Distance : 10 KM
Time : approximately 2 h 30
Starting point :
Near the Quays of Port-Joinville
(Opposite the bar « Café du Centre »)
Sights :
1. Port-Joinville and its fish auction
2. Table de Ker Difouaine
3. Dolmen des Petits Fradets
4. L'Anse des Broches (cove)
5. Dolmen de la Planche à Puarre
6. Le Caillou Blanc
7. La Pointe du But
8. Citadelle de Pierre Levée
Turn back and take chemin du Caillou Blanc on your right and follow it to the paved road. Continue straight ahead chemin de Ker Pacaud (at this point, you can also turn left and take a shortcut to Port Joinville, just follow the arrow with -reste 2,5 km-).
At the end of the path, turn left then right to get to the path Chemin de Ker Mercier. At the intersection with Route de Ker Bossy, take right. Continue straight ahead until you meet a crossroad with a wooden cross.Turn left Rue de Saint Amand. This road skirts by the Citadelle’s woods (composed of evergreen oaks). Take the first road on your right. On your left, you will see a water tower. Turn right to enter the Fort de Pierre de Levée: a fortresss built between 1858 and 1866 in order to defend the island . It was also used a prison and as barraks. Maréchal Pétain was imprisoned there from 1945 till 1951. Walk back to Port Joinville (1 km away).
At the roundabout (near the supermarket), go straight ahead and turn right Rue des Bossilles. Near the beach, take rue du Moucari, on your left. At the stop sign, turn left rue Surcouf. Turn left and take, 200 meters away, the path Chemin de la Gallé on your right. Follow on for about 500 meters until you see, on your right, the table de Ker Difouaine, a prehistoric monolith, 5 meters long, and engraved with about twenty cross-formed cupulae. Continue straight ahead on the path Chemin de la Gournaise. At the end of the path, on your right, stands the dolmen des " Petits Fradets ", a funeral architecture, 4000 or 3000 BC old.
Description
:
Most insular activities now revolve round the present administrative capital of the island, Port Joinville. The latter changed name quite a few times. It finally became “Port Joinville” in 1846. A large number of news buildings were erected (breakwater, jetty, a modern fish auction ...).
Walk along the coast side to the headland Pointe du But. About halfway is the cove 'Anse des Broches’, a former river dale, often flooded by the sea. A few meters away, looking over the sea, is situated a megalithic monument,the dolmen de " La Planche à Puarre ". It is a well conserved transept type tomb, classified in 1887 as a Historical Monument. On your left, what you could call a “white crest” emerges from earth. It’s the " Caillou-Blanc ", a reef of quartz used by navigators as a landmark from time immemorial. Follow the path to the Pointe du But. You will see the remains of a semaphore, destroyed in 1944 by the Occupation’s army. Looking over the sea, still exists an old foghorn built because of the numerous reefs out there. Off in the open sea, a fixed light stands on the reef les Chiens Perrins.
Other trails
Walk along the quays. At the end, stands the "Statue de la Norvège " (Statute from Norway). This memorial was a gift from Norway in souvenir of a heroic rescue during winter 1917 of the crew of the sinking Norwegian ship " l 'Ymer”. They were rescued by islander seamen. 6 of them died that night. Follow on the Quai de la Chapelle where still stands the old cannery (SPAY). It was operationnal from 1862 till 1994.