Dahouet has difficult access and the mooring area for visitors is limited. However, the entrance is beautiful and provides great views. The town of Val Andre is a good walk away and this is where the main shops and restaurants are located. Out of season, the restaurants and even the chip shop around the port are often closed.
Great for a one-off visit.
photo by Gavin May 2022
www.guide-du-port.com/port-dahouet-piegu…
Port de Dahouet – photo courtesy of R2prod
Picture by marinas.com
Picture by marinas.com
The entrance to the channel leading to the marina. Do not pass too close to the white and green tower. You can just see the red post on the far rock
Slipway below the monument. The white poles have now been replaced by red ones so are much clearer
Red poles as you enter the channel. The last 2 in the picture are on the pier
Entrance to the Marina from the seaside. Entrance is marked with normal red and green posts, yellow posts show the marina wall. There is not much of a lip to the marina “gate”. It is slightly deeper on the starboard side of the entrance as you go in.
The marina wall does not appear as a wall. Note the yellow posts
Entrance to the Marina – visitor’s moorings are on the right. No fingers – just a long pontoon. It is slightly deeper on the starboard side of the entrance as you go in. Do not moor between the pontoon and the slipway. photo by Chris de Putron 2022
Visitors pontoon. Note new restaurant
Facilities at the top of the visitors’ ramp. Still the same building but fine inside
Note tide gauge before the green pole. There is also one on the starboard side as you enter the marina. They were underwater when we arrived at high tide so we could not see them!
Marina office
The beach leading the Town – Plage du Val Andre
Dahouet is 55nm from Guernsey. Dahouet is across the bay ESE ish from St Quay.
The Guide du Port provides good marina opening times – www.guide-du-port.com/port-dahouet-piegu…
This is a great little marina and the Marina master is helpful. There is limited space on the Visitors pontoon and the marina master will do what he can to put you on spaces around the marina.
In July and August, there is more activity with restaurants open, a couple of art exhibition, a very interesting photographic exhibition of the history of this important town and an antique shop. “The Best of Frites” chip shop is also open. Do watch for the opening times as some are only open at lunchtime and some only in the evening.
There is a bus in the middle of the Summer which takes you to Val Andre. This is normally the school bus so as soon as the children go back to school, it is not available.
Facilities
2022 report. The facilities remain in the same building but it has been refurbished inside and maintained well. Showers are free. The door to the facilities is quite stiff to open from the inside. Watch your knuckles and children may not be able to get out.
photos by Robin Fuller June 2022
Port Office
The Port Office is on the other side of the marina.
We believe the marina opens about 2 hours either side of high tide on neaps and 2.5 hours on springs, but please check. Val Andre is ten mins on bike or 30 mins walk from the boulangerie. A lovely beach there.
Boulangerie is 10 mins walk from the visitors’ pontoon.
Dahouet itself is very quaint and usually not too crowded, however, Pleneuf-Val-Andre is a short cycle or walk along the coast. A typical French holiday resort with an excellent beach, casino and lots going on.
The entrance to Dahouet is a little forbidding but not as hairy as it looks. A bit like going into a bigger and wider version of Beaucette Marina entrance in Guernsey. When the wind is from the NW, there can be a bit of swell at the entrance so best no approach if too rough.
Cliff walk is good, not suitable for bikes. The cliff path route takes about 50 mins from visitors pontoon to the Val Andre centre.
There is a route back that was marked on a walking map which is a good shortcut. You leave Val Andre along the straight road one back from the seafront. At the end, turn left and go diagonally up a road to the right. Carry on up the road to a road marked as a Cul de Sac. Almost at the end of the road, there is a path on the left, to the left of a house. This comes out at a Chapel on the hill. Turn left and go around the Chapel and you will come out at the bottom by the lake next to the marina. A pleasant shortcut.
Report July 2023
In an ever-changing world, I am glad to say that say that little has changed here. HM is still as cheerful as ever and the inside door to Sanitaires will still take your knuckles off without care! Oddly, almost no pots on the way in, or I just failed to spot them. There is now a very clear LED sill height indicator. There is also a small dry stack, though with almost no boats! The brochure says they can handle 30 visitors, so do call on arrival as the Visitor pontoon can only take 4 modest boats. Note the V pontoon is next to the busiest slipway in France which will provide fine viewing entertainment and your French vocabulary may well expand. If arriving on a full tide,do not imagine that there is any berthing on the slipway side of V pontoon -you are on top of the boulders.
Rubbish is through the small boat yard but you need to collect an electronic tag from HM for black bag rubbish.
The monument at the mouth is now restored and that part of the coast path is back in action. To Val Andre,I think it is a different shortcut from the one mentioned elsewhere and is marked much of the way, but walk past the old boat shed for LA Pauline and then UP the hill for 100 metres and there is a pathway on the left. There is also now a signed walk around the headland and back.
The main supermarket is simply too far at 30 mins plus walk , which means provisioning here other than bread is an issue. There is a small 8 til 8 supermarket in Val Andre that might get you by. Arrive stocked or eat out. Pot luck from, apparently, superb grilled lobster down to inedible fish and chips.
There is good local walking, though for different and truly outstanding walks, take the bus by the baker to Erquy Church (15 mins) and there are numerous walks out in the Erquy Cap. Take the bus back and ensure you allow some time for the excellent cheese shop nearby.
In season a very small market on Saturday in the quayside and in high season the local shuttle bus is free.
As always, weather dependent, but you might plan a couple of days and stay a lot longer!
June 2024. Had a fabulous meal this evening at Bevan restaurant. Welcomed by lovely staff and fabulous food . Annabel
Gavin May report 2022
HM may well put you on a finger so call or you may get moved!
A few bars and restaurants in the port and a good baker. Not as long a walk to Val Andre and shops as I recalled via the beach, 30 mins, but from there it is another 30 mins to the supermarket. Quicker (so, 30 mins not 2 times 30 mins!) to take Rue du Port from Dahouet, alongside the boating lake. I think the bus next to the baker in Dahouet might take you to the church in Val Andre, which is not far from the supermarket
Pilot Guide – en.val-andre.org/
Contact information
Tel: 06 80 07 53 93 (mobile)
Tel no 02 96 72 82 85
Fax: 02 96 72 82 85
Website: www.pleneuf-val-andre.fr
Marina Master is Guy FRAVEL – very helpful, limited English. Do e-mail him if you plan to come and he will let you know if he has room to accommodate you.
E-mail – portdahouet@pva.bzh
Wikipedia – (french) – fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahouet
Pictures
www.panoramio.com/photo/14718770
www.trekearth.com/gallery/Europe/France/… Pléneuf Val-André Sites
www.trekearth.com/gallery/Europe/France/……
Tides – tide.frbateaux.net/56
www.pleneuf-val-andre.fr/marees
Map – en.val-andre.org/discover/map-of-the-sur…
Weather – www.fallingrain.com/world/FR/A2/PleneufV…
Long-term www.worldweatheronline.com/Dahouet-weath…
Web Cam – unfortunately, it does not show the visitors pontoon – www.pleneuf-val-andre.fr/webcams
Yacht Club
The Val-André YC have their clubhouse in Dahouët. The Secretary is Alain CHEVREL, contact details: alanchevrel@orange.fr or +33 (0)296.729.232. The Yacht Club contact is ycva@orange.fr
Restaurants
www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g120…
Markets
- Pléneuf – Tuesday
- Lamballe – Thursday
- Val-André – Friday
- Erquy – Saturday