Bilbao to St. Malo 2023

We've done some stuff over the last few weeks but getting up at 5:30 and setting off in the pitch dark was a new one. (Don't forget, we are an hour later in France) We needed to catch the ferry from St. Malo at 8am so there was no choice but to set off from my parents at unearthly O'clock. After hurried hugs and goodbyes, we set off down their track. They live in the middle of nowhere so it was very black. We just took each pothole as it happened. So did the tandem, of course. The tandem has been amazing over this trip. One puncture and a few cable adjustments and tyre reinflates, as you'd expect.  We set off like coiled springs. Probably the combination of knowing we had a boat to catch and having a whole day off cycling, the day before! We arrived fifteen minutes before the gates opened for the port and first spent some time talking to a neighbouring motorist then to two men who turned up on the bike lane behind us. We had plenty of time to compare notes. They had spe...

 Final blog is tomorrow. Then you can relax....

 For the record, neither Kate nor I sneaked down to the 'pub' below us for a snifter of alcohol in the night. In fact we slept. It was the first night for a long time with rectangular pillows. French pillows are square. Why does that make a difference? I don't know but we're both obviously rectangular pillow sorts of people.  I was up before I needed to be. I think it was the lure if the Golden Grahams for breakfast.  They didn't disappoint. With Cooper's original marmalade on my toast and cup of good coffee, we hit the jackpot.  Thus fuelled, we set off for what was the last full day's ride, saying goodbye to Auntie Susan and Uncle Eric and thanking them for being wonderful hosts. There was much up and down today but geographically only. Our spirits remained up. We seemed to be 'up a gear' in every sense. Was it the smell of victory? Was it the slightly favourable wind? Was it the Golden Grahams? We had wondered about having lunch in Fougeres, but w...

 Café? Oui. Orange? Oui. Baguette? Oui. Confiture? Oui. Buerre? Oui. I was beginning to panic, as the slightly terrifying host demanded to know our exact breakfast requirements. I hoped he'd say Tripe? So that I could say Non, and stop looking like I was out for all I could get. But no. His list ended with an affirmative answer to everything he had suggested. And don't drink anything in bed! Now I know we were staying in a 15th century castle but the bed was not 15th century. It was like one of IKEA's finest. I'm afraid we broke the rules. Kate doesn't function unless the day has started with tea in bed. Even if it's Liptons. We ate the carefully prescribed breakfast in a lovely room with huge windows which opened out onto the roofs of Laval.  The morning was more of the same in terms of cycling up the Mayenne River. We were able to tank it. The surface was good and our legs were in good form. We even 'took out' a few electric bikes which was quite satis...

 We slobbed out. No alarm until 7:30. Breakfast at a decadent 8:30. Departure at a hedonistic 9:30. Heady times. Not only that, but I looked at the route this morning and decided that spending the entire day cycling along a river bank might get a bit 'samey'. So, with derring do, I plunged boldly into areas of technology that I had hitherto only dreamed of, and cooked up another route. I blue toothed it. I downloaded it. I saved it offline. I pinned it. I transferred it to another device. Techy Steve, they call me. (Or they jolly well should do after that lot) So we set off on a gloriously sunny morning, stopping after just 15 minutes to apply sun cream, and took the brand new route which offered little roads passing through pretty villages. True, it also offered far more hills than a riverside ride but then no strangers to hills, are we. We arrived at Chateau Gontier for the statutory coffee and at this point decided that it would be fun to do some riverside riding after all, ...

 Quite a funny night, depending on your sense of humour. The street outside was a little one way street but very noisy. Cars and motorcycles seemed to take on the challenge of seeing what speed they could achieve whilst still being able to stop at the end. Before entering the hotel the previous evening, we had witnessed one such attempt from a car as two children on electric scooters hurtled down the street the wrong way towards it. They stayed in the middle of the street until moving over to one side was absolutely necessary if a blood bath was to be avoided. We have seen wonderful sites on electric scooters. A man in a suit with his brief case wedged between his legs, two people sharing a scooter and, perhaps best of all, a Grandma, zooming along complete with a handbag and a set expression.  The night 'ended' at about 5am, when there was a sudden and lengthy frenzy of street cleaning. We didn't look out of the window but knew one of those road sweeper lorries with the br...

 I had pictured this day in my mind many a time over the last few months. Bowling down the Loire in relatively familiar territory.  The day started cold but bright. Cold enough for us to put on our jackets. We cycled through Tours in early Sunday morning sun and the absence of the srum of cars, buses, trams, pedestrians and cyclists of yesterday. This meant miles of utter lawlessness as we ran red lights, careered the wrong way round roundabouts and nipped across pavements.  We stopped the moment we saw a boulangerie, stocked up on pain au chocolat,  then stopped at the first bar tabac that was open. It is one of the wonderful things about France that you can buy pastries somewhere, then stop somewhere else for your coffees and get your pastries out. How civilised!  Tours seems to be full of rivers. Not content with just the Loire, it has included the Cher and all sorts of little tributaries within its boundary. Today's journey started with several bridges to be...

 We awoke in our minimalist room. Quite chic. Modern clean lines an all that. And perhaps too comfortable as we needed the jump leads to get going this morning. Once we had pulled ourselves and our meagre belongings together, we made our way to the 'real' hotel because we had been told that we were allowed a cup of coffee in the morning from its hallowed corridors.   We went from the sublime to the ridiculous. The upholstery on the very comfy sofas was a combination of orange, red, blue and purple. And that was without taking all the other colours used in the room into account. If the bedrooms were decorated similarly, then we would have been lucky to get any sleep! After one and a half coffees each, we set forth through Chatellerault. It is impressive. We crossed a mighty bridge crossing what I think was the Vienne (but I'm open to suggestions) and the ends of the bridge were guarded by fortified turrets. At one end the turrets were also guarding a boulangerie which was ...