Not to be missed under any circumstances when you visit the Heart of Brittany is the village of Huelgoat. Located in the Parc Naturel Régional d’Armorique, in the very heart of the Monts d’Arrée, you will be charmed by the natural beauty of this unspoiled site, its legendary forest, huge chaos of boulders and rocks, archeological sites, the lake and rivers.
Others before you, like the painter Paul Sérusier and men of letters like Victor Ségalen fell under the spell of Huelgoat, a place of calm and serenity lending itself to inspiration.
As you will discover, the magnificent chaos of huge boulders which leads from the edge of the lake beyond the rocky caverns along the Rivière d’Argent and through the forest, arouses both the surprise and admiration in the visitor.
You may well wonder how this amazing rock formation was created.
Legend has it that the giant, Gargantua, furious because of the poor welcome he was given by the local inhabitants, threw huge boulders from the area of Léon in the north of Finistère to Huelgoat. Another explanation, geological this time, claims that the rocks were formed in the depths of the earth from the fusion of liquid masses and then moved up through the earth’s crust. The rocks solidified when they cooled down and then split.
As you walk in the forest you will discover many geological curiosities.
Do you know how to move the famous “Roche Tremblante”? If you know where to find the right pressure point and push against the rock with your back, even a child could move this 100 ton “stone”. You just have to know exactly where to lean.
Do you have the nerve to go down into the Devils’ Cave (La Grotte du Diable)? As it leaves the lake, the Rivière d’Argent falls 20 metres and disappears under the boulders of Le Chaos, into a cavern that you can visit.