25/5 – Day 2 – miles cycled = 35. Total so far 36.
I arrived in St
Malo on time (7.30am) after a good nights sleep. I woke a couple of times and was gently
rocked back to sleep – so smooth was the crossing. I packed up my belongings and had a full
English breakfast in the cafe before heading to the bike room – when I arrived
my bike was buried under about 20 others! I’ve no idea where they came from or
where the riders had gone, as I’d not seen anyone else on the ship that looked
like a ‘cyclist'I managed to dig my
bike out and made my way to the exit ramp.
I was first off and it felt good heading into the early morning French
sunshine.
After initially
getting lost in the port area I managed to find the small ferry that makes the
hourly crossing from St Malo to Dinard on the opposite side of the Ranch
estuary (9 Euros) – and I caught the first ferry of the day at 9.30.
My plan was to
follow the Vois Vert 2 (VV2) south. I
was using ‘Cycling
Brittany’s Greenways’ which
provides good detail, including points of interest, campsite, refreshments
stops etc. I found the VV2 on the
outskirts of Dinard easily enough and was soon on my way. The cycle way is a reclaimed railway bed and
so is wide smooth and easy to follow, and to top it off the sun was shining –
perfect.
I stopped at one point to rearrange my map and was
approached by an elderly chap who told me all about his cycling tours in Spain,
Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the UK.
He spotted my Brooks saddle and then went top great length to tell me
how he always had Brookes and how comfy there were. He could speak hardly any English and I speak no
French but we managed somehow to have a really good conversation. He wished me bon courage and cheerily waved
me off.
After a leisurely couple of hours or so I arrived in
Dinan. It’s a wonderful old town full of medieval houses and winding cobbled
streets. Still pretty full from
breakfast I had a pastry by the river for lunch before deciding to push on to a
campsite some 30km south. After about
10km I realised that I was somehow on a different cycle way than the one I was
supposed to be on. I backtracked to
Dinan and after getting half understood directions from locals found two
campsites, both of which were closed.
I managed to find the Tourist Information office in the
centre of town and the helpful staff identified 3 more campsites, all within 5km that I
could try. I went to the first one and
it was closed, then the second, which was closed until 6.30, it was 3 ish at
this point and so I tried the third – which was open! The site was called La Hallerais (12 Euros),
it was a very hot afternoon and I was really glad to find somewhere to stop.
La Hallerias is a large ‘international’ type site, but the place was incredibly quiet – which suited me fine.
 |
I’m writing this diary sitting outside the bar with a beer. I’m the only customer. I’ve cycled 35 miles today – probably 10 more than I would have done if I had not had such trouble finding a campsite. I have budgeted enough to stay in hotels or B&B’s as necessary – but I really wanted to avoid doing so on my first night, so finding this site open was a godsend.
Given the closed sites and just how quiet it is here I
can foresee finding sites might be an issue on this trip and I need to bear
that in mind when planning my route. Its
probably best to start early and then try to find somewhere early afternoon
allow time for episodes like today.
Overall this might reduce the mileage I had planned on doing - but that really doesn’t matter.
I made pasta with bolognaise sauce and mushrooms for dinner followed by two crème caramels (clearly not up to last nights standards). I’ve got orange juice, two pan au chocolate and two more crème caramels for breakfast. I also had the foresight to bring 40 M&S teabags – a smart move.
Its now 8.30 and they have shut the bar – early night
then!
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