If you want to visit an unusual part of Brittany and have a nice walk in the countryside, follow me to la Guerche on a Tuesday, the market day. You'll also discover the oak for the Virgin and the chinese pagoda.

La Guerche is a nice small town, inland Brittany on the border (les marches de Bretagne in French) between the old Duchy of Brittany and the Kingdom of France. May be you already visited Vitré and Fougères which are also cities that used to be the frontline of the Duchy and therefore fortified.



La Guerche during the Duchy period ( 826-1491) changed nationality , sometimes it was Breton, sometimes it was French. It was also a strategical place during the Hundred Years War against the English !!! and therefore many battles took place in the surroundings. And if you know a bit of French History, you surely know Du Guesclin, the companion of Joan of Arc, who bought the manorial estate of La Guerche in 1379. At that time it had a fortified castle.

Later, during the 16th century, it was an important market thanks to the canvas trade. The canvas trade made the Golden Age of Britanny. Farmers grew hemp and flax in the countryside and produced the cloths that were sold all around the world. Brittany then was a rich province, we call it the breton Golden Age. Merchants came from many places in Brittany and specially from Saint Malo to buy the canvas and to sell it to Spain and South America or England. The porched and half-timbered houses you see in La Guerche are the evidence of that Golden Period. The porched houses are now our shopping arcades, merchants used to display their cloths under those porches.



The first mention of the market of La Guerche dates from 1121, and the legend says it never stopped. It is easily understandable because of its particular place in the region. It was a crossroad between the Duchy and the French Kingdom during the Middle Age, it continued when Britanny became French and now it is a crossroad between 4 departments and still 2 regions. It still attracts people from the surrounding areas, the parking places are full on Tuesday morning !!! it used to be more traditionnal, you could see poultry or pork, but nowadays you just find nice local and traditional products like honey, bread, buckflour, « breton galettes », « galette saucisse », meat, cheese and wine.



While enjoying the market, notice the old houses and enter the Basilica (basilique Notre Dame). It became a Basilica, in 1951 – the title Basilica is only given by the Pope because of several reasons : it can be because it is old, because the bishop asked for it or because of an important pilgrimage -. Have a look at the 16th stained –glass windows, at the carved wood stalls and at the tufa recumbent statue of Guillaume, Lord of La Guerche during the Middle Age.

Once you ‘re finished, begin your walk (8 to 15 kms depending on what you want to see) on the countryside. Leaving the Basilica follow the rue d’Anjou (which is one of the street around the Basilica) till the boulevard d’Anjou. On your left a sign Fontaine Couverte V3 , 8 kms, take that direction, you ‘ll go through an housing estate for one kilometer, when you are in front of the cross, just take a right, and you’ll go through different hamlets : Hairie, Perinelle…



go on for 2,5 kms, you’ll meet another cross



go on till the crossroad Route des Rondes.



Take a right for one km to the next cross (Gaumonerie) and you’ll see the first sign for chêne à la Vierge (oak of the Virgin) on your left. You leave the road for a path, just walk a bit till the forest at the end of the path and you’ll see it.



This oak is the witness of events that took place after the French Revolution (1789) in 1792. A youg girl was shot in front of the oak because she refused to reveal the place where a priest was hiden. At that time France was divided into two sides : the one for the ideas of the French Revolution the republicans and the others against it. Priests were usually against French Revolution because the leader of the French Revolution were against religion and had confiscated or destroyed religious buildings and properties. You still can see for example on many churches statues of Saints or religious figures beheaded or destroyed. This oak is now an holy place : the various statues of the Virgin testify the religious devotion. Ceremonies still take place on August 15th.

If you are in shape, you have to go on for the next unusual site : a chinese pagoda. But if you want to go back, take the road you left , walk a bit on your left till you find the sign for La Guerche and you will soon find the way you came in.



If you want to see the pagoda keep walking straight (la Selle) for about 2,5 kms, you’ll see again a cross, you’re almost there. Leave the cross on your left, and after the bend, you’ll see the fork with the sign chapelle du Pâtis or Chapelle Sainte Anne.



This wood chapel is an octogonal pagoda unique in France. It was created in 1875 by the Priest François Lizé from La Selle Guerchaise. He was a missionary in China and took home the pagoda at the end of the 19th century. It is dedicated to the Virgin and Sainte Anne. Sainte Anne is one of the patron saint of the Bretons, the other one is Saint Yves. She is the mother of the Virgin. Inside the chapel you’ll see the epitaph of the Priest, nice restored colourful fresco (1875-1876) and three saint statues.



A peculiar one from Sainte Anne in wood from the 16th century has slanting eyes, one from Joseph and one from Joachim Sainte Anne ‘ husband.

