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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.

It was still overcast when we awoke, but at least not raining. The unseasonal weather seems set to continue (according the the internet July is the driest month in Brittany!!)For a change we had the hotel breakfast, which was very good. It included the use of a machine that you can feed oranges into to make real fresh squeezed juice. We enjoyed watching the rabbit running around the courtyard while we ate – feeling frisky in the morning I think.

We first set out to see the pink granite boulders that we had ridden so far in the rain for. We did a scenic trip around the peninsular (adding around 20km to our day). Perros-Guirec has a harbour with yachts and the town is up a hill with coastal views. The sea is flat here with sharp rocks sticking out of it here and there. We rode along a bit further to the town of Tregastel to see the pink boulders. We had to park the bikes and walk along the beach a bit to see the most famous site, by a lighthouse. The site is protected and you cannot ride a bike along here. The boulders have interesting shapes and look a little like modern sculptures. There are boulders along large stretches of this beach and you could easily spend a day walking around here.

On our way back – we had the second broken spoke on Kris’s new bike (which has now done almost 2000km so is no longer new). So together with the sight seeing it was a late start to our journey to Saint-Brieuc.

Our route took us through Louannec, Coatreven, Tréguier, Lézardrieux, Paimpol, Plouézec, Plouha, Etables-sur-Mer, Binic, Pordic, Plérin, St-Brieuc. For most of the ride we were very near the coast but couldn’t actually see the sea. The roads were also busy – as there are not many alternate routes going through the big towns around the coast.

Early on we saw some huge glass-houses – stretching over a few acres of land. We are not sure what they were growing inside.

We stopped to look inside the church in Lézardrieux – which has a medieval town center with cobble stones and many cafes around the church. After crossing a bridge at the inlet of the Trieux river we arrived in Paimpol, another lovely tourist town with a harbour full of yachts  and a waterfront developed for the tourists (a large number of creperies). We had a snack on a bench overlooking a lock between the harbour and the sea. There were two yachts going through. This was interesting as we haven’t seen locks on a harbour before.

There was a lot of activity on the beach at Etables-sur-Mer – a children’s sand ball contest and also people playing petanque beside the beach. After this the road was very congested.

We stopped to have a look at an old windmill – the first we have seen in France. It had sails on the wooden vanes which can be rolled back or extended as needed.

Kris managed to find a short side road at Binic, but then we were forced back onto the busy road. Kris tried finding a bike route again at Perdic, taking us on a beautiful route through tiny settlements on the hills above the coast. Unfortunately it petered out and walkers advised that the route didn’t go through to St-Brieuc. So we had to back track onto the main road again. At this point it started to drizzle and then rain.

The route into St-Brieuc took us down a long steep narrow gorge to a river, and then a hill climb on the other side into the town. We arrived later than planned after 111km (further than we wanted to due to detours). The rain was pretty steady by the time we got to our hotel but luckily we were not soaked through yet. The great thing about this hotel is that we were allowed to use their drying room next to a furnace. All our clothes and shoes were totally dry the next morning.

After overcast conditions the last few days, we set off reluctantly this morning in a light drizzle – with the forecast for more rain in the afternoon. The worst part of riding in the rain is starting and stopping. Once you have warmed up, it is not so bad if the rain is not too hard. And so it was today. Most of the morning it was on and off, light drizzle, allowing us to dry off in between. The bad thing about stopping is the clean up required – the bikes and everything else get really dirty.

Our original plan was to follow the velo verte (green off-road bicycle route) north. We tried it out for around 5km to start with, but it soon became so muddy that we gave up on the idea (it is unsealed). Kris had mapped out an alternative route on small roads, however we found the main road was quiet enough to use. And so we progressed through the countryside.

Our first stop was at the town of Guerlesquin, which has a cobble stones, a pretty church and most noticeably a small 16 century prison at the center – it is a square stone building that you can go into. They really knew how to do prisons in those days – the bottom floor where the prisoners were kept is pretty miserable, cold and dark – then there are two upper floors where the guards lived. There is also a small chapel between two houses that is all that is left of a convent after the French revolution. We had a warming coffee at the pub.

