Brittany - The Raw Coast Of France

Hardly any other European coast is as rugged as that of Brittany. The shore between Saint-Malo in the north, Brest in the west and Lorient in the south extends for 900 long kilometres and if you follow every fissure and winding, that distance multiplies by four. Brittany is a sea of cliffs in the ocean, raw and unexpectedly charming – like the people who live here. Mare TV presents the people who go about their work in this stark, spectacular landscape. Belle-Île-En-Mer boasts beaches with waving palm trees, set against a backdrop of high cliff walls. At very low tide, the Bretons harvest here the species of crab they call 'pouces-pieds' or “big toe” because of its appearance. The job is dangerous, but lucrative – this seafood is highly coveted particularly in Spain. On the Guérande peninsula a rare spectacle is played out every two weeks: in the moor that was previously a bay and even now is flooded by the ocean twice a day, workers arrive with long rakes to harvest salt – just as they did a thousand years ago. However, time has not stood still everywhere in Brittany. The weather, winds and the colours change faster than the times and the people here have adjusted to this rhythm. They are sometimes gruff, sometimes charming but always Breton.

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