Tandem tour 6

Sunshine over the Bay of Morlaix at low water

Day 9. A nice easy one. We didn't manage to sleep late (there's only so much sleeping one can do after conking out at 2100), but we didn't get up early either and took a leisurely breakfast starting at 9. We enjoyed a stroll down to the beach and didn't get on the road until after 11.

View from Carantec

Roscoff

Lovely weather, cold and clear, and only two hours riding to reach the ferry terminal in Roscoff. Bought tickets, left our bags with the nice man at the desk and pottered around town for the rest of the afternoon. Beer and crisps on the beach at sunset and now waiting the last few hours in the wamth of the ferry terminal.

Great way to end our French tandem Velodyssey. Looking forward to a full English breakfast cooked by Paul's mum in Plymouth tomorrow!

Yummy cooked breakfast back on British soil

Tandem tour 5

Time for a tandem wash

Day 8. Tough one. Distance probably only about 80km, but all on dirt track, following an old rail line through the wilds and hills of Finisterre. And it was cold. It was actually snowing a little when we started off. We hardly saw another soul on the trail all day and the last (first) of the spring flowers vanished back into winter.

Still, it was beautiful. The fact that we really had to push ourselves to keep going makes it that much more of a satisfaction to be set up in a nice B&B at the end of the day.

Viaduct in Morlaix

Half-pint stop in Morlaix

It's certainly deepest Brittany here. All the road signs are in Breton and French. When we went into a very nice pub in Morlaix to ask about chambres d'hotes, and drink some delicious Breton beer, they were delighted to hear we were from Scotland, while making it clear the welcome would not have been as warm if we were English.

From here it's only another 25km to Roscoff. Our date with the ferry is at 2200 tomorrow evening, which should leave us with plenty of time for a little leisurely sightseeing along the way.

Tandem tour 4

Josselin Castle

The hats are coming out as it's getting colder

Day 7. The weather's still holding dry, for which we are suitably greatful. It is getting colder though and as we progress northwards it's obvious that we're moving back through the season, earlier spring flowers appearing as we go.

The wildlife spotting has been good, with deer, kingfishers and muskrats (including very cute babies)appearing regularly.

Long day today. We left the Velodyssey trail along the canal after about 60km, when it turned into a bit of a quagmire. There were more hills to climb away from the canal but the route was also more direct.

We've ended up in a small hotel in the non-touristy town of Rostrenen. Friendly staff. Here's the exciting part though - for the first time on the trip, we have access to a bath tub. This is going to be great!

 

Nice property along the canal

Tandem tour 3

Days 4, 5 and 6. The cold Gite was real cold. It felt as if the heating had been off all winter, but we didn't mind a bit. The water heated up overnight so we could have a hot shower in the morning. I tuned up the bike a bit and we returned the keys as promised.

Marie invited us in for coffee, which was welcome indeed, and we had a good chat. This made for a late start on the road, but it was nice. We headed for Nantes direct, rather than follow the coastal route all the way round. Doubtless it would have been nice, but it would also have added a day. With the weather as changeable as it is, delay could be lethal.

Machecoul

It was a good run anyhow, at least until we reached the nether parts of Nantes, where navigation became trickier. We had a lucky break and grabbed a ferry across the Loire, cutting out a good bit of industrial wasteland to reach the city centre direct.


Joining the Loire path



Ferry shortcut to Nantes

 Unfortunately, it was the busiest day of the year in Nantes. Piloting the fully laden tandem through thronging crowds was no joke and it took some time to find our way through and out, having lost the Velodissey route signs somewhere along the way.

War graves in Nantes

Once clear of the city we started looking for digs but it took another 20km to track something down. This time it was a farm family who pointed us in the right direction.

Dinner in our lovely little holiday apartment for the night

The next morning we finally joined the Brest-Nantes canal and had almost a full day of off-road riding, which was superb. Nearly all of it was unpaved though, making a tougher ride and we were well worn by the time we reached Redon.

Picknick spot along the Nantes-Brest canal

There was a bizarre encounter along the way with a group of maybe 30 'pilgrims', complete with pack mules, who stopped us on the trail to talk about their march against female circumcision in Mali.

We'd hoped to find a bed in Redon, but alas, the carnival was in town so we got out as fast as we could. There was a bit of a signage failure here but we eventually found our way back onto the canal and away from town. A dog walker in the next village directed us to a farm where she thought we could stop the night. It was up a long, steep hill. They only had a camping place, but the woman very kindly phoned a nearby gite d'etape (a Pilgrim's hostel), who agreed to put us up. He doesn't normally open for just one couple in winter, due to the heating costs, but with us it's no heating, no problem.

