Total Lac of fun (Guerledan Lake Area)

Member Name: hillcrestsan

Product:	Guerledan Lake Area
Date:	08/12/08 (363 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Clean, wholesome and accommodating

Disadvantages: Wasps. And bees.

Guerledan Lake - Brittany.
Or Lac de Gueledan (Same place but in French)

That French sure is tricky.

We just returned from France after a not-so-gruelling two week stint in the heart of Brittany. Many things were done and many things seen but one of the best was this large man-made lake - the biggest, allegedly, in Europe.

Humorously, it's owned by EDF, the electricity supplier. They also supply my electricity, so this computer is being powered partly by the lake I am writing about. Perhaps 'humorously' was either wishful thinking or exaggeration. Or just a lie.

The lake is a big long affair and has the look of a a drowned valley, which it is. You always get suspicious when you see leafless trees sticking out of the lake about 20 yards from the edge of it that were once happy little trees until someone decided to drown the buggers. It always looks a bit eerie but there aren't a lot of them.

The lake stretches from Mur-de-Bretagne in the East to Bon Repos in the West, about 10Km altogether.

In the middle is a 'resort' named Beau-Rivage. This sports a 'beach' (man-made) which is small but well contained and clean. There is sand for bucket-fun but don't dig too deep as you hit the underlying clay quite quickly. The lake makes for good swimming. It's shallow near the edges thus minimising the risk of child-death but gets deep enough for a bit of thrashing around. The swimming area is marked of with buoys and it is a good idea to pay close attention if you wish to avoid being the next Kirsty McColl. There are a lot of water-skiers and jet-skiers around which make good viewing but the noise is annoying after a while. The area is fantastic for water-sports but personally I'm not into that kinky stuff. Kayaks and canoes are available for a very reasonable fee - about 7 Euros an hour and you can get three in a kayak. Be warned - the French call canoes kayaks and vice-versa. The fools. You can board one of the lake pleasure cruisers here as well. The beach area is surrounded by pine forest and craggy cliffs making the area just....well......pleasant.

There is plenty of places around for food just off the beach. The little kiosk by the campsite is especially cheap for crepes and frites. At the end of the beach is a posher restaurant-cum-bar which has an excellent view out over the lake with decking that extends into the water a tad. Parking is ample but the French do like to come here during their holidays so be careful if the sun is out, I could imagine it getting quite packed.

Mur-de-Bretagne is the largest town on the lake. I'd like to tell you a bit about the town itself but as I never went into it I can't. There you go. Relieved? Details can be found www.tourisme.fr/tourist-office/mur-de-bretagne which is the tourist office. I suspect they have actually been. However, we have been to the lake beach here and very pleasant it is too. The swimming is good and the beach, which again is very tiny, is backed by well maintained grassy parkland with a small climbing frame for the kids. Again, there are canoes for hire from a small shack of a caravan run (on our visits) by 2 small French boys, about 14 years old. They will try their best to help you and laugh at your pathetic French. Do watch out for the wasps. They hate the British and still have a grudge about the Napoleonic wars. I was stung twice in half-an-hour.

To be honest I haven't been to any other parts of the actual lake. These two locations took up about 4 days of our holiday and really entertained the kids. They were well catered for. We did visit Bon Repos on the river that exits the lake in the West which has a medieval abbey and a rather nice market. It has a old French feel and is worth a visit too. The people in this area were very pleasant and accommodating. They are used to a multinational tourism and know the ropes.

If you're in the area, this will certainly be one of the places you visit and with kids it's a godsend - there are only so many markets they can tolerate.

Summary: Great for the area. In fact - all there is in the area.