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.

Velodyssey #3..Royan to Nantes.

This stretch took us six days leaving Royan on 9th to arrive in Nantes on 14th in mainly good weather, sunshine with some cloud at times with occasional showers; the photos tell it all really.

Fishing nets along the river as we left Royan

The route out of Royan was mainly on road and cycle track. We stopped at a cycle repair shop to get Helen's tyre inflated to 50 psi, more than we could manage with our hand pumps. The route by-passes Marennes and heads across country to find a canal track, our first encounter with the "Provisional" Velo 1. This amounted to a country lane that was rutted with tractor tracks and was hard going. The local fishermen told us it only lasted for a few kilometers but in hindsight it might have been better on the main road that ran nearby. 

"Provisional route", near Canal de la Seudre after Marennes before our lunch stop. Notice the orange/blue velo 1 sign.

After that, the track improved alongside a canal but soon it was threatening rain so it was time to find lunch in St Agnant, a creperia called "Ker Pepe", very nice too. Then we did get some rain and at the end of the ride we decided to take refuge in a hotel in Rochefort, an IBIS hotel in the centre and showing the "Accueil Velo" (cycles welcome) sign, in other words, a cycle friendly hotel with somewhere safe to store our cycles and get our clothes dry. Well, they were very friendly and offered a great buffet breakfast to set us up for the next morning.
The next day we headed to La Rochelle mostly following the coast and had a picnic lunch alongside the harbour before crossing the bridge over a canal. As there are few opportunities for refreshments before our next destination, St Michel el l'Herm, we refilled our water bottles and took off to follow the canal to the northeast through idyllic countryside.

View from our sunny picnic spot approaching the centre of  La Rochelle.

In all, this proved our most challenging day for the entire route, not because of the hills as it was mostly flat, but because of the wind and another "Provisional" section on mowed rough grass beside a canal. A few fishermen had established themselves on our track and obviously seemed a little amused that we should be cycling on it rather than driving a four-wheeled drive full of fishing gear. Anyway, there didn't seem to be an obvious way to avoid this section; the old route shown on our GPS was churned up and totally unsuited for cycles (we did divert to see this!). On reaching the road, we seemed a long way to our destination and the whole area was very exposed to the wind. Eventually we did see the church tower of St Michel and met a group of young french cyclist who asked to see our map. They were doing the same route but were heading to the coast by a short-cut on the road but going in the wrong direction! It was great to find the campsite "La Dive" just outside of the town with a restaurant on-site and hedges to protect us from the wind.
On Saturday we went into St Michel and found a coffee and croissants before facing the wind to ride back to the coast. Once at the coast, surprisingly, the weather improved and the wind dropped so we had a very pleasant ride, diverting on route to climb to Talmont St Hilaire for lunch at the Bar/Brasseria Jeux passing though another wetland area.

Helen about to speed through the wetland before Talmont and lunch,; no wind!

After that it was downhill back to the coast and Les Sables-d'Olonne with lots of weekend holiday makers promenading along the sea front and beaches. We found a campsite near La Rouliere on a peninsular but it wasn't the best choice as the site was on high ground and fairly exposed. It was more like a holiday village and we could imagine that in the summer it would be teaming with visitors eager to relax on the nearby beaches. We were able to get food at the site and also find a sheltered spot for our little tent.

Beach at Les Sables looking back along our route into the city.

On Sunday, we followed the coast catching glimpses of the sea now and again as we skirted through forest and urban areas. We had a few showers in the morning but it cleared later as we approached St Gilles. We could have stopped earlier but we decided to go onto Fromentine near the Ile de Noirmouter and camp there. The site was fine and only ten minutes walk from the centre of Fromentine and the harbour. Here we had an excellent dinner within sight of the bridge to the island, thinking "that looks exposed but that's for tomorrow". (The Velo 1 goes onto the island and then follows a road "across the sea" back to the mainland).

Our organised campsite at Fromentine, washing done and drying!

The ride across the bridge was fine, a steep uphill and freewheel down and then on a off-road track to the road that crosses the estuary or would have done at low tide. We hadn't realized that the road was actually in the sea and was expecting something like our local Dorset cause-ways over the water meadows. Anyway, low tide was a long way off so we reversed our wheels (the bridge isn't any easier in the other direction!) and devised a route to rejoin Velo 1 on the other side, basically going by road to Beauvoir for coffee and then going to the coast by minor roads to pick up the cycleway. The next section was mostly very good cycling on gravel tracks through a network of canals and wetlands. There doesn't seem to be an alternative to the official track from the island to cope with high tide for this section but it isn't difficult to figure out.

Our lunch stop in the lle de Bouin, Le Collet Port, no sign of life around here.