The main road after Guerlesquin became more busy so Kris took us on some side routes. We reached Plestin-les-Gréves around lunchtime and still both felt really good – the rain was very light and we were not too wet. So we decided to proceed a further 28km or so to Perros Guirec, where we wanted to see the pink granite boulders. We booked a night in a hotel there through the tourist office. When we came out of the tourist office we both felt cold again (we had stopped for too long), we found the supermarket to buy some high carb snacks (read pastries) before proceeding to Lannion.

Lannion is a large town around 8km from our final destination. The traffic was busy driving through and we didn’t stop. There was an exhibition of ‘menhirs’ on the river front painted by individual artists and also a market. On the way out of town we found a large supermarket and bought our supper. Once we came out the rain was heavier. We waited 5 min but it didn’t look like clearing, so we gritted our teeth and rode on. Around 8km to Perros-Guirec. This was not a pleasant ride as we got soaked and there was quite a bit of traffic. In places there were welcome cycle paths on the side of the roads, but not consistently.

We arrived at our seaside hotel wet and in the rain (after 87km). They were very accommodating, giving us a bucket of water to wash down the bikes and panniers in the courtyard. The unique thing about the courtyard is that a tame black rabbit lives in it – it was curious but not alarmed by the activity.

The room was nice and large and warm. There was enough space to take everything out of the panniers to dry. We have all our stuff in plastic bags in the panniers, so it stays dry. However when they get this wet you need to take everything out so that the panniers can dry properly.  I think this is the wettest they have been.

Kris and I both fell asleep for a couple of hours after our supper, exhausted, and then woke up again at about 9pm to do our emails etc. Then we had difficulty falling asleep again later!

Today we had the rest day we wanted on Kris’s birthday.

After a late start we had a lovely breakfast, including an unusual pudding made with maize meal, served cold and with tinned apricots on top – nicer than it sounds!

We also had jams made by the hostess, croissants, baguette and as much coffee as we could drink.

We spent some time exploring the town and environs and also doing some shopping (in all 27km). There is a lovely park at the “Vallée de l’Hyéres where we rode through the forest along the river. Looking up we saw we were in an adventure park here with all kinds of ladders and ropes between the trees. You can traverse the tree tops in different ways, with a safety harness.

We had a big lunch at a community restaurant – 3 courses plus wine and coffee before heading back to rest. The place was full of people and it was interesting chatting with the couple at the next table.

After lunch we had a good nap and headed back into town in the evening to sample the fare at the local Crepery. Buckwheat Crepes with ham, cheese and an egg are the regional specialty.

We did some sight seeing around Pontivy before starting out on our canal ride again. Pontivy used to be called Napoleonville, as it was chosen by Napoleon as a military intelligence center. There is a square in the middle of the town large enough for 10,000 soldiers to parade on. Today it is a car park, which spoils the romance slightly. It is surrounded by old civic buildings of the time including the old military barracks.  We also rode around the Pontivy chateau. Built at the end of the 15th century by Jean II of Rohan (known as the Grand Viscount), it has military reinforcements such as a thick wall and a moat (now dry).

We had not gone far on the canal when my bike developed a puncture from a shard of glass. Kris fixed it with one of our old tubes, which only lasted a few kilometers before the tire was flat again. This time we fixed it with a fancy self-repairing tube, which lasted.

Later in the morning we reached the Guerlédan, a dam built on the canal. This dam flooded part of the canal, including several locks, causing some anger among canal lovers, as it is no longer navigable past this point.

We veered inland at this point and had some hill climbs for the first time in days. We found our way through some very pretty small villages with stone cottages and garden gnomes. At times there was a proper off road bike route (green way) surrounded by trees, at other times Kris navigated through the countryside. We had some good views over the dam from above. We met a friendly British lady walking a dog who lives here for the life style (she rides horses). She mentioned that you can’t get rich here because of low employment opportunities.

We were running later than expected at this point and getting tired. When we re-joined the canal the bike track was not quite as good as before, being unsealed and muddy in places. The canal climbed slowly through many locks, until we finally reached the top point. We passed a group of children out on their bikes in the holidays.

