Day 8: Scaér

Map strava

I read from The Pest, having to check at least one word per page in the dictionary on my phone, and then slept unevenly. I slept in later than I would have liked, only rising at 08:30 and making my coffee and eating some cereal with water, it was then to pack up and leave in the usual fashion.

I wasn’t feeling super great in the morning, which perhaps was a sign for how I would feel towards the end of the day. The sun was shining again, perhaps aggressively so, and I started mumbling to myself as I was looking at my map, trying to find the bridge

Good Road

“il est ou la pont?” “il n y a pas” “mais il y’a une batteau la, mais bon, la pont est plus-haut” “C’est im-pont-ant” (haha)

What this is

Talking to myself is also a sign that I may not be in the best state mentally but I carried on through La Pont de l’Abbe taking the main road (which had a cycle path nonetheless) and avoiding the coastal path. I wanted to make up some time and at this point I had seen enough and it was good to cycle on the fast road fast.

It is old the bike

Ater taking the main road, I decided to hit the coast road again, as I stopped to take in the sea view an old man approached me

“Il est vieux le velo” “pardon?” “le velo, it is old no?” “12 years old” I said “it’s a rando! where do you come from? comment tu l’a?” (how come you have it) “England - I lived in Paris for 3 years” “the shop doesn’t exist anymore” “i know” “we have 2, we went to Nepal! c’est le bon velo” “yeah, it keeps going”

Dehydrated River

He recognised the branding on my bike “Rando-Cycles”, the shop I got it from in Paris was quite famous, and I guess it’s now part of history.

A waypoint today was the town of Concarneau, less because it was a town and more because it’s the beginning of the V7 cycle route.

I found out yesterday that the V7 is a greenway - which is code for “what used to be a train line is now a cycle path” which is code for “long cycle path with few or no hills”. This cycle path runs all the way from Roscoff to Concarneau and I was excited to join it.

Excited as I was I almost did not stop in Concarneau, but decided as I was there I may as well have a quick look. I ended up grabbing lunch - another Crêpe and another large beer - the beer was a Blonde and had a fruity flavour and it was very cold and good - especially as I was so hot. I had trouble ordering “I would like the Crêpe Oof Fromage” “Je vous ne comprende pas” “Oof Fromage” “Oof” “perhaps you mean egg sir? - Uff”. “Oui, Oof Fromage - c’est que j’ai dit”.

Lunch

Exiting the town I found the greenway and it was what I hoped for… for a while at least. It rose with a gentle slope for some kilometers before descending equally far and gently and I was able to keep a good average speed, however it seems then that the route diverged from the old railway and I encountered some hills.

Concarneu

Unfortunately my knee starting hurting again, and became progressively more of a problem until it was practically unusable. I had intended to achieve around 105k and perhaps rest in a Gîte d’Etape (which is something like a Hostel) but with the heat, my knee and general exhaustion I decided to stop earlier. Fortunately I found a great campsite which is rather dedicated to cyclists.

Greenway 1

It’s a converted railway station, with camping, a librarie, cafe, camping and… an escape game. “Je peux parle anglais si tu veux” “Ouai, pourquoi pas” and she started speaking in a perfect English accent “actually I’m from Devon my family moved her 13 years ago”. Being exhausted I actually found it quite hard to switch from French to English and I struggled to string a sentence together.

Greenway 2

The camping has one of the “vélo repair stations” and a kitchen, bathroom and, importantly, a tent pitch which is shaded by trees, they have Wifi and I’m typing this blog post in the cafe with a plugged in laptop, feeling quite knackered and looking forward to a lie down.

Billetterie

Tomorrow I’ll continue on the V7 before joining the canal path east in the direction general of St. Malo.