Cycling in Brittany
After arriving in Paris, setting up the bikes and taking a test ride to Versailles, we head by train to St. Brieuc on the English Channel. It is from here that we will ride towards Nantes on the Loire taking a selection of C roads, the lessor known Rigole d’Hilvern path and the more well-known Brest to Nantes Canal. We are expecting this stage to take 4-5 days
Arriving and Set-Up
Originally after our late evening arrival, we were going to catch the RER from Paris CDG to our hotel but after separating the panniers from the bike bags to meet airline weight requirements, and surveying the resulting array of bags we made a last-minute decision to pre-book a Mini-van to collect us, the 2 bike bags, 1 additional bag and the pannier we each had as carry on. The RER was never going to be a practical solution with that many things to keep track of!
First thing the next morning we found a very Parisian outdoor space to set-up the bikes, complete with stunning architecture…and Poodles. After breakfast we set about confirming logistics. After an initial wobble when they saw the size of our loaded bike bags, the hotel was much happier with the packed down versions and confirmed that we can indeed store them for the next three months – phew!
Next step – where to store the assembled bikes when we were not riding.
Here is a tip – ensure that your hotel will also allow for you to store your assembled bikes – trying to find a secure storage place is near on impossible. We tried so called Velo storage at the major stations (which we still can’t find!), carparks and even asking a bike store to assist. Once again, Henri of the Hotel Notre Dame came to our assistance and cleared a space for us to keep them overnight – A small tip is well and truly due here.
After another Petit Déjeuner, we made our way around the major Paris landmarks and headed to Versailles through the Bois de Boulogne and then the beautiful Domaine National de Saint-Cloud. We have both been to Paris a few times, but the opportunity to ride through these lovely green spaces, with their ornate lakes and fountains, wooded tracks and trails made this a great way to get to Versailles.
Getting to St.Brieuc
An early start with a short ride from our hotel, past the Sorbonne, the Pantheon and the lovely Jardin du Luxembourg to the brutalist architecture of Hall 1 of Gare-Montparnasse. We are catching a couple of trains to get to our starting point in St. Brieuc in Brittany by mid-day. Our first train is a TGV, and with a reservation it does allow for the transporting of our bikes with no issues. That said, it doesn’t stop other passengers stacking their bags and luggage on top of your bike, which makes for a little prep as you approach your station. The second train from Rennes to St. Brieuc is a local train (“TER”), where no reservation for the bikes is required (season dependent!).
We have always defaulted to the Dbahn website and app in the past to plan our train travel as it allows for the selection of travel with bikes per passenger. But we have found the SNCF Connect app. really useful, including a helpful feature of graphically showing where your seat (and associated bike space) is when the train is about to board.
St. Brieuc towards the Nantes – Brest Canal
Where is and why St Brieuc you may ask?
Originally our plans took us to Brest so we could ride the full Nantes-Brest Canal, but during the research, we discovered the Rigole d’Hilvern (French Velo 8) which runs along an artificial feeder river to the Brest-Nantes Canal. The closest accessible town by train was St Brieuc and Google suggested that it had a few points of interest, so we settled on it as the start point. St Brieuc is on the north Brittany coast, dates to the Middle Ages and has an interesting historic Centre, where there are 16th century buildings, albeit mostly run down. We spent a couple of hours walking around the town, but given the rain and the hail, and with everything shut on a Sunday, we have not had the opportunity to fully explore the place.
A thank-you to the manager of the Contact Hôtel du Champ de Mars for letting us check-in early, and store our bikes inside, given our desire to be out of the hailstorm. Also, apologies for walking my wet bike across your recently mopped floor.
Today (29/04/24) was really the start of the trip, with the reality of long stretches of days on the bikes. With the threat of rain always a possibility and the worry that our fitness might fail short of the goal village – St Caradec, we set off from St Brieuc quite early, so we had time to rest if needed. A series of climbs greeted us as we meandered through dairy farms and other fields of produce for the first 35km of our day, reminded us of Gippsland in Victoria (outside Melbourne), but with more history in the buildings. The smells were reminiscent of the mature cheeses and the fields filled with staples of garlic and onion that France is famous for. The lovely village of Uzel bought welcome relief as this was our highest point of the day, followed by a swift 1.5km decent to meet up with the Rigole d’Hilvern. The Rigole d’Hilvern provided a tree lined canopy over a rolling, flat gravel path for the next 25km. We had expected to use our first days to build fitness and can confirm that we hit our maximum for today, arriving just in time to avoid collapse at the Camping Village Guerzaille. Although out of season, the owners welcomed us warmly. We now have the luxury of our own toilet block and dining room – complete with a fully stocked kitchen…not bad for €15
From the Rigole onto the Nantes – Brest Canal
Wow, what a tough but very rewarding day. The forecast was for no rain, but wind. And it must be windy a lot given the amount of windfarms on the landscape in these parts of Brittany. We debated a shorter, but more hilly day versus another that was 20km longer, but flatter. In the end, fatigued legs dictated the latter, but even with that, the wind sapped our strength and we finished at our limits.