Leaving the chapel, walk in the direction of La Selle and after some meters you’ll find another cross (it is written 40 jours d’indulgence on it) and you see a sign for La Guerche, you’re ok. This cross was probably on a pilgrimage that gave you days of indulgence. Indulgence were remission of punishment for sins for which you had to make penitence. Through confession, charity works, pilgrimage or money gifts, the sinner could recover remission from eternal punishment. This cross was part of the remission way. Once you’re on the way to La Guerche, you have to walk for 4 kms and arrive in the city, don’t take the street called « point du jour » but the other one with no sign and you’ll find the boulevard d’Anjou.

Read it in French : le marché de la Guerche come point de départ pour une excursion au chêne de la Vierge et à la chapelle Sainte Anne

You can find eldertrees everywhere in Brittany along paths, in cities and on the coast. So just go for a walk and pick them.
Be careful when picking them to find the right eldertree. The one you want is two to five meters high, it blooms in May and June, the white flowers custers smell nice and the berries, later are black.

Pick them with stems, it is easier to cook and cut it down before eating. It is still edible but not very good.



Here is the recipe for about 20 flowers clusters :
180g of flour,
1 egg,
200 ml of water,
some rum,
a yeast packet.

Mix all the ingredients and leave the batter resting for one to two hours .
Cook oil and when it is warm enough – let a drop of your batter into the oil, if it comes back up, the oil is ready. Take a cluster and dip it in the batter.




The batter must be liquid to wrap the small flowers delicately and to make a light fritter where you will still taste the flower; if the fritter is too thick you won’t taste the flowers. Drop the cluster full of batter in oil, wait one or two minutes, when it is brown, it is done. Then strain it on paper, cut the green stems and serve it warm with green salad.

You can also eat it sweet. You do exactly the same and just add sugar on the fritters when they are done.

Read it in French : Recette végétarienne de beignets à la fleur de sureau

In Brittany, depending on where you are, crêpes and galettes are not made the same way. There are differents types of crêpes: made with wheat or with buckwheat, and eaten salty or sweet. The breton pancakes made of buckwheat are called galettes in French and eaten in crêperies. But there are local differences ; the farther west you go, the thinner they are and they are made with wheat and the same batter is used for salty and sweet ones. Farther east they are prepared with buckwheat (in french we say black wheat because the flour is brown, galettes de sarrasin or de blé noir) for the salty ones, the pancakes are thicker and the sweet ones are made with wheat (crêpes de froment).




In Rennes and surroundings (Ille et Vilaine, Haute Bretagne), one of the specialities is the « galette saucisse » or even better « galette sauc’ » which is a sausage wrapped with a buckwheat’s pancake. You can eat it plain, wrapped with a double galette, with mustard, with grated cheese… it’s a breton hot dog !!!




You won’t find it in crêperies but at markets fairs and festivals.

In Rennes, during the famous marché des Lices, market that takes place on saturdays, you’ll see the residents of Rennes queuing for half an hour at lunch time to eat it.




A good « galette sauc’ » is made with a lightly grilled sausage wrapped around a smooth and warm galette.




You can also eat on those caravans at markets a « galette complète » which is also traditional : it is a buckwheat’galette filled with egg, ham and cheese. As a dessert take the traditional « beurre sucre » butter and sugar which is the best one.




Read it in French : la galette saucisse une spécialité bretonne à Rennes au marché des Lices

Rohan is a famous name in Brittany, even now one of the deputee of Brittany is a Rohan. It was one of the three most important family of the Duchy of Brittany. Among others they have built the castle of Josselin ( a really nice town to visit) and helped William the Conqueror in 1066 when he crossed the Channel.
Rohan is also the name of a small village in Morbihan, there is no remain of one of their castle in Rohan except a chapel (Chapelle de Bonne Encontre). This small town is located at 10 kms south of Loudéac, about 20 kms east of Pontivy, on the canal of Nantes to Brest.
If you walk along the canal de Nantes à Brest and you’re lucky, you’ll find a mile-stone where the old name of Pontivy is written ; that is … Napoléonville. If you find it, tell me because I’m still looking for it… Why Napoléonville ? you know the french Emperor Louis Napoléon Bonaparte (1769-1821) who was defeated at Waterloo and had to exile in the island of Saint Helena where he died. Well, when he was emperor, he decided to convert Pontivy, a small city that agreed with the ideas of the French Revolution in a conservative Brittany into a military centre. Pontivy had a strategical position, located in the middle of Brittany and betwenn Brest and Rennes, it was the best place to control the region. In 1804 he called it Napoléonville. It changed names several times after that, it took also the name of Bourbonville and recovered its name Pontivy in 1870.

Read it in French : Rohan