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Gretel, Fergus, Elsbeth and Liam arrived in Craon from UK on Saturday evening. We cycled down from Laval (55km) to join them on Sunday.

Our departure was delayed by Kris’s bike breaking a spoke again on the outskirts of Laval – the second in two days.

The route was along another one of the Voie Verte cycle routes – along an old railway line again – nice and shaded and away from the traffic.

Kris and I stopped at the small supermarket in Craon to get a few supplies before meeting up with the family. We had a wonderful surprise when we suddenly saw Gretel and Fergus, also just entering the supermarket! So we shopped together and followed them back to the Gite (holiday house).

The first thing we saw was Elsbeth waiting at the gate, looking very well, and Liam riding around on his bike. He seemed happy with the Meccano gift and I was impressed with his dexterity in putting the motor together and making a simple model – a grass cutting device.

We had a wonderful family evening chatting over a braai. We all missed Lilette’s presence – she was unable to join us due to delays getting her British passport.

We spent Friday in Laval making arrangements and doing chores. Kris’s bike needed a new tyre, as his rear tyre had worn through to the canvas. We also had the chain changed on my bike. Once again we had good service from Declathon, with the mechanic doing extra checks and adjustments for us.

We researched a train to Paris, to catch our flight home, and decided on a hire car instead. We also bought a gift for nephew Liam. Kris’s bike also broke a spoke in the afternoon. So it was a busy day.

We spent Saturday exploring the town of Laval. It is a city with a bit of everything for the tourist – including an old city, a river, remains of castle ramparts and a chateau.

The highlight for me was the Laval Museum of Naive Art. The museum was created in homage to painter Douanier Rousseau, who was a native of Laval, and boasts that it has Europe’s finest collection of Naive Art. Many of the paintings showed scenes of Laval or French countryside, though there were also some gorgeous naive paintings from Eastern Europe, done on glass.

I was thrilled to see two paintings by Séraphine, as I was so moved by the French film about her life (it is a must see – ref http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9raphine_%28film%29)

Today was the last long ride of our tour, before we meet up with Gretel and family at Craon. We rode 85km to Laval, the city closest to Craon.

Once again we were well served by the Voie Vertes (green ways), being off road for most of the journey. We traveled for around 20km on country roads to the start of the Voie Verte. On the way we stopped at the small town of Céauce and bought a sausage in a baguette from an outdoor market – it was just like boerewors and delicious.

The next 20km were along an old railway line. The railway tracks are still in place in parts. People can hire rail cycle cars to ride up and down the tracks at Saint-Loup-du-Gast. We turned off the track here to look at the town, as it boasts that it has won awards for its street flower decor. It was very small but pretty.

We stopped again at the city of Mayenne to look around. The city is on the Mayenne river with a bridge and Chateau overlooking the river. We explored the outside of the Chateau and the church. We enjoyed the river views from the ramparts while eating our midday snack.

The next part of the ride from Mayenne to Laval was all along the Mayenne canal. What is notable about the Mayenne canal locks is that three of them house restaurants or bars. One had lots of people seated at tables outside it when we passed. Two of the locks had old flour mills attached to the weir (‘barrage’ in French). A number also had micro power generators attached to the weirs.

The road was very sandy and we arrived covered in grit. Coming in along a canal is a good way to enter a city. We just had to cross a bridge and we were in Laval. We spent a bit of time at the Office de Tourisme finding accommodation. Most of the bed and breakfasts could not accommodate us for three nights. Eventually we found one, which is nice but not good value.

This morning we were warned over breakfast that the route to Domfront would be up and down. Obviously the people issuing the warnings were not cyclists. There is a Voie Verte (Green Route) cycle path about 70km long all the way to Domfront on an old railway track. Although the countryside was hilly, the track was graded the whole way. Furthermore the vegetation next to the track creates a green belt all the way to Domfront. So we had a lovely ride on a quiet shaded track with no cars. We only stopped a few time for restorative traditional shortbread biscuits and peaches.

We arrived in Domfront around 1pm. The medieval castle and town are on a hill, which involved a long hill climb in low gears. We are now in Normandy and this is a defensive position looking out over Brittany.

We arranged our accommodation about 10km out of town at the Office de Tourisme. The lady there was personable and was doing a tour in English from 3-5pm, so we decided to join this tour after buying our food.

The tour was very informative and entertaining. She first took us through the castle, which is all in ruins – part of the keep and battlements remain (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_de_Domfront). Then we went through the old city learning about the architecture of the different houses – the oldest are timber framed. Quite a few of the city walls and towers remain, some of them are now part of houses. We were also shown where the Americans mistakenly bombed streets in the second world war. The town is known for underground cellars which interconnect.

We rode around 4km out of our way struggling to find our accommodation (in all we did 92km). We eventually back tracked to the town of Torchamp and got directions from a local elderly couple. Once again the Office de Tourisme directions were inadequate.

The accommodation is a very cute cottage next to the river and the hosts house. She has a lovely garden full of flowers along the banks. The cottage is like a dolls house. We very much enjoyed our breakfast the next day (as we were given eggs) and chat with our hostess, although her English is limited. Her husband farms in the area, they have 40 cows (compared to NZ where most herds are over 200).

It was good to be back on the road again, after three nights in Dinan.

Today we had a rambling country ride in overcast conditions. Our route took us through Lyvet, Pleudihen-sur-Rance, Miniac, Le Tronchet, Epiniac, La Boussac, Pleine Fougeres, to Pontorson.