Touring allows for a lot of time to ponder and chat. Today’s topic involved the use of superlatives to describe our experiences, and this occupied us for about 10km! We know we may see the dramatic, the stunning, the picturesque, the beautiful, etc, so we have settled on ‘pretty’ to describe the remaining ride along the Rigole d’Hilvern and the start of the Nantes – Brest Canal. It would have been ‘very’ pretty except for the lack of sun!
Even still, ‘pretty’ captures the gentle and soothing landscapes of this area. I can see that some may find canal riding a little boring, but as Aussies more accustomed to sunburnt landscapes and droughts the lush greenery was captivating. We passed the lovely villages of Saint Gonnary and Rohan and finished the day in the very spectacular medieval city of Josselin, a must see in these parts. We have checked into the Camping Cerisiers (Cherries) for the night, which has some interesting camping options. Tomorrow, we believe there is rain on the horizon, so we don’t expect much of a reprieve, but we have just been told the campsite has Steak Frites on the menu at the campground. All is well!
Some historical context – the Nantes-Brest Canal was the most ambitious canal completed in France at 360 kms long with 238 locks. It was commissioned by Napoleon B in 1811 after Brest was blockaded by the English. The French required another way to continual naval activities with it other large Atlantic point in Nantes. It was finished by another Napoleon, Napoleon III in 1858.
A much better day on the Nantes to Brest Canal! After a camp site breakfast of baguette and laughing cow cheese, with half a mandarin each, we managed to cover the same distance as yesterday, but with no wind to speak off. The rain that was expected came the night before – check out the Insta post for a look from an elevated tent. The riding today was more in line with what we had expected during planning with the weather even providing the chance to drop the ‘longs!’ In Malestroit we stopped for a café crème around mid-morning, sitting in the historic centre which whilst lovely, was not as special as we found Josselin to be. Redon is our base for the night, and it too has a nice medieval centre, but was ghostly quiet given we have arrived on the May Day public holiday. We have continued to dodge the rain during our riding – lets hope it holds out and the sun also begins to be less shy. We will spend the night out of the tents at the Hotel Le France to catch up on much needed laundry.
We started the day with a pit stop at FJ Bike Store (right on the canal), with Janette requiring a readjustment to her front derailer. No doubt a carryover problem from the shipping, and quickly rectified by the expert mechanics hand. We got on the road around 9:30 for a planned shorter day. Although the temperature was still in the mid to high single digits, the sun was shining for the first time. The ride continues to be enjoyable and pretty, even when some jet fighters buzzed us in low level fly-by that tested the integrity of the bike pants. We had a break outside of Guenrouet where impromptu church bells rang out over the valley and the canal – check the insta post for the sound and sight. We have pulled into Blain for the night at a camping ground on the canal with the added benefit of a bar for a drink later. After going for a walk, we also discovered Blain had 2 amazing medieval and midcentury structures – one a chateau, the other a castle, which fell interestingly feel into disrepair and was renovated by Marie Bonaparte of the Greek royal family (descendant of Napolean 1st) in the early 20th century and handed back to Bretagne. One more day on the Nantes-Brest Canal remains.
As it turned out, we did not have one more day on the Nantes-Brest Canal as we decided to go inland to see some off the beaten track villages. We set out to follow the Voie Verte entre Notre Dame Des Landes et Blain, an old rail route that links Blain with Le Chapelle sur Erdre but the path was basically a farm track for the most part – complete with a horse and sulky! Although the track is earmarked for development it remains undeveloped and not suitable for bikepacking yet but the overnight rain may have contributed to this though! We took shelter from a hail storm in a café in the village of Le Chapelle sur Erdre, and then followed the EV1 into Nantes past the University and the Ile of Versailles – a pleasant inner city pedestrian harbour area. We have decided to stay at the IBIS Hotel on recommendation of fellow bikepackers. Stage 1 is now complete and we will transfer to La Rochelle by train.
