Beside Pontivy’s waterfront, a section of the vast Nantes-Brest canal, great squares stand in Napoleonic magnificence with their pollarded chestnuts and their grand civic buildings.

Walk away from the canal, and in a moment you’re in the main shopping street, running roughly north-south and extending, seemingly, for miles, crowded with businesses and parked cars.

Turn north along the narrow, shadowy pavements, and in moments you’ll be in the cobbled heart of the medieval town. Here, the squares with their half-timbered buildings are seemingly plonked down wherever their original builders felt like putting them, with none of the severely ordered planning of the waterfront area.

Here, too, is Pontivy’s little pedestrian zone, where you can shop for toys or computer games, sit over a pizza or a crêpe, or simply follow your nose around winding lanes.

Pontivy’s castle stands atop a green mound like an afterthought just outside the main town. It still belongs to the Rohan family, whose name lives on in the much smaller town of Rohan, down the road in the gentle hillsides of inner Morbihan with their pastures, quiet forests and scattering of ancient farms.

Head south from Pontivy, following the route of the summer tourist train from Auray and you’ll find yourself in a lonely countryside of sharp hills and twisting roads, high above the valley with its canal. Buzzards soar above stands of old oak, forgotten hamlets loom unexpectedly around the shoulder of a hill. Roads rarely follow the exact line of a railway, because roads climb and dip where railways can’t.

But if you trace the country lanes in the general direction of Auray, you’ll soon come to the Site du Castennec. Here, a razorback ridge offers a striking view over the pretty town of Saint- Nicolas-les-Eaux, the Blavet river and the railway itself. On the horizon you can see the spire of the chapel of Saint-Nicodème, with its surprisingly famous fountain.

Return trip to days gone by
Rail enthusiasts as well as other sorts of day trippers are in for a treat in Morbihan. Every summer, all being well, the non-profit association Parb’Er runs a schedule of 1950s-1960s multipleunit trains taking you from Auray to Pontivy and back – not least, back in time…

Contemporary art in chapels
‘L’Art dans les Chapelles’ celebrates its 15th year. The ever-popular itinerant exhibition brings life to the little chapels scattered throughout the Pays de Pontivy and Vallée du Blavet, forging a link between the area’s rich church architecture and contemporary art.

The works of 16 artists of international fame will be displayed in 24 churches between July 1 and September 10. This is a unique opportunity to visit many of the chapels otherwise closed to the public. There are guided tours along four different itineraries.