Chapelle Saint-Cado et son pont du Diable

Belz

According to tradition, the Welsh monk Cado, fleeing Saxon persecution around 525, settled as a hermit on this desolate islet in the Étel ria. The foundation, ruined by Norse raids, came back to life in the 11th century: in 1089 Duke Alain Fergent attached it to the abbey of Sainte-Croix at Quimperlé, which would keep its revenues until the Revolution. The present chapel, Romanesque, dates from the 12th century and preserves in its south arm the famous "bed of Saint Cado", an altar of stone blocks marked with consecration crosses. Since Saint Cado had a reputation for curing deafness, the sufferer would come and slip his head into a cavity made at the base of this stone bed — a rite of contact that lived on very late in local memory. But the fame of the place rests above all on its causeway: tradition tells that Cado, too poor to build the dyke, had it built in a single night by the Devil, to whom he promised the soul of the first being to cross it — and delivered him a cat. The Devil, furious at having been tricked, is said to have tried to destroy the work and, slipping, to have left the print of his foot on the rock. A votive fountain, a square basin beneath a round-headed vault sheltered from the sea by a thick wall, completes the ensemble, together with the calvary standing on its platform.

Commune de Belz — Saint-Cado, la chapelle et le pont du Diable ↗

Getting there : Île de Saint-Cado, north-west of the village of Belz, in the Étel ria. Reached on foot or by car along the causeway from the D16; car park at the entrance to the island, which is explored on foot only, in about twenty minutes. The chapel is generally open during the day in the fine season; the fountain lies below, on the shore side, and is revealed at low tide. Coordinates taken on the chapel itself.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound