Lake Guerledan... The Heart and Lungs of Brittany

Just a 10 minute drive from our house in Brittany is Lac de Guerledan (nearest town Mur de Bretagne)... Look out for the road signs for Beau Rivage (on the the lake) & the village of Caurel. Another great vantage point with launch slipway and restaurant as well as lakeside walk access is Anse de Sordan on the south side of the lake. Guerledan is a great attraction at any time of the year. A magnet for those who love water sports, leisure boating, wind surfing, water skiing, swimming, scuba diving...kite surfing... alfresco dining, of course, as the season suggests, and because of the lake's size, just about whatever you can do on the sea, you can do here. Walking around the shores of the lake along woodland walks is a given of course - and not something you can always do by the sea. Neither is it always possible to dine on board a huge pleasure craft... calm lake water can offer this... as well as a beach for sunbathing and swimming from... a hotel and lakeside restaurants even an American style Airstream Diner... as well as a camping ground with cabins and lodges. If you are holidaying in Brittany, and happen to be in the area, it's not to be missed... In fact, it is hard to miss it!

 

The Year they drained the Lake
The lake was created in 1929 when a 12km section of the Nantes/Brest Canal was flooded by the building of a concrete & stone dam... becoming a power & freshwater source for central Brittany. Until recently the lake had been drained for essential maintenance to take place on the face of the dam and within the power station workings within. And so every 25 or 30 years the lake has been drained; always a great spectacle.  Why? It's simple once you have witnessed what is beneath the water. Firstly it is so deep and, at the bottom of the valley is still the course of the canal together with it's twelve locks and the buildings that would have been home to those who managed and maintained the waterway. Many trees, capsized boats, a slate quarry and its buildings and miners lodgings and houses.

 

Being able to walk along the previously sunken course of the canal and explore the length of the lake's bottom attracted hundreds of thousands of people during the summer of 2015... the last time apparently that the lake will be drained. Technological progress means it may no longer be necessary. 

 

 

Car parks were established at suitable points around the lakeshore and pop-up restaurants and market stalls made sure that the entertainment level was maintained for those who visited and guided tours in both French and English were organised. It was fascinating to witness the changing face of the lake in its various stages of 'undress'... 

 

 Initially it was exposed mud with the added surprise of the newly revealed buildings and locks (12 in total throughout the lake's 15 kilometre length and the 'petrified' trees)... a few weeks later and the mud had dried to crack and reticulate and another week or so and the vegetation dormant for so long beneath the lake surface began to show itself again and 'green up'... What a sight to see! As the greening continued it matured and even the trees - dormant beneath the surface for so long began to bear green shoots... amazing!

 

Of course with the lake as lead attraction for some 7 whole months meant that people were also able to explore many other delights of Morbihan, Cotes d'Armor and, onward to Finistere.

Latest addition to the lakeside landscape during the Summer o4 2024 - Betty Food at the western end... It's hidden in the woods - you can walk to it along the footpath leading off to the left from the front ofd the Beau Rivage Hotel.... You won't be disappointed. Excellent Steaks, Burgers and HotDogs  served from an airstream caravan kitchen... Eat on their floating Pontoon Diner!