The following are some of the ways to get in touch with each other:As if being curious is bad, the saying “curiosity kills the cat” has been popularized. As I stood knee-deep in the cool Atlantic Ocean, marvelling at the beauty and emptiness of the Plage de Port Lin, I decided this was nonsense: without this little detour, “just to have a look”, I’d never have discovered Le Croisic, on the Guérande peninsula. The downside is that time isn’t on my side: it’s past 5pm and I’m supposed to be at the big resort, La Baule-Escoublac, six miles east by now. But the presqu’île (a “nearly island”), as the French call it, tucked in the corner where Brittany meets Pays de la Loire, is calling out to be explored.
The temptation to take a swim in the late afternoon is too strong, so I join my friends and wade into water with a happy smile. Two elderly women wearing flowery caps smile and nod.Bonsoir“, as I take my initial strokes. After that, I walk a short distance up the coast. The rocky coastline is dominated by a row of villas from the Belle Epoque period. I walk down to the beach in front of these villas to enjoy the stunning view.
After getting back in my car, I decide that I will have enough time to complete a full circuit of the peninsula, even if I postpone my dinner reservation at La Baule. I then follow the coast road, west, while spotting menhirsAlong the way, there are small sandy beaches and a course of golf. As I get closer to the town of Le Croisic I see more people walking under the tall maritime pines and I park my car again to join them.
The jetty is where passengers usually board the foot ferry to the islands off the coast, such as Belle-Île-en-Mer and Hoëdic, I notice a crowd of people aren’t queueing, but fishing. The nets are lowered on lines and old men and teenagers peer over the railings. They have a happy camaraderie, and their chatter is carried on the wind.
In the sea behind them, I spot the Trehic jetty, an 850-metre stone pier that snakes into the bay nearby – its end point marked by a lighthouse – as well as the tip of the Pen Bron peninsula on the other side of the bay, which seems so close it could be within swimming distance. Its proximity reminds me what the two peninsulas embrace: 2,000 hectares (4,940 acres) of marshland and the salt ponds from which the famous Guérande salt crystals are harvested. It makes me hungry to think of adding it to my dinner. I then head off to La Baule.
Check-in at the hotel Hotel des DunesI am hungry and go to dinner. Restaurants are packed with families and friends enjoying a meal together. Waiters in black cloaks whirl between them holding trays. I arrive at the restaurant for my reservation. Restaurant Le M (starter, main course and dessert from €18.90), and tuck into briny oysters from Brittany and grilled fish with Mediterranean vegetables.
La Baule Escoublac welcomed its first tourists at the end of the 19th century. After the opening of a railway, it became a sophisticated tourist resort. Today, it is a mix of modern apartments, belle epoque-era timber-framed architecture, cafes, restaurants and souvenir shops. There are some beautiful 19th-century villas tucked into the back streets. They’re shaded by the cypresses and pines planted in 1820 to stabilise dunes. It is undeniably touristy, but that’s no surprise for a place with such a good beach.
The next day, I walk down to seafront, inhale ozone, and then wander along the shore. Finally, I sit for a few minutes on the golden sandy beach.
Some 15 minutes north of La Baule-Escoublac is impressive Guérande – its name familiar from the eponymous salt – with its mighty walls, towers, moats and grand medieval gate, La Porte Saint-Michel. The interior is delightful: bunting hangs from the ceiling above streets crowded with bakeries and arty boutiques.
The sun is out, so I sit down on the terrace in the main street of the creperie Lucien. I soon find myself eating a golden crisp crepe. galette complèteWith a cup cider, a ham, a cheese, and an egg in the middle. Although I am in Pays de la Loire region, the identity of this place is very Breton. The salt from the marshes nearby has been used in Brittany’s famous salted-butter for centuries.
Discover more about the harvesting process. sel de GuérandeI am off to the marshes. The shop and visitor center of the Terre de Sel cooperative (salt marsh tours from €10.50), I meet Simon Pereon, a paludier or salt harvester who has agreed to demonstrate how he and 220 fellow paludiers Salt harvesting takes place between June and Septembre. Since Roman times soldiers were paid in salt, hence the origin of salary. But the marshes we see today date back to around 1,000 years.
As we drive to Simon’s ponds, I start to see the appeal of working under the big skies and open air, and the reason he followed in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps. “The government classes us as ‘farmers’,” he explains, “but we work with seawater and the whole landscape is balanced between the land and the sea.” A long, toothless rake known as a Las, he moves the seawater between a labyrinth of shallow rectangular ponds that don’t drain, due to the clay mud beneath, coloured pink by the algae that thrives here. The water becomes more concentrated as it moves from one pond to another, due to the sun evaporating the water.
Simon sweeps the floor Las across the ponds and the water ripples gently: the process is hypnotic. He has neatly piled the salt on the dykes in between the ponds at the end of every day. “In summer, we harvest 50kg every day. “The job has evolved with tractors and machines over the years but we still use the same process for actual salt harvesting that’s been around since centuries.”
The tranquillity is a legacy that has been passed on through the generations: I only hear the calls of ibis and avocets in the adjacent lagoon. Simon begins at dawn and for the first hours, he listens to birds, watches the sun come up, and is alone. “I just watch the sun set at the end of each day.”
It sounds like bliss and, after I take another detour later that day through the salt marshes – the clouds in the reddening sky are reflected in the mirror-like ponds – I am reassured that curiosity can only be a good thing.
The trip was organized by Pays de la Loire TourismAccommodation provided by Hotel des Dunes La BauleDoubles from €65 room-only). Brittany FerriesCrossings are available from Portsmouth to St Malo. £229 Return for a vehicle and two people including en-suite cabin on the outward overnight leg
Carolyn Boyd publishes Amuse Bouche: Eat Your Way Around France. Profil, £10.99. To help support the Guardian, you can order your copy here guardianbookshop.com
