Eglise de Quimerc'h et l'Ossuaire; Le Faou, Eglise de Rumengol et Le Foret du Cranou.

  We had a great day out with Wendy (www.wendymewes.com) on Wednesday. First of all she took us to L'Eglise de Quimerc'h et Ossuaire. This church, now in ruins, was built in the fifteenth century, dedicated to Saint-Pierre, and was abandoned in 1877. The ossuary, added at the end of the sixteenth century as well as the original boundary of the 'enclose paroissial' are still in place.

 

  After that we drove the short distance to Le Faou (pronounced 'Le Foo'). We had an excellent lunch, looked at the pretty streets and went down to the quayside.

 

  Our next stop was at Rumengol where we spent some time at a very special church. For those of you who aren't particularly interested in churches then just skip over this bit. For those of you who are then read on...



 



  Notre Dame de Rumengol  (http://nd-rumengol-quimper.cef.fr/) has everything. Set in beauty, steeped in history with wonderful paintings and artefacts this church is thriving (see website) and you can feel its spiritual pulse. The lectern is displayed at the foot of the altar with the page open at the readings of the day. On that particular day it was Saint Luke's Gospel, reminding us to 'stay awake, for we do not know when the master of the house is returning'. How true. My favourite artefact was that of the Trinity, in which God the Father is holding his wounded Son in his arms, whilst the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove occupies a small, almost dark place above the Father's head. It is a powerful depiction of God's sorrow. Yet this church is definitely a place of celebrations, several 'Pardons' take place throughout the year as well as pilgrimages and other gatherings.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 







    The church also has a pieta; and on the right (from the congregation's viewpoint) a crucifix, where Christ is facing the pulpit from which the priest would be giving his sermon. Perhaps he still does his preaching from that pulpit - it would be hard to be anything but humble with Christ so close.

 

                                       
  We finished off the day by going for a walk in the Foret de Cranou. This was our first walk here and it didn't disappoint. Ally and Tex, the dogs, had a great time! We walked up, down, by a stream and saw a shrine. Before we drove back we had some tea from the flask. Nothing feels as good as drinking tea in a beautiful wood by a stream. Perfect.

                                                                                                                        



Huelgoat Forest - After the Rain

 

It was simply beautiful. Enjoy the video.

Here is a preview:

 

Quimper

  We took Barry and Mary to visit Quimper (pronounced 'kam-per') which is about an hour's drive from Huelgoat heading south.

  Our first stop was at the restaurant Chez Max (8 Rue du Parc, 29000 France, Tel 0229401020). This Breton restaurant is one of my favourites; it's down by the river near the cathedral, the food is divine....and so is the ambience.  I forgot to take a picture because I was too busy eating.
  Next we explored the old town where there are some amazing old buildings and lovely shops.



  After that we spent some time in the Cathedrale de Saint-Corentin, which is a national monument of Brittany. It's a Gothic cathedral but it bends in the middle to follow the contours of the land and to avoid a swamp that was present at the time of its construction!

C'est vraiment tres belle, et tres spirituelle.







Parish Closes and the Monts d'Arree - with Barry and Mary

Barry and Mary came to stay with us and we had a wonderful day out in the local area. First we visited three of the parish closes, Saint Thegonnec, Sainy Guimiliau and Lampaul Guimiliau.  I have already written about these earlier this year (17th March), but for those of you that missed it here is an excerpt from Les Enclos Paroissiaux (Parish Closes):

  Each  'Enclos Paroissial'  contains a church, a calvary and an ossuary as well as a small amount of land within its walls.  First we visited Saint Thegonnec. This dates from the 16th and 17th century, and it has a fantastic ceremonial entrance arch. On the ossuary is inscribed  'Hodie Mihi, Cras Tibi'  which means 'Today Me, Tomorrow You'.

 

  After this we visited St Guimiliau, again dating from the 16th and 17th centuries. This was amazing and I especially liked the calvary and the church organ.

 

 

 Our final visit was to Lampaul Guimiliau where among other marvels there is a wonderful Pieta and sculpture of Christ's entombment, 'La Mise au Tombeau'.

 There is so much to learn from the Parish Closes. The centrality of the faith to the sixteenth and seventeenth century Bretons; their perspectives, priorities and their witness - in the context of their everyday lives.

 After looking at these we had a change of scene and went up to the Chapel of Mont Saint-Michel de Brasparts - named after the archangel Michael.

 

 



 There are a lot of legends about Michael and the devil involving fighting and competitions. In ancient times the marshy hollow (Elez Teun) was thought to be one of the gates of hell.  In Christian folklore Youdic (Elez Yeun) was thought to be a place to confine the possessed, but Saint Michael had the power to save souls from falling into it.

   One of the things that I find so interesting about this part of Finistere is that it is an area where ancient myths and legends and Christian stories - with examples of powerful faith - survive side by side.
  And I saw an eagle in flight here today. It's the first time for me and it was truly awesome.

Le Dossen - The Best Beachscape!





   Every time we come to Le Dossen its scale, beauty and atmosphere takes our breath away yet again! It's one of those places that is incredibly stimulating yet totally relaxing at the same time. The landscape changes from moment to moment with the sky, the light and the sea in a constant state of flux. It's perfect.

   It's also Ally's favourite beach. In or out of the water, she doesn't really mind now!





Chateau de Comper en Broceliande



  On Saturday we went into Morbihan to the Centre de l'Imaginaire Arthurien - known in English as King Arthur's World Centre at Comper Castle in the Forest of Broceliande.  The exhibition was excellent and the giant was really scary!

 

  We were there for the book launch of 'Sur la route des plus belles légendes celtes'  which didn't disappoint! The talk was very interesting (the only slight distraction was that the man in front of us really needed to have used some deodorant that morning...).    Anyway, there was a great atmosphere, the presentation was excellent (you can listen to it on You Tube - Sur la route des plus belles legends celtes-) and the book is amazing, a real joy to look at, to hold and to read.

 



  The authors and photographers were extremely obliging about signing copies that people had bought, a nice touch being that they wanted to make each signing individual and not simply churn out the same old thing.

 



Back in Huelgoat Again

 



We arrived back in Huelgoat earlier in the week. It's wonderful to be here.