The route into Pornic was "up and down" and "around about", at least that's how it felt , so we were pleased to find an ice cream parlour in the centre. Then a little further on we deviated off-route to a campsite "La Ranch" near Tharon Plage and found a good restaurant in the village (a short cycle ride away) later in the evening.
The next day we rejoined the cycle route where we'd left it and continued on northwards to take a coffee break at St Brevin near the bridge over the Loire river to St Nazaire.  After this the route wends inland and back to the estuary at Paimboeuf to join the Canal Martiniere. A while after this we crossed the river to the north side using the ferry at Le Pellerin to then follow urban roads and cycleways into Nantes.

Pont Routiere over the Loire river at St Nazaire. Velo 1 does not cross this but continues along the south side of the river to Nantes. This is where the route leaves the Atlantic until Roscoff, the end of our journey.

The free ferry over the Loire river at Le Pellerin after leaving the canal to face the faster pace of Nantes. The urban sprawl begins on the opposite bank to the right side.

In the centre of Nantes, Velo 1 was not obvious but with the GPS track, we were able to find a way through the traffic and pedestrians. Amazingly, with the cycleways in the centre marked in the middle of the road and roundabouts, cars, buses and trams were not a problem but pedestrians became difficult to avoid as they used the cycleways as shelter from the traffic either side. However we found this easier than cycling in Paris.
After getting across Nantes with rain starting, we decided to have a night of luxury in a campsite cabin. Just as well as it rained most of the night and sitting with our breakfast we resigned ourselves to a wet day ahead. Luckily this wasn't to be as the sun appeared shortly after leaving the campsite bringing a pleasant cycling day in pretty ideal conditions.

Our cabin for the night at camping Nantes  which is very close to the cycle route on the way out of Nantes and would make a great base to explore the city with good bus & tram links to the centre. We'd been in Nantes before and I'm sure we'll return without our cycles.

The next stage across Brittany was less know to us as although we'd been many times to northern Brittany. As it was early in the season, I hadn't found many campsites open, "Cycle friendly" hotels or B&Bs near our route when I did the background research. So far in the south we had been able to cycle until we felt like stopping and then find a campsite or accommodation close at hand or within a few miles. Anyway, more of that to come as the journey is completed....

Velodyssey, Instalment 2

The next stage was to follow the track northwards through the forest to eventually cross the Gironde river to reach Royan, the next major centre on our route. Of course things are made easier with a frequent ferry boat across the river so we wouldn't need to get our cycles wet! We did this with overnight stops at campsites near Parentis, Audenge and Houtin and a final campsite at Pontaillac just west of the centre of Royan. The route bypasses Parentis-en-Born and we went off-route a few kilometers to a site near a lake, Etang de Biscarrosse (Camping la Foret Lahitte).

Cycleway (velo1) which is typical of the easy ride through the forest and dunes, very pleasant cycling with shelter from the westerly wind.

The next few days were hot with temperatures above 25 C, so pleasant cycling past the high dunes near la Salie, Dune du Pilat near where we stopped for a picnic lunch near the beach at Pointe d'Arachon. As we'd left early, our tent was wet from the dew so we stopped for a break to dry our gear on the edge of Etang de Cazaux et de Sanguinet. Further on ,the route more or less bypasses Arachon on cycleways at the side of the road or through woodlands in urban areas. The campsite at Audenge was at the edge of town so we unloaded our gear and cycled for dinner at the Port, eventually returning to town to find a reasonable restaurant. 

Looking north from our lunch stop near La Salie; one of the warmest days on our route.

From Audenge, the route goes through an urban area on a disused rail track to Ares, skirting the east side of the Bassin d'Arachon before heading over dunes through the forest back to the coast to reach a cycle track to Carcans Plage stopping at Lacanau for lunch. We hoped to use the campsite further on at Houtin-Plage but this wasn't open so the only alternative was to go on 11 kilometres by road to the west side of the Lac d'Hourtin-Carcans to Houtin itself. In the evening we walked to the Port in Houtin and wandered around the town before sunset.

Our picnic lunch spot at L'Amelie sur Mer south of Soulac sur Mer. Still warm and a chance to dry our tent  from the nights dew.

The next day was to be relatively short, 66 km, along the coast to the ferry over the Gironde and to Royan. The town of Soulac sur mer is very much a holiday centre and developed. We passed through into the last forest before the Pointe de Grave, getting straight onto a waiting ferry. Helen noticed a puncture in her rear tyre at this point. This was a surprise as I'd renewed all tyres, tubes and chains before leaving. Anyway, it was losing air faster than I could inflate it so we had to wheel it off the ferry and repair at some nearby seats. I just changed the tube after locating the piece of grit that had embedded in the centre of the tyre and repaired the tube later at the campsite. The campsite (Camping Clairefontaine) was easy to locate and the cycleway well signed as we left the centre for Pontaillac, still bright in the afternoon sunshine. Unfortunately, we arrived at the camping when lots of others did and waited half an hour whilst all the campground details were explained to the new campers. There were also a few other touring cyclist sharing the "tent" corner. I did manage a cold shower before realising there were hot showers over the other side of the campground, refreshing!

