Day 15: Sat 25th July
Great ride and ran of charge for my electric bike as I arrive at my destination! Phew!
104 km (65 miles) and 883 m (2,900 ft) of ascent
Finally, I’m feeling better, and I leave Nantes on Saturday morning. I’ve already got directions from the tourist office to guide me onto the EuroVelo Route one (La Vélodyssée), I shall be travelling over the next three days to Saint-Malo. There is no major issues on this route, and indeed, on Sunday, it’s going to rain!!
I cycle north from my hotel on extremely well-provided cycle paths, and I’m soon onto the Velo route next to the River – L’Erdre.
I pass over the Brest to Nantes canal – I cycle route I am tempted to follow. But that is for another day!
It’s very pleasant, and I’m making good time, although there are some odd little deviations as you get further up. And so I decide not to stick wholly to the EuroVelo route, which has lots of twists and turns at certain points. Finally I break away from the EV1, and head north to Châteaubriant. Initially, I was going to follow a cycle path, which was marked on the IGN French equivalent of the Ordnance Survey. But that would take ages and goes in and out of many villages.
So I decide to take myself up one of the very straight, well-made-up roads, and I make good time. Not too much traffic. It’s Saturday, and as ever in France, the motorists are very almost universally caring about giving you plenty of space.
On the way I pass a cycle repair café – so they have this in France as in Lewes!
I’ve got a long way to go on this route, and it’s much further than I estimated when I was checking the distance with Google. But I’m reasonably confident I’ve got my strength back, and when I get to Châteaubriant, it’s clear from the IGN map that there’s an old railway line, which has turned into a cycle path heading northwest, which takes me some way towards my final destination of Bains-les-Bains de Bretagne.
It’s been a hot day, not as hot as previously, but fortunately, a lot of the route has been in the shade of the trees on cycle paths, so it’s been good. But I realize as I’m nearing my destination, I’ve done over 100 km, and my battery’s running out. What I didn’t bargain for is that to get to the town and the hotel where I am, I have to go uphill into the town. I just about make it, leaving 5% of my battery free! Still, it’s been a good day!