For the 15km between Gouarec and Mur-de-Bretagne, the N164 skirts the edge of Quénécan Forest, within which is a series of artificial lakes created when the Barrage of Guerlédan was completed in 1928. It's a beautiful stretch of river, peaceful enough despite the summer influx of campers and caravans.The best places to stay are just off the road, past the villages of ST-GELVEN and Caurel. At the former, the ravishing Hôtellerie de l'Abbaye Bon-Repos (tel 02.96.24.98.38; €40–55; closed Tues evening & Wed in low season) is an absolutely irresistible, inexpensive hotel-restaurant, nestling beside the water at the end of a venerable avenue of ancient trees, and housed in the intact outbuildings of a twelfth-century Cistercian abbey. Porthole-like windows pierce the thick slate walls of its six cosy guest rooms, to look out across extensive riverfront grounds to the dramatic wooded slopes beyond. From just before CAUREL, the brief loop of the D111 leads to tiny sandy beaches. At the spot known, justifiably, as BEAU RIVAGE (beautiful bank), a lavish holiday complex features the Nautic International campsite (tel 02.96.28.57.94; closed Oct to mid-May), and the Hôtel Beau Rivage (tel 02.96.28.52.15; €40–55; closed Mon evening & Tues in low season), plus a restaurant, a snack bar and a 140-seat glass-topped cruise boat.
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