Ile de Brehat off the northern coast of Brittany is one of the great sea kayaking destinations with a superb physical landscape and some very entertaining tidal streams in which to play. Anyone who circumnavigates the island cannot fail to be impressed by the diversity of the paddle.

One of the more unusual features is the restored Birlot tidal mill on the west coast. Originally built between 1633 and 1638 it graually fell into disrepair, although it was in use until about 1920, when the new baker started to import flour from the mainland. The site was purchased by the island in 1990 and work to renovate the building started in the late 1990's.

The mill can operate for 6 hours in each tidal sequence, 3 hours before and after low water. It was used to extract flour from wheat, barley and buckwheat.

If paddling in the area co-incides with high water it is a fascinating building to paddle close to and provides and interesting link to the past when these features were far more common. In the 19th century it is estimated that there were about 5,000 tidal mills and water mills in Brittany but today very few remain.

Further examples of tidal mills can be seen in the harbour at Ploumanach, just over 20 miles to the west of Brehat.

Kevin Mansell

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