In the Home Straight

France: Tour de Manche Stage 11 – Sat 1st August 2015 – Plestin-les-Grèves to Roscoff (55 Km)

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As he so often did Nelson Mandela said it best: “It always seems impossible until it is done”. Reaching Roscoff at around 2 pm this afternoon means that I have now crossed the finishing line. It was only a one horse race, so I guess that means I have won!

But I cheated a little, so there might be a steward’s protest. Last night I looked at the official Tour de Manche map and decided that the 75 Km route from Plestin-les-Grèves to Roscoff was unnecessarily long, so I created  a much more direct route of 52 Km, which not only shaved 23 Km off the day’s journey but resulted in fewer undulations. Instead of following the coastline all the way around just to pass through the town of Plougasnou, I decided to change this first stretch by going overland direct from Plestin-les-Grèves to Morlaix.

When I woke up this morning and looked out my window at Hotel Les Panoramas a spectacular sunrise greeted me. There was some streaky cloud around but it looked like a reasonable day coming up, so I bounced out of bed to get ready for my last day of riding here in France (at least for this year).

My alternative route was scenic enough and enabled me to pass through some interesting villages and hamlets such as Lanmeur (Lanneur) on my way to the very impressive town of Morlaix (Montroulez). I am so glad I chose the rustic route because it provided mostly stress free riding on good quality, quiet, country roads, with lovely countryside featuring lots of crops of artichokes and maize. There was just the one stretch of about 2 Km, riding on the busy D786 road, where I had to concentrate to avoid straying off the 30 cm shoulder onto the road or, nearly as bad, into the deep ditch on my right. It was a relief to turn onto the smooth, wide, traffic-free, Route de Garlan (C5), which provided great riding for several kilometres.

The Boulangerie Pâtisserie photos were taken at Lanmeur, where I stopped and bought the usual Pain au Raisin to take with me for lunch along the route. Filled with fresh raisins and with custard oozing out the centre, I find these irresistible in France. Cyclists can justify indulgences such as this on the grounds that the calories will be burned up during the day. The shop was so popular I had to join a queue of locals who were there mostly to buy their fresh bread stick, which is a daily ritual in France. Boulangerie Pâtisseries are what I am going to miss most in France, not so much the crêperies which in my opinion are over-rated.

I was highly impressed with Morlaix with its bustling Saturday market and the imposing bridge Le viaduc de Morlaix standing tall above the town. It is a nice clean modern town with an attractive port and lots of interesting eateries.

From Morlaix to the port of Roscoff (Rosko) is one of the prettiest and interesting sections of the whole tour, passing through lovely fields of the region’s famed pink onions and artichokes, and with beautiful views of the Channel. Here Le Tour de Manche cycle route shares the way with La Vélodyssée cycle route, following the River Penzé. A special treat was passing through the spectacular town of Saint-Pol-de-Léon, in the Pays Léonard area, about 5 Km before you get to Roscoff. I stopped there and enjoyed a café au lait in the sunshine while watching everyone strolling around the busy Saturday market in the town centre.

Two days ago I had to pretend I was a golfer, now today I have to pretend I am an artist because tonight I am staying at Hôtel La Résidence des Artistes, a fabulous hotel which, as you imagine, has interesting décor. It is right in the heart of Roscoff and what’s more the delightful mademoiselle at the front desk speaks perfect English, so I think we will get on well. She told me there is a free Celtic rock concert at 9 pm tonight on the stage in the city centre, just 100 metres from the hotel, so I am looking forward to hearing the sounds of Breton.

Good news … the correct weight siren has just sounded, so if you backed me you can stand in the bookmaker’s queue and collect now!

And so ends my tour. Thank you for following my adventure, which I hope you have enjoyed as much as I have enjoyed sharing. Feel free to download any pictures or maps. For purposes of uploading to my website all the photos have been reduced to 1280 x 720 pixels, but if there are particular ones you like just let me know the file names (IMG_xxxx) and I can upload them to the Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) page under the “Image Gallery” tab. To download a photo (or get the filename) just right click the thumbnail and select “Save image as …”

Au revoir!