Monday 21.05. 2018

Roche Torin - Tremereux

The passage through St. Malo was every bit of awful as we thought and more. Those details will have to wait because first I have to tell you that our hotel wanted 17 Euros for breakfast! Taking the proverbial or what? One can enjoy a three course lunch for less and having spyed on what was available, it was nothing out of the ordinary. So we forewent breakfast deciding to collect croissants on the way (less than two Euros!)

Famous but best avoided

Our route this very early morning took us on an unnecessary tour of local villages which had nothing to offer, not even a boulangerie. Nine kilometres of wasted pedal power. We did, however, see the sea and this has been a very rare occurrence indeed. We shared this view with tens of motor homes all seeking a free holiday.

Bearing in mind St Malo is a good sized town, our route meandered all over the place finally losing us in the middle of nowhere. Might have been better had we stayed lost: St. Malo was a nightmare! Thousands of people had descended down to the harbour to make the most of the fine weather, the seaside and the holiday. Now, we are used to pushing our bikes up hills but pushing on the flat really went against the grain. But push, we did in order to save the general public from a battering from an overweight bicycle!

We thought we were doing pretty well to reach the other side of the town but more trauma was in store. We knew we had to cross a barrage called Rance - we saw it and took the slip road and oh my, the traffic was hurtling passed. The barrage had no cycle lane, only a narrow pedestrian walkway accessed by steps. With Hurculean effort we heaved the bikes behind the barrier and walked across. If we thought we had succeeded in a successful traverse, we were wrong! The bridge was up and so traffic was held behind the barrier for some fifteen minutes so there was a lot of it! The bridge came down, the motor bikes revved up and the pent up drivers roared ahead. We had to walk this road for some three hundred metres (worse than the A 35). Terrifying doesn’t adequately describe the ordeal.

But we survived so that we could get a little bit lost in Dinard.

After over ninety kilometres, we arrived at our B and B, greeted by several exuberant dogs and their human companions, and offered a beer. We managed to get to our room just before we keeled over. Just enough energy to consume a pizza before teeth cleaning and bed.

Quite a day!

Tuesday 22. 05. 2018

Tremereux - Erquy

After yesterday, anything was likely to be an anti climax but a very welcome one. Our host hovered while we are our breakfast (in case we walked off with it?) and determinedly made conversation in French which is fair enough but was a bit of a brain stretch for first thing in the morning.

We covered lots more meandering on very quiet roads. The route planners have certainly chosen roads and byways with little or no traffic which is relaxing. The price paid is lots of hilly bits and some pretty challenging terrain. We have done a lot of trekking along rough paths which would have been possibly too demanding for our other bikes. Thanks to the dry weather the surfaces are bumpy but generally hard; after heavy rain the going would be a good deal soggier and heavy going. Our bikes have withstood all the bumps, stones, gravel, tree roots and sand without disgorging us into the ground.

We really have seen the sea today and are actually by the sea for our overnight accommodation. A less strenuous and nerve racking day all round. Still fabulous weather!

No idea what tomorrow holds so watch this space.