In my road warrior mode in my lovely Bretagne went north to the Côtes d’Armor dept 22 and saw some new wonders of my belle France. I had no time to go into city center Erquy and by the outskirts and port. I found me new pictures in my cd rom vault that should be in my blog for you and me, Therefore, this is my take on the curiosities of Erquy !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I,
The first Phare d’Erquy lighthouse was erected in 1899 and inaugurated in 1900. It marked the culmination of the breakwater’s construction at a time when the port of Erquy was booming. Since 2011, it has been replaced in its protective role by the new lighthouse. The breakwater was moved 150 meters westward to extend the harbor basin and the reclaimed land, adding 440 meters of quays with an average height of 14 meters. Standing 10 meters tall and weighing 700 kg, the new lighthouse is just as imposing as the old one. The upper section of the lighthouse, housing the light and the lighthouse body, was built within its hangar at the port of Le Légué.
The Cap d’Erquy cape is a rare site: pink sandstone cliffs and rocks, wild heathland, pine forests, dunes, and emerald waters along its unspoiled beaches. A protected natural site of 170 hectares, Cap d’Erquy is the pride of the town. Along the way, one can see a cannonball oven, an 18C guardhouse used to watch the sea and raise the alarm; vestiges of a warlike era, as well as traces of old quarries. The pink sandstone of Erquy comes from a superposition of sand layers, dating back 470 million years. Its pink color is due to the presence of iron oxide. It is a hard, siliceous sedimentary rock that was used for paving streets and for construction, the heyday of which dates back to the beginning of the 20C. Pink sandstone remains a prized and valued material of identity to this day. Workers quarried the stone on site, then the paving stones were transported by wagons to the quayside below, to be shipped to even Paris to pave the streets! Le Lourtuais, Le Portuais, Lanruen and Le Guen are four wild beaches separated by rocks.
The Erquy shot furnace is one of only five preserved in Brittany, a testament to coastal defense. Built in 1794 during the French revolutionary Wars, it heated projectiles for firing red-hot shot at enemy ships, creating an incendiary effect. This type of furnace used the reverberation of heat from the firebox onto the brick vault to heat the cannonballs. It was fueled by wood. It operated in conjunction with the guardhouse and three coastal artillery batteries. The first two batteries were armed with a 36-pounder cannon, while the third, known as the Bouche d’Erquy, was armed with two 12-pounder cannons, defending the Port-Blanc cove to the north and the Erquy roadstead to the south. In 1858, the Erquy artillery battery was armed with two 30-pounder cannons and two 22 cm howitzers. The shot furnace was restored in 1993 by the Armorican Restoration Society with financial assistance from the Côtes d’Armor General Council.
The first lifeboat shelter was 26 meters long, and the slipway approximately 50 meters. The second lifeboat shelter building is a rectangular structure, consisting of a ground floor with a vaulted roof. The slipway, equipped with 158 cm gauge rails, has a total length of 128 meters. It is accessible at all tides.
South of the Cape, the port of Erquy has developed, with numerous restaurants and cafes in front of the pier. A footbridge in the port allows passage over the fish market and leads to the end of the jetty, from where the ferries to Bréhat depart for the Erquy-Île de Bréhat crossing.
The town of Erquy on the lighthouse (phare):https://www.ville-erquy.com/culture-et-patrimoine/patrimoine/phare/
The town of Erquy on Cap d’Erquy (Cape) : https://www.ville-erquy.com/environnement/cap-d-erquy/
The town of Erquy on the Port d’Erquy : https://www.ville-erquy.com/sports-et-loisirs/ports-de-plaisance/le-port-d-erquy-histoire/
The Cap d’Erquy tourist office on Erquy : https://www.capderquy-valandre.com/en/erquy
There you go folks, a dandy road warrior ride into magical Côtes d’Armor in my lovely Bretagne. The coastal ride is wonderful and worth the detour to Erquy, me think ,Again, hope you enjoy the post on curiosities of Erquy !!! as I
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
