Legend tells of the mysterious valley close to Trehorenteuc, which is supposed to be the domain of the fairy Morgan, sister of King Arthur.
Morgan was betrayed by her lover so she put a spell on the valley so all unfaithful lovers would be imprisioned in the valley forever.
The church of Ste Onenne lies just outside the forest and has a bronze statue of the abbot Gillard who renovated the church in 1942. He wanted to mix the diverse beliefs of Christianity, the legends of King Arthur and and the Celtic stories.
The mosaic illustrates a white deer surrounded by 4 lions symbolic of an appearance of Lancelot.
The red door has a message above which translates to " the door lies within yourself", leaving a message for eternity.
The Golden Tree
In 1990 after ahuge fire devastated the "the valley without return", an artist wrapped a huge chestnut tree with gold paper as a symbol of its vulnerability, preciousness and the renewal of nature. Five other trees mark the courage of firemen.
As we walked we came across several groups of young school children on excursion with teachers and parents, learning about the legends of the forest.
We walked a circuit of about 4 kms which took us over a small wooden bridge, past the Mirror Lake of the Fairies and eventually to the top where we had a view over the entire valley.
The exercise was good for us and we enjoyed being in the forest after so much time spent tramping the streets of Medieval villages. I found it interesting to note that many walkers are quite elderly particularly where walking track surfaces are reasonably even.
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