Walk of the Month
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April 2007
Brocéliande - Le Château de COMPER
10kms 2½hrs
Comper (Ille-et-Vilaine) lies on the D31,
2kms east of Concoret.
From Paimpont travel north on the D773
and turn right where signed after about 4kms. Park in front of
the Chateau.
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This gentle stroll in the enchanted forest
of Brocéliande, the home of the legendary court of King
Arthur, will give you a feel for its magic, before you visit
the fairy-tale Château de Comper at the starting point.
The château now houses the Centre de l’Imaginaire
Arthurien - an exhibition of tableaux and videos that will
acquaint you with the legends and their place in the forest.
Directions
1. From the
Château de Comper, follow the road downhill towards the
lake. At the fork before the lake, you should turn left (signed
Muel), and keep to this road for about 200m to a sharp right
hand corner. Ignore an obvious track going off to the left;
take instead another track on the left a few metres farther on
- a much overgrown track through gorse and broom. It is marked
by a faded blue flash on a telegraph pole. This narrow path
continues uphill through the bushes for about 1km, finally
arriving at a hard-surfaced clearing, the junction of several
tracks.
2. Turn left
downhill and follow the road for about 800m. After a right-hand
bend there is a barrier on the road ahead. Here turn left and
follow the hard track downhill. Soon the track bears right, and
almost immediately afterwards you see a blue arrow urging you
to turn right. If instead you continue ahead for about 50m
here, you come to the rocks known as Les Trois Roches de
Trébran, hiding in the forest on the right. Now return
to that blue arrow at the junction and follow its direction
uphill. The concrete rectangle beside the junction is the
remains of the swimming pool at the German camp. Continue
uphill past the ruined buildings of the camp, where you can
still see surviving vegetation obviously alien to the forest.
After two cross-tracks, an arrow on a tree directs you left.
Soon turn right to reach the camp entrance, and then left to
the main road.
3. Cross
straight over the road (signed la Feuvrais). First bear left,
then at the fork, leave the tarmac road, keeping right. After
about 700m, bear right at a sort of T-junction and shortly
arrive at a tarmac road. Cross straight over and head uphill
towards the pine wood. At the cross-tracks before the wood,
turn sharp left and continue downhill with very pleasant views
for about 10 minutes. Several tracks are crossed as you go, but
your track keeps straight ahead towards the church at Concoret
and is clearly waymarked. Cross a small tarmac road, and on
reaching a second, turn left (church spire now on the right).
At the cross-roads, turn right towards Concoret.
4. Arriving in
Concoret, you have the church on your left. Turn left around
the church wall and keep straight ahead, following signs to
Comper and blue waymarks. About 250m from the church, turn
right at a cross-roads. Soon this road itself bears to the
left, but you continue ahead following the Circuit de Comper
with its blue flashes. At a big cross-tracks with fine views to
the right, turn left.
5. At the
tarmac road (250m), turn left. After about 100m, turn right
beside a house (there seem to be orange dots rather than blue
here). Continuing ahead, the track turns sharp right and comes
to a main road. Cross straight over to the broad earthy track
opposite. After a track on the right is passed, you arrive at a
track junction. Here you take the track bearing away to the
right (a farm is seen in the distance ahead). After about 300m,
cross a narrow tarmac road and continue ahead past the farm.
The road now bears right past other houses and farm buildings
to reach a larger road. This is the D31 and here you turn left
for about 250m to reach the Château de Comper.
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from Walking Brittany
Red Dog Books 2005
© Judy Smith
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