Château de Josselin in the flattering sunset light.
An Irish ex-pat couple we chatted with along the canal path told us that we would love Josselin. Very very pretty town, they said. Rich does a lot of research about distances, what we can reasonably ride in a day, places to stay which are bike friendly- and that generally means an enclosed space where we can lock the bikes – and grocery stores and bakeries to fuel us up for the ride. That means he, or we (I’m not super involved in that part of planning), don’t look at a lot of online photos of the actual towns and villages. Which means we get to be surprised! And that’s often a total treat.
Our lovely room in Josselin at 14 st-michel chambre d’hôte. A super well run place.Josselin has 54 half timbered buildings. Some date back to the 1530s.How are you still standing?And the super helpful and informative history plaques add to our enjoyment.A small cafe run out of one of the historic buildings.So well maintained. And some work going on right nearby.Cat shaped bell. Doorbell or bell to call the cat home?Rolling out of Josselin. It’s a warm day and we’ll be shedding our jackets after the downhill.What a fantastic bike route. Complete with comfort stops.It’s going to be another warm day so we’re happy to refill our bottles and use a toilet (instead of a nature break.).Approaching another écluse.Warm weather and sunshine means another helmet cover comes out, the hat! Perfect for the sun phobic cyclist. We’re crossing a ride we did in Brittany in 2023, we visited L’orient and Pontivy on that ride.How many cute lock keeper houses did I photograph? A lot.Bingo. Juice with Jesus. We love the small roadside shrines to Mary and Jesus because they frequently have shade and a bench. Outskirts of Pontivy. A town we stayed in and I cannot remember. Rich remembers it.Farm fields and sunshine in Séglien.Guémené-sur-Scorff, our next stay. Aux Sabots Rouges, a hôtel and restaurant in a stunning old building.It’s now Tuesday and a lot of the restaurants in town are closed. After taking a walk around to make sure we’d get food somewhere- we sat for an aperitif while we waited for the crêpe restaurant to open. Hopefully.The town had recently lost its Petites Cités de Caractère status, which was upsetting for the owner of our BnB. It sounded as if it was an administrative lapse on the part of the mayor. We found Guémené to be loaded with character.Cider at the crêperie .Delicious goat cheese, mushroom, walnut and greens crêpe.Flower beds of character. Another stunningly old house of character.And the best addition to any town, a cat of character. Very petable. Purring like crazy.Rich named him Gravlax. After his slightly salmon tinged color. Murder mittens of character.My new favorite yogurt flavor, lime.We have a long ride ahead of us, so a grocery store stop is the first order of business. Tonight, we sleep at the coast!Back to the land of cartons of Gazpacho! Yum. Bingo. Cheese with Jesus.And making bike touring nachos. Laughing cow cheese (kind of sacrilegious in a country with so much good cheese, but it goes down easy and travels well), tortilla chips and guacamole.
Eat early and often. That’s a bike touring rule. Especially on a hot day. And a long day. We had 85 kilometers to do which is a long day this early in a bike trip and half on dirt and gravel. So, lots of snacks, electrolytes in our water bottles, and pod casts and music in our ears.
Meslan. The color of the stone houses and blue shutters. Adorable.Another food break in Le Faouët. The 16th-century timber market hall behind Rich is still used. It’s a rare surviving example of a large timber structure from that period, per Wikipedia.We left the canal and were on small roads, complete with farm vehicles.Uh oh. Rich flagged down a passing car to ask the driver if they thought we could get through. Yes. So on we went. We always say to each other “they don’t mean bikes”. Bingo.We’re on a rail trail for the last 30 kms or so. Which is nice. It’s hot and we’re getting tired.Still smiling.When it’s hot and you need energy? Ice cream bars. Magnum Mini scene of destruction. Yes, we did feel a bit ill a few miles later.I had just enough mental and physical energy to stop and snap a picture of this leopard Appaloosa horse. I had to check with my sister that it was an actual type of horse, not a genetic accident. It’s rare, she said. And beautiful.We made it to the North Atlantic Ocean. The Bay of Biscay, actually. Our nice big room for two nights at Les Sables Blancs. Big deck and nice view.Our trip so far. The far right hearts are our friends near Geneva, and Lyon. The long gap was the 6 hr train from Lyon to Angers.And a closer view from Angers to Concarneau, where we are now.Unfortunately, since this nice sunset photo on the beach was taken, Rich has been felled by a stomach bug.
There were other Bike Touring Bingo moments, the well dressed gentleman strolling the canal path while reading a book, the small river otter darting out across the path and then changing their mind when they saw us and darting back to the canal bank. A farmer in a beret leading his draft horse along the Loire River path. And this is also a form of bike touring bingo; who will get sick? This time it’s Rich. Usually he has a stomach of iron and it’s me who gets an upset digestive system. In the midst of his illness he is still travel planning, trying to figure out where we go next as this hotel is full for the Friday night.
After decades of living and working in wonderful San Francisco we gave it all up to travel the world. Not owning a car allowed us to save money and live hyper-locally. Now we’re living around the globe. Follow along to see where we are and what cats I manage to pet.
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Less Car, More Life 