The friendly Gite du Menaret

The gite was very cool and not just by the thermometer. We even secured a bottle of delicious home-made cidre from the kind host. That helped to warm the cockles. We hit the hay early, after quite a sapping day.

This morning we were on the road at 9 sharp. It was grey and cold, but the trail surface was better and the riding was freer without the weekend walkers and cyclists. It being Sunday the day before, provisioning had been difficult and we went without cheese for a day. The calorie deficit was acutely felt this morning. We won't be making that mistake again.

The beautiful Nantes-Brest canal

Pretty Malestroit

We treated ourselves to a shorter ride of about 60km today and found a classic chambre d'hote (run by a clairvoyant, no less), right next to the trail in the stunnungly mediaevil village of Josselin.

Josselin town centre

We dumped our gear, found an amazing looking bar and enjoyed some superb Breton beer. Now, to complete the spoiling of ourselves, we're going out for steak and chips. Protein!!

Lancelot beers

And to bed





Tandem tour 2

Wow, ok. Day 3. It got off to a terrific start. Our lovely chambre d'hote hosts filled us up with a fantastic breakfast and off we rode, bathed in the morning sunshine. It was simply gorgeous. Beautiful terrain, nice trails.

The beach at Les Sables d'Olonne

The beach at Bretignolles

Vendee coastline

It was so nice that after an hour or two Sonja piped up, "This is the best day's Velodysseying yet!". Now, I consider myself to be a rational man. A man of science. But whenever somebody says something like that, well before the issue has been decided, my skin just crawls. I didn't say anything, I just hoped the curse wouldn't decend.

It all held together for about the next three hours. Then, IT struck. Around a bend on a forest trail, a patch of mud. We went down hard. My thigh somehow connected with the brake lever on the dismount, bending the lever in a rather surprising way and leaving a small contusion and a gratifyingly spectacular bruise on my thigh. Amazingly, nothing was broken on body or bike. The curse-bringer was unscathed. A plaster was applied to the thigh, two aspirin swallowed and we rode on.

The injury, one day later

It started to rain. Heavily. Then, a bit of good luck. We found an open cycle shop and picked up a couple of things we needed. Heartened, we rode on, branching off the cycle route to cut out a big detour. After another hour of rain cycling, we started hunting for a room for the night. We entered a pretty village and rode around a bit, looking, before asking in the boulangerie and then at the Mairie, which does duty as tourist information when there isn't one. Armed with suitably dodgy directions, as it turned out, we bravely pedalled off. It was still raining.

Long story short, we rode around for two hours, finding either no chambres or ones closed for refurbishment or due to some family catastrophe. The rain was finally easing off, but we had only about another half hour before dark and we were in the middle of nowhere. A wrong turn down a country road, a desperate appeal to a woman standing outside her house. The setting sun broke out under the rain clouds and (I'm not making this up) painted a last minute rainbow across the sky.

The wonderful woman we'd spoken to grabbed her mother's bike and took us to a nearby chambre d'hote. It was closed for refurbishment. Undeterred, she told us that she has a holiday house in the village that's normally let by the week, for 15 people. If we didn't mind the fact that the heating is off, we could stay there. Immediate acceptance, effusive thanks. Yes, it is cold, but it's also beautiful and feels like paradise to us. We just need to drop the key off in the morning. Hey, adventuring is all about taking the rough with the smooth.

Aux Quatre Saisons, St Gervais, sleeps 15 and ours for the night

Off-topic tandem tour news

On the road at last

We've finally grasped the nettle and shoved off on the big tandem ride to England.

Now two days and around 200 km in and it's so far, so good. We left Mortagne yesterday morning, just after a heavy rain shower and then had sun for pretty much the whole day. We holed up in a Formule 1 budget hotel for the night, which was cheap but right next to the motorway.

Corme Royal

Joining the Velodyssey route near St Agnant

Today, we had rain for 4 or 5 hours, which made for less fun riding, but the wind was from behind.
The cycle route is well marked, even if it varies widely in quality. We've had everything from smoothly paved off road track to unimproved muddy lane and even a section closed completely, making a detailed map essential equipment.

Chatelaillon plage

Through La Rochelle

Tonight we're treating ourselves to a more expensive but very nice chambre d'hote (les trois J in Jard-sur-mer - highly recommended). The proprietors invited us in for aperetifs and filled us up with delicious snacks and no doubt the breakfast will be equally superb (it was, we even got home-baked cake packed for the road).

The forecast looks reasonable for tomorrow and we're feeling in good shape, though tired. 10 hours of sleep should do the trick. We'll add photos after we get back. Travelling light means having only the Kindle for blogging. Night night...