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Côtes d'Armor - cabanes de pêche

Updated: Jan 17


a renovated  fishing cabin next to the remains of two others
a renovated fishing cabin next to the remains of two others

The river Rance, which flows into the sea at Saint Malo on the north coast of Birttany, is tidal for its first 20 kilometres. The water passes though the Maremotrice electricity generating barrage at its mouth, but the incoming tide still flows up river as far south as the lock at Port Lyvet. The height of incoming the tide is still substantial even that far up river.

When crossing the Port Lyvet  rolling bridge at low tide the amount of sticky grey mud on view is astounding. The Rance is carries a heavy burden of soil and deposits mud on its banks at every outgoing tide. It doesn’t run particularly straight, and between La Vicomté and Port Lyvet it twists markedly - the bends are where most of the mud is deposited.

At low tide the mudflats are accessible (with boots or waders) but at high tide they are a metre-and-a-half deep. Before the barrage  was completed in 1966 the salt seawater swept into the river bringing sea fish with it – plaice, sole, sea bass, flounder, mullet, eels. The fish were disoriented by the fast currents rounding the bends in the river so that made a good place to catch them. The barrage has cut down the number of new sea fish arriving, but the water is still fairly salty and some of the originals bred a local population which still stocks the lower river.

Over the years the combination of sea fish at high tide and access to the mudflats at low tide led to a proliferation of fishing cabins. These were not designed like the fashionable beach huts lining the promenade at Deauville. They were made from what was to hand, pieces of found wood, old planks, old doors, old windows, and they stood on spindly legs often cut from branches of trees on the bank. The only necessity apart from a walkway giving access from the bank and some shelter from the elements was a railed veranda for the fisherman to stand on and a very sturdy vertical pole four metres high in front of it.  A spar pivoted on the pole (controlled by a rope passing through the pulley at the top of the pole) raised and lowered the “carrelet”, the square fishing net. The net was simply dropped to the bottom and then raised, catching anything swimming above it.



At the end of the last war, fishing was a livelihood; the results fed families and earned money in the market; the cabins were used twice a day at the top of the tide. But since then the prosperity of the region has increased, food is plentiful, a diversity of occupations have appeared, and in 1966 the Maremotrice barrage cut down the number of sea fish arriving at Port Lyvet. Fishing became an occasional hobby. The cabins were no longer fully maintained. Then in 1999 storm Xynthia destroyed numbers of them. The river swept away the major debris, though leaving the legs still firmly fixed in the mud. All that remained were a few skewed walkways and a few cabins now more rickety than before.

In 2017 an association was formed to restore a couple of cabins to demonstrate this uniquely Breton heritage and encourage their re-use. In February 2021, carrelet fishing (which had been a feature of the Breton coast and most of its rivers) was listed as a national intangible cultural heritage. The association, sponsored by the mayors of Le Vicomté and Port Lyvet, received seventeen applications for re-using “cabane de carrelet” sites.  Slowly more cabins have been restored. Some of them have even been seen at high tide with a carrelet ready to drop. But others are let out by the day. There are absolutely no modern conveniences, but some people like the idea of simply being able to relax on a platform on stilts while watching the water flow past, others listen to music on their headphones and still others organise a group of friends, a few bottles of cider and an afternoon maybe trying a bit of fishing.

This is the closest the Rance will ever get to having beach huts!

It's hardly mid-tide, but the "carrelet" nets are ready to drop
It's hardly mid-tide, but the "carrelet" nets are ready to drop

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