Pont Aven

This weekend we were in a village near Pont Aven. Pont Aven is well known around the world because Paul Gauguin came here to paint three times. Now Gauguin didn't paint many boats (though if you search carefully through the page linked above you will find one or two) but the place where the River Aven joins the sea is an attractive destination for many a painter. The harbor does dry out and there is not much space but it is a very pretty site. If you come without your boat you can rent canoes and motor boats on the spot.

While strolling through the town between light showers of rain - yes this is August but we are in Brittany... - we noticed a sign "Maquettes Navales". Jean-Michel Soulard is a wooden boat builder and maritime carpenter by trade. He is also a model maker when not building the real thing. Now I've seen lots of model makers in highly scenic towns along the coast. Some of the boats are even made in France (yes outsourcing to China happens here too!) and some are even pretty. Jean-Michel however works from the plans or lines taken from the original and I have rarely seen such true to life model making. Wonderful fishing boats from the Brittany coast with detail to make a grown sailor weep for joy. He is commissioned to do restoration work for the Monuments Historiques on the real thing after all! If you are in Pont Aven you can find him 10, rue des Meunières, well worth the visit and the prices are quite honest when you see the detail he puts in. (photos to follow shortly)

The next river over (to the south) is the Belon and famous for its flat oysters. Offshore is the Glenan archipelago where modern French yachting was born in the late '50s and early 60's. The Glenan sailing school and its famous guide is still a reference to this day. This is the ideal cruising ground while in southern Brittany, highly recommended.

Tony
August 2006