We got interested in Plouha after learning the story of the father of a friend of ours. He was shot down over Brittany on January 5, 1944, his parachute landing in a tree in the middle of the Brest Peninsula. After spending time in Plouray, he and a group of others gradually moved north, eventually arriving in Plouha. They walked to Bonaparte Beach and were picked up by motor gun boats and taken to Britain.

The village of Plouha is quite small, population less than 5,000. But the War Memorial behind the church in the center of the town contains many names of local boys killed in World Wars I and II (as well as a few from Algeria and Indochina).

From the village you can make your way to the coast and its beaches and the falaises, or cliffs, the tallest cliffs in Brittany. We went to the Pointe de Plouha, which is 341 feet (104 meters tall, the highest point on this part of the coast. It is on the GR34, or Old Custom Officers Path, which we also walked on in Perros-Guirec.

View from the Pointe de Plouha. Calm today, but very active during World War II.

The Pointe is about 3 miles/5 kilometers from the center of Plouha, down a variety of narrow roads. There is a small parking area and from there you can walk (carefully) out to the Pointe de Plouha. The walk is only about 10 minutes, but parts of the path are rough and narrow, so you'll want Enjoy the views and imagine what it was like during the war.

Bonaparte Beach is about 4 kilometers from town and was the site of many sea evacuations; over 100 British, Canadian, and American airmen were rescued from there.

These were organized by the villagers and the Shelburne Escape Line, a Resistance organization that helped allied airmen shot down over France. They rescued the men and arranged for them to be evacuated to England so they could resume their duties.

Fun fact: The leader of the escape boats from Bonaparte Beach was Lieutenant-Commander David Birkin, father of the British actress/French chanteuse Jane Birkin (1946 - 2023).

War memorial behind the Plouha church, honoring many citizens of this small town that died in World Wars I and II.

We stopped in Plouha en route from St-Malo to Perros-Guirec. It made a nice break in the drive and was a fascinating place to see. Other stops along the route might include Saint-Brieuc Paimpol, or Tréguier.

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