Huîtres et les Moules
France: Tour de Manche Stage 6 – Mon 27th July 2015 – Le-Vivier-sur-Mer to Matignon (71 Km)
Unbelievably I already have completed six of the eleven stages of my fantastic Tour de Manche trip – 400 Km done and dusted and only 300 Km to go. Touch wood, I am feeling fit and healthy, with no aches, pains, ills, or chills. Everything has gone to plan so far, no mechanical issues with the bike and no navigational problems.
Normandy is finished and I am now in Brittany (or Bretagne as the French call it). My first impressions of Brittany are good, but don’t come here if you dislike fruits de mer (literal meaning “fruits of the sea” or seafood as we know it) or crepes. In all the villages and towns I have seen so far the dominant foods are huîtres (oysters), moules (mussels) and there are creperies everywhere. The rum-flambe, marmalade, crepe I had last night tasted delicious.
Today was a much better ride than yesterday! After cleaning yesterday’s mud off my bike and removing the grit off the rims and brake pads, I eventually departed from Le Vivier-sur-Mer at about 9 am this morning. It was overcast but fine as I cycled along a busy, but fairly safe, secondary road on my way to Matignon, around 75 Km away. The first half of the trip is classified “expert”, only because you need to be experienced in sharing the road with traffic, which just means being able to steer a straight line close to the white line at the edge of the road, without wobbling around, and being alert to cars doing the unexpected.
After 10 Km the route turns onto a quiet country road that winds through a nice little village called Saint-Méloir-Des-Onde. About 10 Km further on is the most interesting town of Cancale which, with its wall to wall restaurants, is my kind of town. Cancale is hugely popular with tourists for its mussel beds, restaurants and oyster vendors.
The next 20 Km to St-Malo is along charming narrow lanes through farmland and the peaceful village of St. Coulomb. St-Malo is an interesting town with a walled “old town” that was built in the 12th century. The town became a key port during the 17th and 18th centuries as a base for both merchant ships and government-sanctioned privateers (pirates, basically). From St-Malo I was able to put my bike on a seabus (a small ferry) that took me across to the beautiful resort town of Dinard.
The final 32 Km stretch from Dinard to Matignon was ridden mainly on sealed, tertiary roads and lanes through some lovely countryside.
My recommendation is that you never stay at the Hotel de Matignon because it is like Fawlty Towers. I arrived there at about 4 pm to find the place totally deserted. The hotel was open but there was nobody at either the reception desk or the restaurant/bar area. I rang the reception bell, shouted out bonjour as loudly as I could, and banged on the doors, but I was unable to raise anybody. Eventually the owner came down the stairs at 5:30 pm and said I should have rung the bell! When I asked for wi-fi access he said it was only available in the reception area and is an open network not requiring a password, i.e. unsecured. The final straw was when I opened the door of my room and found it full of flies. I think I will be eating down the street tonight rather than in the hotel restaurant.
Tomorrow I have a 67 Km ride to St Brieuc, but the weather forecast is good so I am looking forward to my second day riding in beautiful Brittany.
Just caught up on the last few days of reading. Hopefully the weather turns for the better and maybe a bit of variety on the food front will occur. Great time of year with all the flowers in full bloom. Third Cricket test starts tomorrow, so here’s hoping for fine weather and a good win. What a great idea having all the bike paths. You’d see a totally different view from a car or train, if they went to half of the places.
They keep saying the weather will improve tomorrow,but fingers crossed I think it actually might this time. Pity I am in France while the test is on, all I can do is check the scores on the internet at night. Yes, you really do see so much more when you are bike touring rather than in a car zooming down the expressway.