Cap Fréhel - Fort La Latte walk
The walk from Cap Fréhel to Fort la Latte is one of the most beautiful walks in Brittany and follows a part of the well-marked GR34 walking path. The GR34 route runs along (almost) the entire Breton coastline. The walking path to Fort La Latte is always well indicated with the known white-red horizontal painted stripes on trees, poles and / or rocks.
Parking at Cap Fréhel
You can park near the lighthouse on the large pay car park of Cap Fréhel. When we started the walk, there was a strong wind and we were glad we brought a hat and scarf. Before the end of February it was not really cold, about 13 degrees, but the strong wind made it seem much colder. The walk starts at the parking lot and goes along a paved path to the left past the lighthouse. Parking costs 3 euros with a normal car and 5 euros for a mobile home. A bit strange is that you can only park for 3 hours with the ticket. We were on the road for 3.5 hours, but were not fined.
The Cap Fréhel lighthouse
The lighthouse was built in 1950 and is one of the most powerful in France. With good visibility, the light reaches up to 120 km. Once past the lighthouse you walk a bit along the spectacular rough cliff to the very tip of Cap Fréhel. Then you continue on the east side along the bird sanctuary to viewpoint “La Fauconnière”. Bring your binoculars to see the birds on the rocks. You can spot herring gulls, guillemots and sometimes puffins.
Steep cliffs on the first part ⚠️
The first part of the hike is on a spectacularly wide hiking trail (note: in some parts the trail is treacherously layered with iron wire) that offers a magnificent view of the red-colored steep cliffs of Cap Fréhel from about 70 meters high. Here you must be absolutely careful and pay attention with small children and / or playful dogs. The deep abysses are not secured with a barrier and in most places it really goes straight down. Our brown Labrador was traveling with us and did not yet know the dangers of a steep abyss.
He has experienced it himself and will hopefully pay more attention next time (and we too). On the first day on arrival, he walked towards the sea at our rented house and fell off the quay at low tide. He slowed down too late and fell about 3 meters down, but nothing has happened. He was not here on this walk.
Broom in full bloom
The narrowing path is in most places close to the edge of the limestone cliffs and offers an almost constant view of the sea and the rocks. After about a kilometer you will see Pointe de la Latte with the Fort well in the distance. From here the wind dropped and it started to get warmer. The vegetation along the path consists mainly of broom, gorse and heather. The moment we were there (spring holiday-february), the broom with the small yellow flowers was in full bloom. You walk most of the walk along the beautiful bay “Anse des Sévignés”.
Sentier des Douaniers
The "Sentier des Douaniers" path used to be used by customs to catch smugglers between England and France in the act. Namely Napoleon imposed a trade embargo on England at that time and smuggled a lot. Before you reach Fort la Latte you walk a short distance through a pine forest.
Distance Cap Fréhel - Fort la Latte
Count on approximately 4.5 km (single) from Cap Fréhel to Fort la Latte and 1.5 hours of walking. We stayed in the fort itself for about half an hour. It is therefore best to calculate 9 km back and forth and between 3 hours and 3.5 hours, including a visit to the castle. It is certainly possible to make the walk at 3 hours, but then you have to keep going. The walk Cap Fréhel - Fort La Latte is suitable to do with children, but as I wrote before, you should pay attention to the steep cliffs. If you want to know what to expect when visiting the Fort, be sure to read the blog post: Visit Fort La Latte on the Côte d'Armor.
Other beautiful walks in the area
We took several other walks in the area, such as one walk along the rocky coast to Le Port Morvan or for walk Cap d'Erquy & Lacs Bleus along the most beautiful beaches. The beach walk with our dog to La Plage d'Or les Pins was also fun to do. Besides hiking, there are other fun activities to do in the area. We made a day trip to Mont-Saint-Michel, visited the fishing village of Cancale and the ramparts of Saint-Malo. I publish a new blog post every week about our stay in Brittany. Follow via Onesignal and you will receive a message with every new blog post.
Visit Fort La Latte on the Côte d'Armor
Visit the spectacularly situated Fort La Latte castle on the Côte d'Armor in Brittany. It is located on one of the most beautiful parts of the coast of France.
Fort La Latte
The place look cool and lonely… is it always like this… fewer people around .. because if it is kinda my place 🙂