Just in case you've been wondering why so quiet for so long, this wi fi thing isn't quite as reliable as it's made out to be. Anyway we are sitting in a 'Subway' cafe in Fougeres and it's working so here goes for the last 6 days!!
Friday 11th September 2009
Dawn broke, and unsurprisingly we were both awake before the alarm. I made the usual cup of tea but we’d run the tea bags down to zero so the Oykel fishing lunch box was raided and I found 3 old unused Lyons tea bags which did the trick.
We had tea in bed as a concession to what was ahead of us.
Having spent the last 24 hours trying to compact all the luggage in to 2 very small panniers by squeezing tubes of shampoo etc I was finally ready to go. Far too much weight, 25lbs for each of us. We had measured our vital statistics too to see if they get better or worse after a month or so. There was a good mixture of excitement and apprehension on leaving. From then on it was go go go and we left unusually punctually for Wool Station at 10.45am. Phew.
We were slightly surprised by how the bikes handled with the loaded panniers and both of us were off and pushing before we’d reached the Egg Farm entrance The hill to Throop Clump is the first big challenge as the bikes feel fairly unstable as we are carrying so much extra weight. We made it to Wool Station, caught the train to Poole and after pushing the bikes down the High Street eventually found ourselves at the front of the car embarkation queue. This apparently is always the case for anyone on 2 wheels. We fell in with about 15 ‘bikers’ (1000cc jobs) and were pleased to find a real feeling of camaraderie! We met a very friendly guy from Bolton on a huge bike who was going down to Spain just to camp for the weekend.We didn't dare tell him how long it would take us to get there! There is a picture of us and all the other (hairy) bike(r)s.
At Poole about to embarkFriday 11th September 2009
Dawn broke, and unsurprisingly we were both awake before the alarm. I made the usual cup of tea but we’d run the tea bags down to zero so the Oykel fishing lunch box was raided and I found 3 old unused Lyons tea bags which did the trick.
We had tea in bed as a concession to what was ahead of us.
Having spent the last 24 hours trying to compact all the luggage in to 2 very small panniers by squeezing tubes of shampoo etc I was finally ready to go. Far too much weight, 25lbs for each of us. We had measured our vital statistics too to see if they get better or worse after a month or so. There was a good mixture of excitement and apprehension on leaving. From then on it was go go go and we left unusually punctually for Wool Station at 10.45am. Phew.
We were slightly surprised by how the bikes handled with the loaded panniers and both of us were off and pushing before we’d reached the Egg Farm entrance The hill to Throop Clump is the first big challenge as the bikes feel fairly unstable as we are carrying so much extra weight. We made it to Wool Station, caught the train to Poole and after pushing the bikes down the High Street eventually found ourselves at the front of the car embarkation queue. This apparently is always the case for anyone on 2 wheels. We fell in with about 15 ‘bikers’ (1000cc jobs) and were pleased to find a real feeling of camaraderie! We met a very friendly guy from Bolton on a huge bike who was going down to Spain just to camp for the weekend.We didn't dare tell him how long it would take us to get there! There is a picture of us and all the other (hairy) bike(r)s.
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| Alec at the front of the queue, just a little intimidated. |
The sea was ’moderate’ so a few bumps and was via Guernsey which was a surprise, and the first we’d heard of it but the time passed in no time with lunch, so we almost had to order the chicken roll, Sauvignon blanc and cups of tea........In Guernsey we felt quite nostalgic as St Peter Port was looking very pretty.
Saturday 12th
We finally arrived in St Malo at about 8.15. pm. It was not quite dark which was a relief and we managed to find our small hotel 'Les Charmettes' on le Sillon beach.Whilst finding our way around the town I tried to stop at a dead end, and landed rather unceremoniously at the feet of a startled French man - much 'Oh la la' from him and English expletives on my part. Alec had a near miss with a car which shot out of a tunnel from nowhere, so that focused our minds on self preservation. Our hotel was surprisingly comfortable and the bed isn’t even too small; either that or Vivi is clinging to the other side for fear of being pushed out. We are frankly exhausted although this may have been exacerbated by our excellent supper of Moules Frites at the Bistro Bacchus, which was run by a slightly dippy blonde owner who was very friendly.
The next morning we cycled back to the Intro Muros of St Malo and got caught up in ‘le Corsaire’ yacht weekend. This was a Hobie Cat convention with lots of rock music playing and dozens of boats - it was a mix between The Brits snowboarding competition in Les Deux Alpes or at Cowes sailing Regatta. We waited for the start but got bored so went into the old city much destroyed in 1944 by us (maybe some Americans) when we finally persuaded the Germans it was time they left. It is a quaint city rebuilt exactly as it was including the Cathedral of st Vincent which was a wonderful mix of old and new. It had some stunning new stained glass and bronze alter and chair. The light goes from almost darkness to light in the space of a small cloud crossing the sun.
