Day 3: Vannes - Nantes

The weather keeps improving - from rain in Brest to overcast in Quimper, to sunshine from Vannes. And this, however strange it may seem, may become a major problem, simply because the heat itself is tiring - although in a nice way.

Today, I met another bicyclist on my way from Saint Nazaire, and after a few kilometres he invited me to have a beer with him at his place. Thus, I had a small (and somewhat bumpy) coversation in French with his family, while I enjoyed an incredibly refreshing drink. Thanks for your hospitality, Modeste! :-)

About Nantes, it is a city with a scent of power, most prominently demonstrated by the massive fortress downtown, prolonged by a huge cathedral, and further strengthened by an obelisk surrounded by open space. Impressive.

Foodwise, I haven't figured out what the local speciality is, and opted for duck. Good, although not as smashing as yesterday's fish.

That's about it for today.

Saint Nazaire

The bridge crossing the river Loire by the sea, marking the beginning of the Loire valley, also known as The garden of France... From here, the wind gives me nice push towards Nantes.

La Roche-Bernard

Windmills blowing against me

There is headwind today.

A wonderful hotel: Hötel de France!

Not only is Vannes a nice city (at least down town), but the hotel I'm staying at is just wonderful. Being rated at two stars, I wonder why it haven't got three - the standard more than matches three-star hotels I've stayed at before. In addition, the ladies running the place are the sweetest hostesses you can imagine, making my stay a truly relaxing one. And finally, it all comes at a fair price despite it's central location. Thumbs up from me! :-)

Vannes city bikes

For you, Jan.

Vannes harbour

Day 2: Quimper - Vannes

The picture does not at all say everything about Vannes - not even close. Where Quimper had lots of bridges covered with flowers, Vannes has a magnificent park. However, Vannes has so much more; the harbour reminds me of Cannes, the city centre smells of Strasbourg, and the fresh smell of sea brings my mind home. With an initial impression of a slightly boring place judging by the entrance on bike, Vannes just jumped massively up on my list of favourite cities (although there is no such list).

Today's ride has been a lesson in taking breaks. As opposed to yesterday's hilly ride, stage two has been rather flat and thus fast, and as stopping is no fun when cruising in 35-40 km/h, I've missed out on pauses. Thus, I spent 5 hours and 40 minutes on 130 kilometres today. Today's last note about bicycling: I've taken the consequence of yesterday's problem with route-based navigation, and came in right on target by following my predefined track.

Foodwise, today has been a tribute to the sea. First represented by the pot of moules màriniére I had for my late lunch, then by an outstanding plate of "mixed grill seafood" - more fried than grilled - including scallops, salmon and langust (and an additional two kinds of fish that I can't name). This trip is becoming a trip through the French kitchen across France...

White cows

Maybe not the most exotic one might think of, but rather an illustration of how rural France is. Note: The white stuff in the foreground is flowers...

Lunchtime!

Where did the road go?

Day 1: Le Conquet - Quimper

Today started and ended with a somewhat unpleasant experience with my new GPS. It cannot calculate the routes I've compiled - first by complaining about insufficient memory, then by denying to calculate a route with more than 50 so-called via points. Fortunately, I also loaded the complete track into it (the same that you can see on Bikemap in the right column), and thus can follow the planned route. Which is not at all perfect - I've had to reroute manually twice because what seemed to be roads on the map at home turned out to be gravel roads... However, with an electronic map on the handlebar, rerouting is not at all painful. :-) Another navigational lesson learned, is that following a calculated route can be extremely difficult as intersections jump at you (or me) faster than they come up on the map. Concluding the navigational part, today totalled 131 kilometres, in 6 hours.

On my way to Quimper, I passed a guy bicycling a "lay-down-bike" - twice! He wasn't going very fast (despite that those bikes are supposed to be fast) and the reason I passed him twice was that I stopped for lunch at a créperie (crépes are the local fast food).

To the picture, it is an attempt to show the insanely large number of bridges crossing the main river in Quimper - all completely covered with flowers.

The beach in Brest

Not overly crowded today, but has great potential once the sun comes out. Time to move on to Quimper.

The tide is out

Day 1: Brest - Le Conquet

The west end of France, 25 km west of Brest.

Day 0: Brest

Brest is a place of monumental naval structures; from the enormous harbours and massive docks, to it's huge fortress and spectacular church appearing closer to a cathedral than a church. However coarse it may sound, I like the place - at least from my first impression. Whether it's the place itself or its location by the sea, or the simple fact that it is in France, I don't know. What I do know, however, is that the regional food (crépes) goes wonderful with the regional drink (cidre) - thanks goes to Nathalie who told me on the train from Paris. Calvados was already on my list of things to try. Santé!