13 July – Cote de Granit Rose

13 July – Cote de Granit Rose

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.

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