We took a sandwich to the beach of St Servan and ate it on the slipway under Le Tour Solidor which is now a museum. The water was quite warm and we swam briefly around the boats.
After some sunbathing we had planned to ride over to Dinard but the thought of cycling along a dual carriageway to look at the hydro power bridge and a further 4 miles to reach the town was too much so we turned for home and instead went in search of somewhere near to here to have supper... Back to the Bacchus Bistro again for very good calves kidneys which we had spied the night before.
Sunday 13th Sept.
It took a while to pack up after two nights at the Charmettes but we were on the road to Cancale by about 1, after visiting the tourist office in the centre of St Malo. The ride was easy but made difficult by a strong headwind and several quite steep hills. Still, half way there we spotted a village which boasted Rock Statues so we went to have a look only to find a huge village street party in progress
which was fantastic for two reasons. a) the whole village seemed to be there and (b) there were no fights, drunk teenagers litter, beggars or aggressive men. So we had a sausage wrapped in a pancake which was OK, a glass of cider and went on our way. The rock sculptures didn’t seem worth 10 euro so we gave them a miss!! Cycling on the wind got worse but we came to a point where to our left a very pleasant sandy bay emerged which just seemed like a good place to have our picnic lunch and to have a swim.
It was a bit of a hike down to the beach but we tied the bikes up to a boat rack and wandered along the beach to find somewhere out of the wind, and apart from the wasps who spoiled our first choice, it was fine. The sun shone, we swam and ate our lunch and left after a 30 minute sleep.
We then returned to the road and made our way along the coast to Cancale which had been recommended to me by Nick Hely Hutchinson who must have stayed there some time in the distant past.
Fortunately our B&B was at the top of the hill in Cancale which was a relief because the sea was about 300ft below where we were staying which would have been a struggle to get away from with the quantity of luggage we are carrying. 'Le Chat Perche' is run by a lady who appeared to have two children and a very neat house which we never stepped into as our room was in the basement. This was approached from the outside with breakfast served in a sun room at the rear and it was a pleasant experience.
We only stayed one night so walked to the harbour after we arrived to look for some supper and found a row of at least 30 restaurants, some touristy but we found one which wasn’t and did a 3 course meal for 12.5 euros which really was superb. On the following day we went back into town to look at the church St Meen which had a strong piscatorial theme, and buy some lunch in the supermarket.
Monday 14th
We set off for St Marcan (about 9 miles short of Mt St Michel) at about 12.30 after visiting the church and the U Mart where Vivi bumped into Mrs Collier who had been Harriet and Olivia’s house mistress at Sherborne back in 1994’ish. She didn’t know who Vivi was and didn’t ask after the girls but remembered Vivi after prompting. It was a hellish ride along the coast heading east with a strong headwind but luckily very fine weather. It was not a day for swimming. Stopped in Le Vivier to eat the sandwich we’d bought for lunch but ended up having a plate of moules and a glass of wine in a tented roadside moulerie – probably the best moules I’ve ever had, sweet with a gorgeous winey sauce.
We then headed south to look at the Dol de Bretagne, an ancient religious site where St Michael deposited the souls of dead fishermen. It is a lump of rock (possibly volcanic) with a church on top and apparently interesting plant and bird life. However we didn’t climb up it so I can’t confirm this! We had a picnic lunch in the church yard in the sunshine and fell asleep before looking inside the church which seemed to have become quite famous owing to some dinosaur bones having been discovered recently in the locality.
After the Dol we headed back to the coast into a stiff headwind to see the Church of St Anne. This was closed and very small but we sheltered outside and watched a shrike and some warblers battling against the wind and trying to remain perched on the wire fences. From here we cycled on to St Marcan which was our next B&B.
Tuesday 15th Sept.
The B&B was perfectly adequate, it is just the way that Brits do things. After 2 B&B's where the French could not have been more helpful we fell upon a Brummie couple who had all the charm of a stick. You couldn’t fault the place, they told us where to go, how to get there, took our money for 2 nights up front on arrival, locked away the bikes but everything was just so tacky, the room, the shower, the breakfast. Still we are only here for two nights, so it is not the end of the world.
Anyway today we set off at about 10am for the Mont St Michel.
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| Onion fields on the way to the Mont |
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| The Mont St Michel |
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| Cloisters in Mont |
We cycled from St Marcan via Pontorson, Antrain and on to Fougeres, about 35 miles in all- phew thank God it didn't rain but did seem to be mainly up hill. The route was almost entirely along a disused railway line, very rural with a good agricultural smell for most of the way. We stopped in the market of Pontorson where we wandered about and I gave 5euro to a pretty girl with a pet pig.
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| Lucky little pig! |
Vivi cheated and put her shorts back on.
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| Picnic lunch St Brice |
Tomorrow with a bit of luck, we will move on towards Rennes.
The start of the Voie Vert which we hopw will take us all the way to the south of France!
[VAC1]
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