The first part of our ride was on the Canal d’lle-et-Rance cycle path again to Lyvet – nice and peaceful in the early morning. We made good time, passing through mostly farmland (corn, cows and wheat) but also some forest (Foret du Mesnil). We arrived in Pontorson before noon and arranged our accommodation and bought some food.

Then we cycled along the “Moulin” cycle route to Mont-Saint-Michel. It was magical seeing the Saint-Michel monastery appear on the otherwise flat coastal horizon. We also stopped at an old windmill, that was actually turning in the breeze. There were panoramic views of the coast and monastery from here.

The Mont-Saint-Michel monastery and old town is unique in that it is built on a island attached to the land by a walkway and mostly surrounded by water at high tide (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_Saint-Michel). At low tide the land around it is mostly exposed and people can walk across the bay with guides.

When we got there it was low tide.

The first thing you get to are huge car parks. Then there are thousands of people walking along a road, with some buses too. We rode along with our bikes but were turned back when we reached  the entrance to the mount. We decided not to walk back without our bikes as it was too far at a few km and too crowded. There were also earth moving works happening on all sides, as the land around the island is slowly silting up and there are various projects on the go to reverse this.

We decided that the mont is better viewed from a distance, as all the romance is spoilt by the combination of construction work and crowds close up.

On the way to our accommodation we met a Korean couple walking along the road wheeling their suitcases behind them. The road had no shoulder and cars had to veer out to avoid them. They were looking for a specific Auberge that they had booked over the Internet. We helped them with directions and then soon passed the Auberge on our bikes. Kris pedaled back to reassure them that it was there and they were very relieved.

Our bed and breakfast was in the small settlement of Courtils, about 7km from the Mont. It is near a well known lookout on the beach which we visited first. The bed and breakfast was great – we had a huge room and the use of a kitchen and dining area downstairs, so we could make a proper meal with meat and veges. After our meal we went for another bike ride and enjoyed the quiet roads in the evening light, with the Mont on the horizon.

In all we did 101km.

We love Dinan so much, and our accommodation here is so comfy, that we decided to spend an extra day.

This is one of the towns with the most historic and natural beauty we have found (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinan). The medieval city is large and enclosed by the most extensive ramparts we have seen so far. You can walk along them. As the city is on a hill, you look down from the ramparts onto the Dinan port, viaduct bridge, river and farmlands below.

The medieval city itself is full of stone and wooden frame houses, mostly tourist shops, créperies and bars. There is also a castle on the ramparts. The Basilica of Saint-Sauveur was first constructed in the 12th century by a knight returning from the crusades. The is also a church of Saint Malo (15th century) that has some of the most beautiful stained glass windows we have seen.

We went down to the Dinan port on Sunday afternoon to see part of the ‘Nautical Jousting’ contest. Opposing boats were propelled towards each other by six oarsmen. Each boat had a platform attached on which a jouster stands with a lance. As the boats pass each other, the two jousters try to knock each other off with the lance. This continues until one falls in the water. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_Jousting for photos).

There was a carnaval atmosphere with the opposing teams in fancy dress – there were blue smurfs and also snow white and the seven dwalves. Loud music played as the boats faced each other off and the results were announced by a master of ceremonies. The contestants were in good spirits, drinking beer and dancing on the sidelines. In between the jousting there were also races on inflated inner tubes. We enjoyed some crépes and cider from a charity food stall.

We took a short ride out to the nearby port of Lyvet on Monday. Just before the port, there is a small sign saying “Menhir” pointing down a farm track. We went to have a look and found a large menhir sitting at a slant in the ground in a field. There was a sign in English that explained that it was dated to 2500-3000BC. There were indistinct markings carved on it. The local legend it that this is one of three menhirs that block the entry to Hell.

Port Lyvet has a mariner which is entered via a lock – this was created because the river is tidal. We enjoyed watching 4 yachts exit the lock. Part of the road bridge over the river swings out when the lock opens to allow the masted yachts to pass through.

We found a good bike track back to Dinan port, through a nature reserve alongside the river.

Today we managed to stay on smaller, less busy country roads by avoiding crowded coastal routes and the bigger towns. The rain also stayed away until late in the afternoon and there was even a bit of sun in the morning. In all we did 86km.

We first spent a bit of time exploring the old city of St Brieuc, there was a Saturday morning market on at the center. We then found a bike route to Hillan. It gave us some lovely views of the coast and river inlet from up on the hills amongst the corn fields.

After Hillan we took country roads through the towns of Morieux,Planguenoual, St-Alban, La Bouillie, Hénanbihen and  Plancoet. All the towns had churches with tall steeples in the middle and stone buildings all round. Plancoet was the largest town we passed through and we stopped for coffee here. It is gorgeous with stone buildings looking onto the Arguenon river banks which are green with gardens on either side. We sat outside at the cafe overlooking the river. The cafe was not full and we were entertained when a older couple with two young boys pushed two small tables together. The cafe owner objected and separated them out again. The family then left to go to the cafe across the road (good for them).

From Plancoet the road seemed promising with a separate bike path. However this disappeared as soon as we left the town. This caused us to blunder onto a couple of side roads that then petered out looking for a bike path. After about 5km on a busy road, we were pleased to turn off onto a quiet secondary rood (after Corseul). This took us to Dinan via Quevert. The entry into Dinan was so painless that we were surprised when we saw a sign saying we were only 3km from Dinan.

True to form it started to drizzle (first rain of the day) as we entered Dinan. It was busy in the center with lots of slow traffic and pedestrians; being late on Saturday afternoon.

We were lucky to find a bed and breakfast on the outskirts of town with a private entrance and kitchenette and plenty of space. We went back into town in the evening but soon returned as it started to rain again.