Great Ridesgreat Deck It Was On
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D E T A I L S WHERE: Brittany, France START/FINISH: St Malo to Roscoff DISTANCE: 235 miles PICTURES: Getty Images and Caroline Burrows BRITTANY | GREAT RIDES Great rides CYCLING BACK TO HAPPINESS Despite a car driver’s carelessness damaging her bike, body, and self-confi dence, Caroline Burrows pressed ahead with her planned tour of Brittany t New Year I made a resolution I was woken by Brittany Ferries piping Do it yourself to have lots of mini-adventures, music into the cabin around 6am, and an hour so booked a ferry to France for a later was untying my bike to a morning chorus TRAINS A week’s cycling tour in the summer. of engines. The car deck doors opened to AND FERRIES The next day a car drove into me at a sunshine. Soon I was sipping an overpriced junction. It was an odd experience travelling but delicious latte outside a café within the I took my bike by train from Bristol to Portsmouth, and backwards on a bonnet, aware that this grey, granite walls of St Malo. back from Plymouth to Bristol, might be it – the end. I survived. Whether I’d with Great Western Railway. recover in time for my trip was, just as I had ON THE GREENWAYS Their website (gwr.com) lets been during the crash, up in the air. My tour proper began at Dinard, a 15-minute you make bike reservations online at the same time as May arrived. I was still having physio for journey away on a local Corsaire ferry. buying tickets. nerve damage in my leg, whiplash, and a I pedalled uphill asking locals for the I took the overnight Brittany suspected displaced coccyx. Getting back on ‘velo verde’. They responded with confused Ferries (brittany-ferries.co.uk) a bike wasn’t easy. While sitting on chairs was expressions, then exclamations of ‘greenway!’ sailing from Portsmouth to St painful, being on a saddle shifted my weight and directions to the sandy, tree-lined Malo, which took about 11 hours, sleeping solo in a twin forwards enough to make cycling manageable. bike path. French cyclists greeted me cabin. I returned on the early I was also panicky, no longer trusting that not with a polite nods like in the UK but morning ferry from Roscoff drivers would stop. friendly ‘bonjours’. to Plymouth, which took The good news was that the driver admitted I took a small detour, following a sign about 5 hours. I’d recommend reserving a cheap reclining fault, and I received an insurance payment saying ‘menhir’. It was a huge monolith, seat on the shorter daytime through my Cycling UK membership. I treated leaning at a gravity-defying angle. Apparently, route. I’d advise filling up your myself to a new bike, a women’s Pinnacle village girls used to climb the stone in their water bottles before you board Arkose 1. But as the holiday drew closer, christening knickers to bring luck finding a as it’s expensive to buy water I remained apprehensive. husband. Decked out in padded cycling shorts on the ferries. When D-Day arrived, I boarded a packed and slippery SPDs, I decided against it. train from Bristol to Portsmouth. Even with a My route continued through the village bike reservation, it was like a game of human, of Taden, where I stopped at a tabac. These luggage and bicycle Tetris. At the port, I joined bars always feature: cheap coffee; alcohol; queues of cars, motorbikes and camper vans. and groups of French men betting on horse Once aboard, I strapped my bike to a railing races. I then ate lunch down by the river. and took photos so as not to forget which More than one French person wished me ‘bon Left: Dinan © Getty Images deck it was on. appétit’ as I munched on a baguette. Nobody DINAN WAS GORGEOUS, WITH ITS STONE BRIDGES, VIADUCT, AND COBBLED STREETS CYCLINGUK.ORG CYCLE 55 BRITTANY | GREAT RIDES Clockwise from above: Roscoff war memorial. Taking a break north of Bignan. Josselin Castle. Fellow Bristolians says ‘enjoy your meal’ back home unless drive-by rant about cyclists not paying an elastic. Yet finally the forest of Brocéliande you’re in a restaurant. imaginary form of road tax. It was a pleasant appeared in the distance, its treetops hidden At the end of the greenway was the experience to find French drivers giving a behind a steamy mist. Thunder rolled, making mediaeval town of Dinan. It was gorgeous, friendly toot before overtaking in a wide arc. me wonder if the bike’s tyres would provide with its light brown stone bridges, viaduct, Wet grey skies intermittently replaced the insulation if I were hit by