Iโm getting a little tired and weary. Not of the cycling – thatโs fine – but if all the names of places. In Brittany it was a case of not being able to spell the towns and villages properly. Down here on the west coast itโs actually remembering the dam things. Just look at the title today. Itโs a miracle it fits on a web page.
Up early again this morning and almost the first off the site. I was beaten to it by a French solo cyclist, about my age who I exchanged a few words with before he set off home at the end of his week long jaunt along the Loire. The Loire ร Vรฉlo is, I suspect, what the majority of cyclists on last nightโs site are there to ride. Perhaps a few for the Velodyssรฉe but as itโs so close to the mouth of the river – about 25km – itโs a good place to set up camp at the end of day 1 taking into account you will probably have travelled from elsewhere to get to the start of the route. Itโs also, of course, the start of the EuroVelo 6. I suspect (thereโs a lot of suspecting going on tonight – perhaps someone can confirm) that the EuroVelo 6 is one of the most cycled routes, if not the most cycled, vying for position with the Rhine Cycle Route or EuroVelo 15. I digressโฆ
Itโs been a good day on the bikeโฆ and as I write this, itโs not quite over. At 5:30pm there remains about 15km (and a train and a ferry) to ride. All will become clear. With no convivial breakfast on offer at last nightโs campsite as there had been back in Gouarec courtesy of Geoff and his team, I was the first off the site at around 8am.
I was up early this morning (when am I not up early in a tent? Iโve said this many times before but for me itโs not a case of โwaking upโ when Iโm camping itโs a case of when to stop trying to make an effort to get back to sleepโฆ) and was packed by 8am. My official campsite advisor Tim Sanders (who until only a few minutes ago was my โunofficialโ campsite advisor but as nobody else has offered their services, Iโve upgraded him to the honorary post; itโll give him something to chat to Ed Pratt about the next time they meet at their local Park Run in Somerset. Anyway, back to the pointโฆ) โฆMy official campsite advisor Tim Sanders messaged at 8:05 asking โHave you met Geoff?โ
Today was planned to be a short cycle of 50km. In ended up being the second longest cycle yet at 98km. If nothing else, it will work wonders on the daily average which had dipped down to 75km. I need to get it back up to 80km+ to be in with a realistic chance of making it back to Rotterdam before the return ferry sets off on September 3rd.
According to the birdโs eye view of Morlaix in the image below, thatโs the motto of the town. Original, no? Itโs been a hot day so far, despite Brittany being the cold corner of the map of France on last nightโs TV forecast. I’ve returned to the hotel for a siestaโฆ Iโll head back out soon for anothercwander. Thereโs a festival of all things Breton taking place in Place Allende this afternoon so Iโll perhaps update this later. In the meantime, note that episode 055 of The Cycling Europe Podcast was published this morning – part 4 of my โGrand Tourโ series – so if you have 55 minutes to spaceโฆ All the links can be found by navigating over to the podcast page of the website.
