June 6 - Day 2 - Tour de Bretagne

Rise and shine!

We set a 5:30 alarm and left the campsite by 6:19. "No rest for the wicked" as my grandmother would say. The sun was rising. 

Why so early? Well we had the challenge of the Pont Saint Nazaire... And we wanted to go early for less traffic. It is 3 kms long, with quite a climb and descent. Mission accomplished. Bridge challenge completed, trouble free. I did NOT take any photos so I found a few on Google images to share the experience. 

Once across, we found ourselves in the industrial ship building area, with the 7 am shift arriving for work. It was fascinating, riding by the BIGGEST cruise ship we have ever seen - clearly she is in port getting refurbished. 

Next stop. Boulangerie. Coffee and baked goods, as a prep for the real breakfast... 

We needed a Decathlon run (is there ever really a time when one doesn't need something there?). But we were of course quite early so we helped ourselves to their picnic table and had some classic touring oatmeal and apples - I must say the cinnamon (in the excel mints container) was a great addition to our kit.

Decathlon mission accomplished. Marc has a new rearview mirror and I have a new black vest (ok, another black vest... I forgot mine). 

And then we cycled along more beautiful paths, to the Atlantic shore and enjoyed the views. 

The tide was out, so the boats were all leaning. Had a sort of sad look to it...

Because we are in Brittany we felt we should experience Kouign-amann - the Bretagne pastry.  Super sweet, and delicious.

And then lunch on the coast before we headed inland. 

Such lovely safe bike routes here on the Velocean ❤️

Our ride ended in Asserac, a very pretty town with hints of England.

And we have a cute little campsite with lots of sun to dry our clothes, and shade to enjoy snacks and dinner, and some blogging 😉

Thanks for following along. We love it when you leave us a comment. 

The Strava stats for today:

June 5 - Day 1 - Bretagne

Cheers to day one of the tour de pain au chocolat!

Au, pardon, this is the tour de Bretagne. 

My bad. 

We actually started in rain. But the delicious breakfast and warm goodbyes had us smiling, even if we did have to stop within our first kilometer and put on full rain gear 😕

(Stopping at the bus stop to adjust to full rain gear)

But the rain didn't last, and our route included a ferry ride which allowed us time to take off the rain gear and apply the sunscreen. Perfect timing. 

We followed a canal / the Loire towards to the Atlantic on beautiful poppy-lined paths.

We are back in our happy place. On our bikes, exploring France, the amazing trees and roses, poppies and birds, picnic lunches of baguette sandwiches, and lots of other fellow-velos out here. 

Of course a day would not be complete without at least one ROUTE BARREE 😄

We are near the beach.

Our evening walk revealed a few sea monsters...

We have a cute little campsite that has a PICNIC table, which is such a treat. And the sun has come out to warm us while we eat, and dry our towels. Perfect. 

First day on Strava for this adventure, mostly flat, and 62 kms done 🙂

Thanks for following along on our ride. 

Bretagne France June 2024

Bonjour 

There is so much about France that we love. 

And so much that we have yet to explore. 

So we are off for more pain au chocolat, french campsites, Euro Velo 1, and the beautiful Atlantic coast. 

The best way to get bikes anywhere (we have learned) is a direct flight. So we drove to Montreal, where we were spoiled with a wonderful stay at Chez Hardiman, and then flew direct to Nantes. 

This year we will focus on one region.  Bretagne. We plan one month of riding around the coastline, in three "stages", roughly:

Stage 1: Nantes to Crozon 440km , 3300M

Stage 2: Crozon to Mont St. Michel 460km, 4500M

Stage 3: Mont St. Michel return to Nantes 200kms, 1700 M

So far, so good.  

We arrived.

Our bikes arrived. 

Our taxi van arrived. 

And our friends in Nantes welcomed us with food, and laughter, a place to build our bikes and then nap, and some time with their adorable daughters. 

(Below - the happiest site to see while awaiting your luggage!)

(Bikes built in the back garden)

Louise and Adele, enjoying some maple candy (c'est bon!)

So happy to break bread back in France with welcoming friends. 

Tomorrow our Tour de Bretagne will begin.