though we’re hiking right next to it. After another 150 m, we can hear it again; at the spot where it plunges into the underworld, we rejoin the trail we took on the way there and walk back along the waist-high wooden fence to the starting point.

Walk 29 Toal Goulic route from Walk! Brittany (North) by Charles Davis published by Discovery Walking Guides