Velodyssey #4 Across Brittany: Nantes to Roscoff

The route from Nantes goes across part of Loire-Atlantic and then through Brittany keeping away from the coast until approaching Roscoff. It took us six days cycling from 15th until 20th in varied weather; it was not as warm as in the south but still with sunny periods. The route is very interesting as it leaves Nantes alongside or on urban roads to reach the Nantes-Brest canal which it more or less follows to Carhaix. The whole canal is 364 km in length, mainly made up of channelised rivers and has something like 258 locks. In was opened in 1858. In its heyday, a horse drawn barge took 25 days to go between Nantes and Guily Glas a distance of 360 km and incorporating 236 locks. Now the sections between Nantes and Pontivy and also Carhaix and Brest are navigable.

When Velo 1 reaches Carhaix it soon joins the old narrow gauge rail track from Carhaix to Morlaix (about 49 km). This track was part of a network built in Brittany, opening in 1891 to bring development to this part of France. The track crosses the Monts d'Aree before descending to Morlaix and although many of the stations on route take the names of local villages or towns, the stations are often some distance from the centres, e.g. Scrignac station is about 5 km from Scrignac. The line was closed in 1967 but has been put to good use by walkers, cyclists and horse riders and although it reaches 210 m altitude, the ascents and descents are of course quite gentle but noticeable!

Typical part of the Nantes-Brest canal track on the first day.
Notice the track way-markers and fresh green countryside.

On Wednesday we left Nantes in the sunshine and made good progress following roadside finger-posts to the canal. Near Le Bout de Bois we accidental came across one of the best restaurants of the trip, "Le Canal Bar/Restaurant" (D537, GPS: N 47.45243, W 1.63767) where we had a good three-course meal and wine for 11 euro sharing the room with locals and lorry drivers taking a lunch break. Passing Blain, we continued on to find a campsite in Guenrouet and a pleasant camping spot with its own table, a little luxury for us as campsites don't normally provide seats or table for campers with tents.

A welcome coffee after making camp at Guenrouet (an Accueil campsite)
very close to the town. Good camping weather and a very pleasant stay. 

We had a great evening meal in a local bar/Creperia with views over the canal to Guenrouet's church spire.

The view from our supper spot looking to the spire at Guenrouet
 across the canal we'd been following.

The following day we aimed to pass through Redon and make our way to Malestroit for the night. As we'd run-out of gas (all those coffees!) we thought we would search for a new cylinder in Redon. This at first looked hopeful as we saw a "Decathlon" store but it wasn't to be as they only had the "Bleu" type connection (we needed a screw-top). I recalled that I'd bought screw-top canisters at "Intersport" stores in towns close to the Pyrenees so we obtained directions to a local store. After quite a diversion, this proved a waste of time as the store was called "Inter" but was a hyper-market and again only had "Bleu" and non-resealable canisters. After this, we cycled back to the centre and found a coffee stop and forgot about gas (this always seems a problem in France and I normally carry a canister converter for the non-resealable canisters).

A street in Redon on our way back to the canal and finding a picnic to take away for our lunch.

We soon found the canal but noticed loads of fishing line tangled around Helen's rear cycle sprocket. We found a pleasant spot near a bench, and spent over an hour teasing the line from the cog, thanks to the help of "Leatherman". Helen had found the going a little tough on the last stretch into Redon but a quick chain lubrication and clean-up seemed to do the trick and we were away again. My chain seemed to have escaped the line. 

The centre of Malestroit in the morning sunshine, a short stop before starting on our way to Pontivy.

