Biking Day 26

• Length ridden: 63 km
• Ascent: 630 meters
• Rating: 6.5 out of 10 - some deduction due to the rain
• Highlights: Yes again, the friendliness of the French
• Lowlight: ah, the weather...
• Map of the day

A little after 7 am, I left the campground and now it was Cap d´Erquy that was ahead of me - it was nice, but somehow I preferred Frehel the previous evening.

Not long thereafter, I reached the town of Erquy, where there was a very empty beach-front, with just a few joggers and one or two people making it into the ocean. I almost rode by town, but something made me turn around and ride between the houses. To my amazement, a huge Saturday market was in full flair, with dozens of food stands, next to it some stalls selling clothes...who would have imagined that such a seemingly sleepy place was so vivant?

It was a bit of an uphill ascent, where a young boy on his petite bike overtook me on the sidewalk, pedaling for his life. Soon, though, he was completely out of breadth. I challenged him to continue riding, he showed he could not, as his heart was throbbing.

Later I got to Pléneuf-Val-André, an elegant seaside resort town. Here another Saturday market took place and I strolled the stands. I thought to give galettes a third chance to a (the first two were not too tasty), if there were so many folks lined up, it must be good. There was an older gentleman in front, I asked what he was having, he bought like 8 galettes to go, ordered a 9th one for me and did not let me pay. Again, these French people..., not sure I could tell such stories in Austria. I must say, again, please do not put this stinky sausage into my galette, it is quite distasteful (I understood it would be cheese only...), but then one should not look a gift horse in its mouth.

I crossed a bridge and saw a number of stranded boats, no sailing for them that morning.

Something very typical of Brittany are entire bushes (or schools?) of hydrangeas - this is something I would be seeing everywhere next to houses or just in the wild for the next couple of days.

The weather was quite nice, a bit cloudy. This changed when I got to Saint-Brieuc around 1:30 in the afternoon, a town which I missed out visiting completely. I rode on a rather unpleasant road and saw that it was going to rain and felt quite tired. I still had some clean clothes, but it would not hurt to wash everything - the last time I refreshed was in Honfleur some 6 days ago. I found a laundry, and as soon as I entered the laundry, it started raining, so it was quite good timing It was so that I had a good 1,5-hour rest. A funny story on the side - a lady entered after me and we struck up a conversation in French. All of a sudden, she asked me if I was from Hungary. I was quite startled how she found this out and mentioned she had family in Hungary and they had a similar French accent. Small world! Another person, an elderly gentleman entered, he told me of his life story - in French, of which I understood only partially. After I was done, I visited a Lidl - this became my favorite place for quick purchases, as they had an ice-cold apple juice with tasty pasties, all for a reasonable price - much lower than at French supermarkets, such as an Intermarché or Super U.

The rain had stopped when I was done and again, the bike road signs were more than confusing - and Google also did not really help. I spotted a pretty teen girl at a bus stop, thought she would be a bit scared if I asked her, quite the contrary. With a friendly smile on her face, she pointed out which direction to continue on.

I got to the town of Podic around 5 pm, yet again, I had planned to make up for the time spent at the washing salon. I thought it would no longer rain that day, well, it turned out the previous rainfall was just the precursor. Now it came down really heavily and I found cover in a bakery called Maison Cherel et Filles. I had some Caesar salad and a chocolate creme, then waited and waited. I spent almost two hours there, so it was already close to 7 pm, with a very wet ground. I started looking for hotels with little hopes, as it was Saturday. This time, I got lukcy, I found a hotel called Brit Hotel Privilege in in Saint Brieuc, for what I believe was €70, breakfast excluded. The only issue what that I had to back-track for about 4 kilometers, which I dislike, but in the grand scheme of things it did not matter.

On the way to he hotel, I stopped at an Intermarché, knowing the following day was a Sunday, so did some basic shopping. This was just before closing and they already started lowering the blinds when I got to the check-out (at 7:30 pm). I told the lady in French that I hoped I could still exit the supermarket, she responded, with a great sense of humor, if not, we can all hold a party there that night -with plenty to eat and drink! 😉

The pretty receptionist ladies at the hotel were very welcoming, with a big smile they showed me a place to store the bike and if I understood correctly, even gave me a room upgrade. It was amazing sleeping on crisp, white sheets, the last time on a hotel was quite a few days ago.

It was about 63 kilometers, with a laundry and a rain break in between.