Anchorage

Anse de Bréhec

Shelter: NW, W, SW, S
Seabed: sand
Anchoring: Allowed

Drying cove on the Côtes-d'Armor coast of Brittany, at the foot of the Plouha cliffs between Paimpol and Saint-Quay-Portrieux.

Beach

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Approach from the E with the cliffs to port. Sand bottom, good holding on the outer part. Fully open from NW through S, so usable only in settled easterlies or with an offshore breeze. Large tidal range means the inner cove dries; anchor well off the slipway.

Practical

No marina services. A slipway and a small summer beach club are the only infrastructure. Port Lazo lies 2.6 NM to the N and Paimpol locked basin 5.4 NM to the NW for full provisioning and fuel.

Ashore

The GR34 coastal path runs along the cliff top and links Bréhec to Plouha and the Pointe de Plouha, at 104 m the highest cliffs on the Brittany north coast. A memorial above the beach marks the Shelburn escape line that evacuated 135 Allied airmen from Plage Bonaparte, just north of Bréhec, in 1944.

History

The cove was a landing point for the Shelburn network during the Second World War. Between January and August 1944, eight nighttime operations from the neighbouring Plage Bonaparte extracted downed Allied airmen to Royal Navy motor gunboats.