We stopped for a picnic lunch close to a climbing wall and activity centre and chatted to a Dutch cyclist who was doing a similar route to us. It is always interesting to swap stories of the route and incidents. Anyway, after a "beer stop" we soon found ourselves setting-up camp at the Municipal campsite in Malestroit (the cheapest and best value so far at only 8 euro). This is a short walk from the town and wasn't busy but the weather was changing and it wasn't long after taking a shower that the rain started. Later, in a dry interlude, we had a pleasant meal in town and returned to a night of rain. In the morning, things didn't look promising with a shroud of mist surrounding the tent. However, this soon cleared to sunshine and we were away again.
The first part of the route to Jossselin was brilliant with a tarmacked cycle track and lots of birds near the canal including Herons, Wagtails and Mallards. At Josselin we heard lots of English voices, mostly it seemed holidaying on canal barges. We stripped to our summer wear again and found a pleasant cafe near the canal before moving on to Rohan, our planned lunch stop. We diverted from the cycle path to find some lunch but the whole town seemed to be asleep; after searching for a while we found a Creperia next to the canal so on reflection it would have been wise to have stayed on the track in the first place.

The Chateau des Rohan in Pontivy on our evening stroll.

We stayed in the Interhotel du Chateau conveniently near the the cycle-way into the town and with a locked cycle store and very friendly staff.
After this stop, the route headed north and left the canal for a while to climb to Mur-de -Bretagne with views over the Lac de Guerledan. It then joined what looked like an old rail track mostly down hill, to join the canal again.

After descending from Mur de Bretagne, we took a  break on rejoining the canal towpath 

We had planned to stay at the Hotel Henry IV in Rostrenen but this turned out to be full and the staff and Tourist Information couldn't help so we decided to continue on. Shortly after rejoining the Velo 1, we came across a B&B, " La Maison du Canal" run by a pleasant and welcoming English couple. I had noted this B&B in my notes but hadn't realised it was so close to the canal (the cycle-way goes past their front gate!). This proved just what we needed and set us up for the last major section to Morlaix.
We took the precaution to book the next B&B in Morlaix (Manoir de Cote Armour) as we suspected a long wet day ahead. In fact, once we left the canal at Carhaix (the canal here heads west to Brest), the rest of the day was spent on a disused narrow gauge railway track. To start with the track slowly ascends to Scrignac Station and continues uphill before a gradual descent to Morlaix. We stopped at Poullaouen for a pleasant lunch with a developing drizzle outside. After that we came across several horse drawn carriages making their way towards us, horse riders, several Sunday walkers but few cyclists.

One of the caravans moving south along the route.

We managed to miss the entrance to the B&B and started to ascend out of Morlaix before phoning to get instructions but in the end the proprietor came out and rescued us. The B&B is well situated on the Velo 1 as it enters Morlaix and it was my GPS coordinates that were wrong...that's technology for you or should I say human error. We had a night of luxury and even managed the 10 minute walk into the town centre to a busy Creperia for a delicious galette supper.
Our final cycling day was only about 30 km but we expected to encounter a few hills to Roscoff and we weren't disappointed especially climbing out of Morlaix. First though we had to compete with a "Junior Tour de France" as the children lined up their cycles to compete through town; this could have been embarrassing but fortunately we had a head start. It was a sunny day as we encountered a fair ground being  taken apart and a lone collie dog raced with us for several kilometres before deciding the fun was over, otherwise we had imagined the dog running along side us onto the ferry.

View across the bay at Roscoff before cycling to the ferry port.

About to leave for Plymouth and six hour journey without pedaling!

So we arrived in Plymouth to be welcomed by Bex and spent some time relaxing in the Devon countryside sampling a few real ales and gardening before engaging with the railways to get our cycles home (Totnes-Exeter- Castle Cary- Upwey-Wareham) all going smoothly with cycle reservations for all but the last stretch.

In all, a great holiday with about 80% of the cycling on dedicated cycle ways. We thought the best parts were through the Landes Forest and beaches (we also had the best weather there!), we also enjoyed crossing Brittany recalling scenery and places from summer holidays we had taken in gites years ago.
Our cycles had done well with only one puncture but my chain was stretched and needed a new one and a rear sprocket but Helen's was OK with only about 1/16th inch stretch.