It was nice and relaxing when the canal began to descend quickly through a few dozen locks and we could free-wheel at times. We passed an elderly couple done up in cycling gear and ala Tour de France style bikes just before we turned off for Carhaix. We commented on their gear being non- ideal for the canal track. They passed us again at the turn off. Little did we know that we would later be staying in their home (bed and breakfast).

This bed and breakfast is in self contained rooms on the side of the house, with its own entrance through the garage, where we can store the bikes. The house is immaculately clean and neat and the hosts friendly, though they don’t speak any English.

In all we did 95km.

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.

We stayed dry today, despite overcast conditions the whole morning (in fact it was perfect cool riding weather). We only did a half day ride, stopping at Redon at 12.30 after 45km. We took country roads for most of the ride, which were very quiet being a Sunday.

The countryside is mostly flat, with corn and cows. Just after Blain we rode through the Forét du Gàvr, which was mostly pine trees and ferns (there are supposedly chestnuts and mushrooms and an old tower there, none of which we could see). Our route then took us through the small towns of Plessé, Fégréac and Bellion. Each town has a church – the steeples seem to be higher here then in the rest of France. We are also seeing more stone buildings.

We returned to the canal for the last 10km of the ride. The path along it had dried out enough to ride along.

Redon was founded in 832 by a monk who founded an abbey here. We visited the abbey church (11-13th century) which was very beautiful, especially the bright colours of the contemporary stained glass. The Gothic bell tower is separate to the rest of the church because the nave was damaged by fire in 1780 and then rebuilt shorter than the original.

Redon is remarkable as it is at the junction of the Oust and Vilaine rivers, as well as the Canal de Nantes à Brest. The canal crosses the river in the town. There are lots of yachts and canal boats moored here. The narrow old buildings overlooking the canal and cobble stone streets coming off it make this a very attractive town to explore.

The tourist office had just closed (until 3pm) when we arrived at 12.30pm, so we found our own hotel – just on the outskirts of town near the canal. In the evening we rode around town again looking at the canals and river junction before getting some treats from the bakery, which we ate on a bench by the canal.

Finally we had a beer and coffee at a local pub. We sat outside and were amazed at the number of people coming in and out (to get cigarettes we think as everything else is closed on a Sunday). We were amused by people stopping their cars in the narrow one way street to dash in for cigarettes, eventually holding up 4 or 5 other cars behind them, before they come back to move their car. This happened again and again while we were sitting there!

When we woke up it was raining. By the time we had eaten breakfast it had cleared, so we set off on our last day on the La Loire à Vélo.

We stumbled across some sculptures in a park in Montjean, one of which depicted a man struggling to escape from the rock.

The ride to Ancenis was pleasant and reasonably dry.  At Ancenis we left the la Loire à Vélo route to cross over into Brittany, as we are wanting to avoid going through the city at Nantes.

Ancenis has a Chateau which is partly in ruins. It dates from the 10th century and has two striking towers (large and stubby) from the 15th century. We stopped to buy strawberries at the Saturday morning market and then went on to a supermarket to get the rest of our evening meal (as everything closes on Saturday afternoon).

Just before we found the supermarket it began to rain again. While we were inside it stopped and the sun was shining as we walked out. As soon as we started riding it began again. We had this on and off rain until we reached Nort-sur-Erdre, where we planned to stay. Unfortunately the Office de Tourisme couldn’t find us accommodation in town, so we decided to ride on a further 16km to a Gite (holiday house) out in the countryside, near the canal.

As soon as we left it began raining again in earnest without letting up and we became soaked (including our shoes). Kris elected to ride along the road most of the way, which was a good decision. After some tricky navigation we found our way onto the canal and it was very muddy. Soon my legs were full of mud, as well as the gear chain and pannier bags. We had difficulty finding the Gite as the instructions were less than precise. We asked for directions to the village (Lappé, which is near Le Chevallerais) several times. It is so small it doesn’t appear on the map. It was a wonder we found it. When we got to the Gite we phoned the owner who soon appeared. The accommodation is not in the Gite, but in a building next door that appears to be used as a pre-school out of holiday times. We are sleeping in a makeshift area upstairs. However it is very private and warm and there is a good kitchen and bathroom. Best of all there is a washing machine – so no hand washing for Kris tonight!

In all we did 84km but it felt longer because of the rain.