A quick stop at Pont-Aven

We are enjoying France so much that we have decided to extend our stay in this country and spend a few days in the Loire Valley. Can you guess why we have chosen precisely this place? The chateaux and, of course, the wine may have something to do with it, but we will tell you about that in a later post. On our way, we stopped in the village of Pont-Aven, which is a  twenty minutes drive south of Concarneu and still not far from the coast. We had planned to sleep in the Aires of the village, visit it in the morning and head off to the Loire Valley afterwards.

We awoke to a rainy morning but, fortunately, it cleared by the time we had breakfast, showered and were ready to go.

Before we started the visit we went to the tourist office to get some information about the place. I cannot do sightseeing without having a bit of a background of what I am about to see. This is not with the joy of  Gary who thinks I am piling up Dora with too much litter. “Everytime! As if Dora had extra storage to spare!”.

The village is not very big –just under 3,000 habitants–, it only takes a couple of hours to walk around, but it is worth it. The place looked sophisticated, glamorous and bohemian. As soon as you start wandering, you can get the feel of it being a middle class town which manifests in everywhere you look at: the houses, large and luxurious, especially along the canal; the restaurants, stylish and offering refined dishes; the gardens, bright and colourful, and the shops selling luxurious items such as chocolates and biscuits.

The river Aven divides the village in two. Being close to the sea, the river is tidal. When the tide is in river cruises take you to the coast. You can also sail and canoe here. However, when we were here the tide was out and the boats were stranded in the mud.

Gary has already bought his fishing rod –at last– ! and he regretted not having brought with him this time. In hindsight, it was a good call. Not sure if  he was allowed to fish, we don’t want to get into trouble with the locals.

It appears that the village has been prosperous most of its history, mainly due to the river. This river has large and bulky rocks sitting at the bottom of it, creating natural waterfalls. These waterfalls were used by monks and local noblemen as sites to build numerous mills. Very quickly, Pont Aven became the main supplier of grain to the region (that is why their biscuits are so famous). The mills brought so much money to the village that the locals continued to build as many as they could. It is claimed that, at some point, there were as many mills as houses!

If you are not a water activity lover you can simply enjoy the beauty of the place by walking up and down the river banks or through its woods for peace and tranquillity.

The success of the village coupled with the beautiful landscapes of its river banks and gardens, attracted artists from all other part of the world. Apparently, famous painters such as Paul Gauguin and Emile Bernard frequented this place. I know nothing about painting but we would have liked to visit the gallery to know their works. Unfortunately it was closed for refurbishment.

The lack of many hotels and B&Bs may suggest that the people who visit this village in peak season may be home owners, renters or people who specifically practise the water sports that they are able to do in Pont Aven. SM Susana now asked me to add my thoughts. Firstly, not the bloody fishing rod again. What really fascinated me about the village was its relationship with the river, but actually how the village had tried to control it.

Because of the mills, the river had been re-routed into sluices, with sluice gates to control the flow. Many of the houses even had parts of the river either flowing by or even underneath them.

Although the control is admirable, it is also somewhat sad. If you gave a river a purpose it would be to erode, to carry silt, to forge a route to the sea. So often now are our rivers controlled, the riverbanks concreted to prevent erosion. And yet, as in Boscastle, we are shocked when they flood, a natural process as far as rivers are concerned. Our reaction is more control, more flood prevention. Perhaps we need to realise the occasional consequences of living by a  river, which is usually seen as an increaser in house prices, is occasionally a problem with the insurance company! Live with it, or move.

It is still remarkable that the sluice gates, now no longer needed for the mills, are still intact and functioning.

GDR