Sou'Westers On Tour: Brittany

I should have entitled my previous post 'Normandy' because that's where I was. I am now in Brittany hence the title of this one.

After leaving Mortain I crossed over, at some point, from being in Normandy to being in Brittany. The transition wasn't obvious but gradually the landscape and the architecture changed.

This was my third day in France. Ride with GPS told me that the terrain on this section would be fairly flat so I thought I would try to get some miles in the bag. I was aiming for the municipal campsite in La Ville es Nonais, about 110 Km.

Much of the route would be on the Voie Verte (disused railway transformed for non-motorised recreational use).

The route was dotted with old stations and signal boxes that have been converted to homes like this one.

These Voie Verte are great for cycling. You can get from A to B without encountering any traffic, or other bicycles. It was very quiet. For the most part I had it to myself. However, I do have some issues with them. First, they are very dusty.

Dusty Bags

Secondly, by their very nature of being old railway lines, they tend to skirt round the edges of the towns and villages, I felt I was missing some of the life of the area. It was very scenic, but because there was so much of it, I found this leg to be quite a long grind despite it being quite flat. You can have too much of a good thing.

Thirdly, the roads around here are so free of traffic anyway, next time I would plan to do more on the tarmac. Although, parents on the school run are just as frazzled as they are at home I found.

I must have eaten the croissant already

I didn't come across a cafe on the Voie Verte at the appropriate time, so I made my own by a river, not far from Mont St Michel. Luckily there was a patisserie nearby, so I had a croissant to go with the coffee.

Talking of Mont St. Michel...

I arrived at the municipal campsite in Le Ville es Nonais, next to the River Rance, a few miles south of St Malo, around 4pm where I set up camp and had my final packet of Uncle Ben's Rice (Special Mushroom) for supper.

Still going okay on my own, but I did say good morning to a cow (her name was Madame le Bouef) and I did catch myself talking to myself at lunch. No one was sitting nearby. Would I have done it had there been?...

Over the next couple of days I stopped overnight in Pordic and then Louannec.

Camping at Louannec.
The beach was the other side of the hedge.

Over the hedge

There was not much to report over these couple of days except, the further I got in to Brittany the more hilly it became. I was very grateful for my triple chain ring. The inner ring got a lot of use!

But the hills were no problem. On the steep ones I just dropped down in to first gear and took my time, saving my legs for flatter sections.

I was really starting to enjoy being on my own now. I could please myself: stop when I wanted to take a photo, admire a view, have lunch and so on. Having said that I did speak to my wife quite a lot on the phone. She reckons I spoke to her more than I do when I'm at home!

I went through some lovely little harbour towns and villages and there were some great coastal views too. Here are a few pictures:

Morlaix Viaduct

My final stop before Roscoff was to be Morlaix. As usual it was late afternoon and I was heading for the municipal campsite, only to discover when I got there that it was currently closed. A big red sign FERMEE on the gate. Fortunately someone was there doing some maintenance. They suggested I try the Auberge de Jeunesse (youth hostel) back down the hill in the centre of Morlaix.

This turned out to be an excellent choice close to the centre of Morlaix. I was able to have a beer, watching the world go by, and an excellent dinner at the Le Grande Terrace.

It was nice to sleep in a proper bed too.

After a good night's sleep and some breakfast at the Auberge, I set off on the short 30km ride to my final destination of Roscoff.

J'ai arrivé á Roscoff!

I arrived in time to have a pre-lunch beer and watch a boules match in progress.

Le jeu de boule

I had to share my peanuts with a local

Talking of lunch, one of the great benefits of cycling several hundred miles in a week is that you can eat whatever and as much as you want, in fact you have to. So, I will finish off with a few photos of food (personally, I like to see photos of food):