My new best friend.

I woke up early, packed my wet tent and I was on the road before 10am. I stoped to the first shop, bought 3 bananas and 2 croisants to counter act the last day’s fasting.

A nice bridge along the way

My plan was to leave Britanny, by other going to Nantes or crossing the bridge at Saint Nazaire, but after my problems with the previous big city, I was more keep on the second option.
One way or another, I decided to go through the Cavre forest which was near by. That is a very dense forest, full of very tall trees that make the ground quite dark. The road within the forest was about 10km and I took the opportunity to eat my sandwich in its center.

Within the Cavre forest

In the center of the forest

Lunch area

Horse ridding

More of the forest

Crossing a canal

Watered and fed I started peddaling fast, to cover the distance I wanted. A couple of hours later, I had an hour break in Savenay for some tea and internet access. That’s where I decided to to go via the bridge after asking the local tourist office. There are always more campsites to chose from by the coast.
The road to the bridge goes through a very industrial area. There is a port, an airport, a huge refinery plant and various other factories and on top, a solid overvast to complete the image. I didn’t mind the vue, but I did mind all these massive trucks overtaking me.

My next campsite!

The refinery

The more I was getting closer to the bridge, the more I was realising how big it is. I was a little worried about the amount of cars on it, but there was such a heavy traffic, that I was going faster than anybody else. The view from the top of the bridge was amazing, but unfortunately I couldn’t stop much to enjoy it. From the Atlantic side you can see the port and the open sea, from the other side you could see the airport and all the factories.

The Saint Nazaire bridge

On the bridge

The view from the bridge

After the descent

It felt like an achievement going up and down the bridge and I was very happy to turn on the first right to a small empty local road for once again a peaceful ride.
Saint Brevil, which is just by the south side of the bridge, is a tourist resort and it had a couple of camp sites to choose from. I picked the cheapest one, where I enjoyed a nice warm meal and a beer.

Stake, a baked potato, salad, chips and a beer

Today had some good and a few bad moments. Even if I woke up and left the camp site early, I wasted an hour and a half in the centre, trying to find another bike shop but most of all change some last pound notes I still have on me to euros. In the end, neither the bike shop had what I wanted, or any of the 5 banks I visited could change my money. I got furstrated and started making my way to the south of the city.
That was another mission, as all the signs to the next city will take you through the main roads. I ended up on the highway, where cyclists are not allowed, neither they want to be on. I made a turn and got lost again and again until somebody helped me locate the next small city in the direction I wanted to go.

The airport next to Rennes

My plan was to try and go by the cycle path that goes along the Vilaine canal which cuts Brittany in two and connects the Channel with the Atlantic ocean. As expected, the path was not tarmac, but luckily it was very fine gravel, just about ok for my very thin tires. I have to say, I love my bike, but it’s not ideal for touring. I was rarely going above 20km/h, but that was ok as I was enjoying the amazing scenery of the canal within the forest.

Cycling by the Vilaine canal

Another lock

One of the canal's locks

That's me to prove that I've been there.

After about 20 kilometers, I thought I better leave the track before I rip any of my tires. I wasn’t willing to go from the main road so I started going from one small village to another. The roads were alright with only a few hills, but the big problem was the very stong head wind. I can’t say how fast the wind was, but it was strong enought to make my ride harder and my life missarable. I saw a group of 10 cyclists overtaking me with their superlight carbon racers, as I was strugling up the hills with all my cargo against the wind.
I was planning to get to Redon which was another 30km away, so I stopped in one of the villages craving some crepe or a big chuck of chocolate cake. At my disappointed there was non of them, but just a miserable small chocolate and some fresh water. I left the village to go and fight more the winds and the hill and a few kilometers away I saw a sign for campsite in Saint Just. Even if it was too early to stop, I started considering it as an option. The stupidly encrypted ‘Campsites of Brittany‘ booklet that I have got, doesn’t show anything in Redon, so I thought I should better not risk it and stay here. I was getting hungry and grumpy, so I made my way to the very basic 4€ camp site, with cold water showers but toilets equipped with paper.
My final defeat was after I pitched my tent and started looking for somewhere to eat in the village. Its only restaurant was not serving in the evenings, the local supermarket was closed and the only bakery had no sandwitches left. My dinner was one croissant, one bread with resins and a chuck of stail browny, so my stomach complains a little bit at the moment. I also bought some chocolate biscuits for breakfast, which I can’t wait to have.

It’s been a week now that I’ve left London, but it feels like a month with the amount of places I’ve seen so far. Saying this, today’s ride was a little bit boring, because I chose the main road between Saint Michel to Rennes, which doesn’t really lets you enjoy the surroundings.

The only interesting thing I saw in the morning, as I was getting lost to find my way, was a German cemetery just 10km outside Saint Michel with a few thousands dead soldiers. I think there aren’t many German WWII cemeteries outside Germany any more.

For lunch I bought a sausage and a few other stuff from a local market on the way and had them outside a fire brigate. I didn’t know that was the fire station, up until I asked one of the guys to refill my bootle with water. He brought it back in a hurry and then started running around with 5 other men, rushing into one of the vehicles. I think there was an emergency and I hope my delay for the water didn’t cost a life.

Lunch, siesta, tent dry out by the fire brigate.

After lunch, I picked up the main road again, put some music on the mp3 player and pedals for 3 hours non stop until I got to my destination.
Rennes is one of the biggest cities I’ve visited so far and unfortunately I didn’t have the chance to see much of it and the camp site was too far out of the city to revisit it in the evening. I did have the chance though to go into one of the big bike shops and buy a couple of things I was missing. I have to say it was a little hard to get in and out of such a big city, so I’ll probable try to avoid them in the future.
Then I got to the camp site, which was next football field and full of rabbits, for an early night and a movie.

The view from the tent.