June 18 - Day 14 - Tour de Bretagne

14 days of cycling. 

Tomorrow we are taking a day off.

We woke to rain. Yup. Heavy grey clouds and rain, so we skipped our hot breakfast and just put on our rain gear and left (a tad on the grumpy side, if I am being honest, enough with the rain already).

The pink granite is what this area is known for, and while it wasn't worth it to go out to the coast in the weather we had, we did get to see some of their beauty along the way.  Quite pretty, a little like Georgian Bay, and massive boulders of granite just randomly dispersed. 

Our first stop was at a Boulangerie (obviously), and as we came out a lovely local lady wanted to chat. And chat she did! Marc now knows a lot about her family (some in Milwaukee) and her travels to see them (she had a fight with the flight attendant - sorry Nadia) and, and, and, even Marc had trouble getting out of this conversation. And of course she thought the fact that I don't speak french was quite hilarious (memories of Gaspe). 

We followed EV4.  Thinking a Euro Velo route would be well signed, safe and surprise free. But surprise, there were some serious dirt paths that meant some serious mud after all this rain. 

We did some single track, muddy, rock evasion, and avoided some overhanging branches and prickly bushes. That slows down the average speed for the day. But today was a day for making friends so on we went. We were pacing with 2 other couples with touring panniers, and we shared some stories and help with directions. 

We don't see many wild animals here. We actually, honestly, see none. But we do see cows, and horses, and cats.  

The cats of course pay us no attention, cat-itude. 

The horses seem completely uninterested too. 

But the cows! Oh I love the cows. I love how they watch us go by, how they stop and stare, and they wander over to say hello and pose for a photo. 

The rain stopped. Midday. So that was nice. We saw a few more lovely little towns and churches and bells. 

And then we came to the little town of  Treguier.

Known for it's wooden houses and cobblestone roads, it did not disappoint in the quaint department. 

There are many little inlets, many ports, and that means descending down to a bridge, and climbing back up. We were in one small town and stopped for water and had a great conversation with a local man about the weather - it really doesn't get much warmer than 25 here, and it doesn't get too cold either. We chatted a little too long (theme for the day) and got a wee bit cold, cold muscles. Well, no worries, the climb out of town was so steep and pretty darn long, we got overheated! Toughest hill yet. 

We made it to Paimpol. We have a lovely Bed and Breakfast booked here for 2 nights. We are warm and dry and have clean clothes, and full bellies, and our bikes are parked for a little break of their own. 

Strava stats for the day 50 / 500