LANDERNEAU

Landerneau is a small town in the Cornouaille along the Elorn River and is famous for its two churches as well as the Pont de Rohan. The Pont de Rohan was built in the 16th century. It is lined with picturesque houses with overhanging upper storeys, one of the last inhabited European bridges. You can see that many of them are covered in slate. When I crossed it, I planned on finding a sandwich shop where I could buy my lunch--I was extremely hungry. Sadly, there were only sit-down restaurants and they were no longer receiving people for lunch since it was already past 2PM. Another restaurant was just serving fries and kebab dishes which I didn't really want. Instead of giving in to my hunger, I ended up getting frustrated and not buying anything. On an empty stomach, I quickly explored the town. On the right bank of the river are many old houses such as the maison de la sénéchaussée built with stone from Logonna in 1664. The lower level now serves as the tourist office (closed when I was there). The église de Saint-Thomas Becket de Canterbury is a 16th century church with a belfry porch with three superimposed balconies. Right next door is the ossuary chapel erected as an annex to the church in 1635. Back across the bridge, is the église St-Houardon with a beautiful granite porch from 1604. Feeling starved half to death, I was so glad to come upon a large bakery while driving out of town. I stopped and bought some sandwiches and drinks that I planned on eating when I reached my next destination for the day, the parish close of La Martyre.