After the ferry crossing and quick repair, we had the afternoon and evening to enjoy scenes of Royan.

We still had some further forests to go through on our way to Rochefort to reach La Rochelle and onwards to the Loire estuary at Nantes, the next installment...to come soon!!

La Velodyssee, Velodyssey, the Atlantic Cycling Route (EV1 or Velo 1) in France (Installment 1).

We're back home after our cycling trip in France on Velo 1 or EV1 along the Atlantic coast starting in Hendaye near Irun at the Spanish border and finishing in Roscoff in Brittany in Northern France. The details of the route and other information as well as GPS downloads may be obtained from the Velodyssee website:  

http://www.lavelodyssee.com. It seems daunting now to sit down and write about the whole trip so I'll do it as I find time--so here's the first installment!

We cycled for a total of 18 days during May. The whole trip covered about 1480 km or 925 miles, about 50 miles a day on the route, although some days were longer and others shorter. My GPS gave my maximum speed as 31 mph and average moving speed of 10.4 mph which includes walking to find cafes and restaurants ! 

Our first stop in Hendaye in the Basque Country after leaving the train, a welcome coffee starting in the rain.

We left Dorset on 3rd May by cycling from home to Poole and catching the Cherbourg Ferry. From the port we found our way across Cherbourg to get some lunch and then the train to Paris. We had about two hours in Paris before getting the overnight train to Hendaye. I'd booked  beds and place for our cycles on the train which was scheduled to leave at nine fifty and arrive at the border about eight thirty in the morning. Of course this meant crossing Paris to get between the train stations. I'd worked out a route across the city and put a track on my GPS and this worked pretty well although scary at times, especially for Helen who was trying to follow me as I sped across traffic lights and pedestrian crossings in the same way I saw the Parisans doing. I think the trick is to look ahead and peddle with confidence, I could be wrong though. We had one problem when one of Helen's pannier bags decided to go its own way, fortunately we were in a shared bus lane without a bus and soon worked out what the problem had been. It took us about 45 minutes to cross and I don't think Helen will be doing it again for a long time (that's optimistic). We arrived at the Gare Austerlitz in time to get some tea and find our reserved carriage. The train wasn't as comfortable as the Spanish overnight trains we'd been on and it was certainly noisier making sleeping a challenge. However, we did get some sleep and awoke to see the sign for Tarbes station in the French Pyrenees and a grey sombre day enshrouded with drizzle, much as we had been led to expecting from the weather forecasts.

Our first "port of call" at a surfers paradise, Biarritz, and a stroll around the beach in the sun before we searched for dinner. A great end to the first day on the road (literally as not many cycle tracks at this point)

I'm not going to give a day to day account of the trip, so if you want more information on any section or more generally, please contact me and I'll try to answer. Here I'll give a few highlights and parts of our ride. 

We carried about 6 kg each in our four panniers and we had handlebar bags for valuables. We also had a tent, small burner and cups so we could make tea and coffee at will or when we couldn't find a cafe. In total we stopped 11 nights in campgrounds, 3 in hotels (when in rained, mainly in the north), 2 Chambre d'Hotes (B&B's to us) and took a cabin in a campground in Nantes where it rained and the temperatures dropped.

Our loaded cycles at the start of our trip outside the cafe in Hendaye, notice the red container full of nuts!

Overall, after the first day, the weather was good and we enjoyed the numerous campsites in the south (mainly below Nantes in Southern Brittany) with blue skies and little wind which came mainly from the west or north-west but generally didn't cause us problems, well unless we turned west which sometimes happened. The GPS route was very useful, as although the signs were often good, sometimes they disappeared or as in Brittany, were very confusing when they did appear. In conurbations such a Biarritz and Nantes, the markings mainly disappeared and you either need detailed maps, GPS or lots of time! We took  1:150000  Michelin Maps which have some adopted cycle-ways marked and served as backup to the GPS. There are published books on the route but they are expensive and heavy and we decided not to use them but to research possible accommodation but not reserve anything so that we could remain flexible when deciding where to spend the night. The maps were particularly useful in choosing possible stopping points for coffee and lunch, important parts of our day! We were mostly on route by nine and finished between four and six in the afternoon depending on stops and distances. As usual when camping, our day was mainly controlled by the sun!

Well Biarittiz was sunny with good waves judging by the evening gathering of dedicated surfers we watched as we strolled along the promenade. We couldn't resist the temptation of not camping on our fist night as we had only done a few miles but felt pretty shattered, probably because of our lack of sleep on the train. However, we were soon revitalized and did over 96 km in the better weather the following day, stopping north of Veux at a campsite near a lake (Etang de Leon) and enjoying a swim indoors and sauna before dinner, "the Life of Riley" indeed. North of Bayonne we had encountered our first forest tracks, mainly tarmac through sandy terrain within a stone-throw from the sea, usually separated by a dune! The next section through the largest forest in Europe, the Landes Forest, I'll come to shortly but for now we're off to enjoy our few days of summer!