Today we had a perfect canal ride – cool overcast conditions and a great bike route, tarred and off road for most of the way. We ended up doing a record distance of 133km.

We started out with an indulgent coffee and pastry breakfast feast at the Redon bakery. We were on the road early enough to appreciate the morning mist rising from the canal. We also spotted our second otter in the water near our hotel.

We veered off the canal into some towns early in the day but the canal route was so good we stayed on it for the rest of the day. We both think that this is the most beautiful canal ride we have had so far. The canal is lined with trees and reflects them like a mirror for much of the time.

The first town of note was Josselin which we came to just before midday. The first sight of Josselin as you come around a bend in the canal is the castle, sitting on the bank with four high turrets. There are canal boats parked in the harbor with a multitude of flowers on the banks. We were absolutely charmed by the medieval town behind the castle, which was full of flags in preparation for a upcoming medieval festival. The smells coming from a Josselyn bakery were so good they prompted our second bakery stop of the day.

We passed by locks every few kilometers, most of them with beautifully maintained bright flower gardens. It seems there is a lot of pride in the gardens, and maybe even a little rivalry between the different locks. Each lock has a little cottage next to it with pots of flowers outside. They also put pots of flowers on the lock itself. The locks before Rohan were especially lovely, we think for the number of tourist boats on the canal. Often there is also a bridge and a small town nearby.

Rohan had a chateau (1104) of note, near the lock. We had a quick ride through town to look at all the stone buildings before continuing on the canal.

After Rohan the canal climbs quickly, with a few dozen locks in a few kilometers. These locks are less elaborately maintained. However, they are functional as we saw a large boat coming through one.

When we got to the top of the canal, we saw the channel that feeds into it. These canals are an engineering feat for their age. They were initiated by Napoleon I as a strategic highway between ports in case the British navy cut off the sea ports.

It was muddy at the top (as there was no parallel river system) and our bikes got dirty again.

The canal then dropped rapidly again through a few dozen locks into Pontivy.

We found the Office de Tourisme in Pontivy housed in a large canal boat.

Unfortunately the bed and breakfast that we found in Pontivy was not very nice as it was not private, being a boys bedroom (complete with boy decor) in the house. We would have stayed two days but decided to press on and find a better place to rest.