lightning. cobbled streets, and timber buildings all sun; my waterproofs went on and off. The In Folle Pensée, I was welcomed into a competing for attention. By 6pm, I was waiting rhythm of cycling all day was chipping away King Arthur-themed B&B. My face fell when with all the other guests to gain entry to the at my melancholy but I’d find my thoughts the owner told me the nearest restaurant youth hostel. turning like my wheels. One moment, I’d be was 5km away but I hadn’t carried all that The bunkrooms were separated by gender aware of bird song among the trees, then food for nothing. I retired to my attic room, but the bathrooms weren’t. I queued for a uncertainties about my body and my abilities which was painted to represent the fairy shower behind a rotund man in his Y-fronts. circled back round again. I was well prepared Viviane, who trapped Merlin in the forest. The Later, he was fully-dressed and part of a for the meteorological dark skies following window showcased a tempest above, forks of group of friendly motorbikers. They offered me me; the emotional ones were proving harder lightning illuminating the room. Legend has it a type of green alcohol and laughed when I to manage. that when water is splashed on a stone slab stuck to my peppermint tea. As it was Sunday, I hoped to find a tabac at the Fontaine de Barenton, a storm will rage. open. However, on reaching Médréac, Somebody had spilled a lot of water… DARK CLOUDS everything was shut and I was out of water. It was Sunday. Knowing that most of northern I spied a butcher’s shop, its window painted BETTER TOGETHER France would be shut, I added two baguettes with the image of a local pro cyclist holding I had a rest day here. The day after, I passed and a jar of honey to my food stash. I followed aloft a piglet dressed in a blue cape. The through Josselin and its turreted, fairy tale the greenway along the river to Léhon Abbey, lights were off but the door was half open. castle, onwards to a farmhouse containing where the path became too narrow and rocky. Inside, the owners were cleaning. They a warm-hearted woman called Nathalie. I switched to small lanes instead – yellow proverbially saved my bacon by filling up Using her laptop and my phone, we nattered D-roads on the map. my water bottles. away with Google Translate. Despite feeling Back home, when cars aren’t driving My planned journey, which was supposed shattered, I said yes when she asked if I straight into me, they sometimes play a game to be gently reacquainting me with cycle wanted to go with her to singing practice. of aggressive horn honking, followed by a touring, was stretching out like a piece of We drove down winding country lanes with bottles of home-made cider clanging in the backseat. Inside a large barn was a stage and THE FOREST OF BROCÉLIANDE APPEARED, a recording desk. Nathalie’s folk choir – called ‘Lies’, Breton for ‘multitude’ – were rehearsing ITS TREETOPS HIDDEN BY A STEAMY MIST for Fest Noz (‘night festival’). CYCLINGUK.ORG CYCLE 57 GREAT RIDES | BRITTANY Fact file BRITTANY TOUR Left: It’s DISTANCE: 235 miles over 8 days, rideable, with 1 rest day, on a combination but Caroline of minor roads and bike paths. went by road Above: A ROUTE: To map out my route, I used souvenir from Brittany’s Green Ways, 3rd Edition the 2012 Tour de France (www.reddogbooks.com, ISBN 9780956869999). But in France, I often chose quiet roads instead. After Dinan, I travelled to Folle The women sang and the men played sparse and it was hot again. Even if there Pensée, near Paimpont; Bignan; instruments. Nathalie introduced me to the were villages, there’d be no guarantee they’d Pontivy; Maël-Carhaix; Morlaix; and finally to Roscoff. fiddle player and sound-engineer, who’d cycled be open; I hadn’t yet cracked Brittany’s secret around the world with some friends plus their shopping timetable. CONDITIONS: Mostly warm and friend’s father, who suffered from multiple Heading north, I saw a huge yellow bicycle, sunny, with some intermittent rain and a couple of thunderstorms. sclerosis. They’d had a buggy specially a fire extinguisher on its frame instead of designed for the father to sit in, and they a water bottle. A man from the restaurant MAPS: IGN 115 Rennes/St Malo, IGN 124 Nantes/Saint Nazaire, IGN visited MS organisations along the way. opposite told me the Tour de France had 123 Vannes/Lorient, IGN 114 Saint Back at the farmhouse, Nathalie showed passed by in 2012. Finally, years of watching Brieuc/Morlaix. me their YouTube videos: ‘MS World Tour’.