Forword
Following a tough but enjoyable London Edinburgh London in 2022 I took a while to recover and then got hit by a heart rhythm problem that bashed my confidence a bit.
Investigating that problem I was surprised to find that there is growing evidence showing ultra endurance athletic exercise – pushing the limits – can be a cause of heart rhythm problems. So maybe the 115,000km on the bike over 12 years since I started riding at 63, with many hard ultra endurance non-stop rides, had done me a mischief? Who knows? Worth checking out ‘The Haywire Heart’.1
Anyway, I took advice from a sports cardiologist and had the simple shock treatment to put the heart back in rhythm and to date all is good with a bit of medication to help 🤞!
So after a couple of years of occasional riding I felt it was time to try and get back on the bike for a bit of a trip. This is not a blog of hard ultra distance riding but rather a travelogue of four days riding the Green Ways and Nantes Brest canal of Brittany. I intended to ride easy after limited training but the heatwave that set in had different ideas. It became tougher than expected.
Kate, my wife, has an uncle who lives in a lock keepers cottage on the Nantes Brest Canal in the west of Brittany. So I hatched a plan to ride from my home on the Isle of Wight to visit uncle Tony and his husband George. Something very appealing about riding out of your front door, going abroad, and riding home again. Ferries to Portsmouth, Portsmouth to Saint Malo (overnight) and across the river Rance to Dinard would pick up the Green Ways south. This wasn’t planned to be a tough ride against the clock but with 260 kms to uncle Tony for about 130km a day along the old railway tracks and canal towpaths – the voie vertes.
I was taking my Mason Bokeh with a mixture of Apidura and Tailfin bags. My son Jonny had recommended 40mm Hutchinson Caracal tyres (at 40psi) which I fitted so I was well set up for the tracks and towpaths and good rolling on any sealed roads. Extra comfort came from the Cane Creek EE silk seat post and the aero bars with a RedShift suspension stem. Aero bars set high I find are good for giving me another position on the bike and the hands a rest. The SON dynamo with power converter kept my Wahoo Roam and phone charged up.
I had booked the overnight ferry to Saint Malo and set out from home mid afternoon managing to miss the crazy traffic around the beginnings of the Isle of Wight festival where Kate and her daughters would be enjoying themselves for three days! I caught the ferry to Portsmouth followed by a short ride to the Brittany ferry terminal where I joined a waiting group of cyclists. We swapped plans and discussed bikes as you do and got on board nice and early.
Day One
The Brittany ferry docked under the walls of Saint Malo city at 1000hrs and along with a couple of dozen cyclists we got our kit together and headed for the passport check.
The sky was blue and the heat was rising with 30 degrees forecast. I was lucky to get into a quick lane for passports (Brexit-ugh!) and once through rode the few hundred meters round to the slipway and caught the little Corsaire passenger ferry for the short crossing to Dinard – a beautiful seaside town overlooking the bay with that regal French elegance of years past.
After a few turns meandering through the streets I picked up the V2/V3 Green Ways which share the same path until they part ways just south of Dinan.
The Green Ways are an impressive network of cycle routes created from old railway track beds and canal towpaths that crisscross Brittany. The surface can be a mix of sealed track but mostly fine gravel on a compacted sandy base. They are built and maintained to a high standard with regular verge cutting and impressive signage with barriers and Stop/Give Ways at every road or danger zone.
By their origin there are no serious climbs however I was surprised to find some impressive gradients on the rail routes. I love the way they have preserved some of the history with numerous stations retaining their character and name.
Impossible to ride without thinking about the engineering and hard labour that created them all those years ago. You could almost feel ghosts in the embankments and cuttings and very real ones in the La Grande Trancée section of the Nantes Brest canal built by Napoleonic prisoners in the early 1800’s, many of whom died during the hard labour and blasting the rock.
I made good progress and by midday arrived in the medieval walled town of Dinan with its beautiful half timbered houses in time for a break and a coffee. The temperature was rising and everyone was seeking the shade.
Along the way I had passed two groups of primary school aged children with their teachers all enjoying a ‘bike class’ with lots of laughter. Is that on the UK curriculum?
Ten kilometres south of Dinan, riding the Rance canal path, I left the V2 for the V3 at Etange de Bétineuc, a former sand quarry, and at that point of the day with the temperature over 30 degrees I came across a welcome lakeshore cafe/restaurant. Drinks with a burger and chips went down well!
I had booked an Ibis hotel in Loudeac, and continued south along V3 to Médréac where the Green Way reverts to back roads while the rail track becomes a Velorail. The Gare de Medreac has three pre war ‘Breton ladies’ sitting in its waiting room, a little museum, and groups of students were having fun peddling side by side driving the small velorail carts along the track which ran for 10km.
I picked up a cold drink, two Calippos, and topped up the bottles. (Always two Calippos in hot weather because you can suck one right away and put the second into the food pouch where it stays iced for a good half hour or more to be enjoyed at leisure – and they are easy to use on the move without any mess.)
Another hour of riding saw the temperature on my Wahoo Roam climb to 39 degrees and was very happy to come across a McDonalds at St-Onen-la-Chapelle just outside St-Meen-le-Grand for more cool drinks.
St-Meen-le-Grand is where I turned off the V3 and joined the V6 route heading towards the Nantes Brest canal. I now had 50kms to the night stop at Loudéac.
It was railway track all the way and I was glad the climbing was gentle given the heat.
I arrived at the Ibis hotel just after 7pm and was delighted to find a new hotel with air conditioning which felt like a freezer on entering the room but was actually 20 degrees!
Shower, rinse the kit, chicken salad at the nearby McDonalds and early bed saw the end of a good first day.
Day Two
A good breakfast at 0630 and away continuing along the V6 rail track towards Mur-de-Bretagne and now close to the Nantes Brest canal. I skirted to the north of the canal as it wended its way through the Lac de Guerledan and was very thankful for the relative coolness of early morning 25 degrees.
I joined the Nantes Brest canal at Bon Repos after 35km of rail track. There was now about 100km of canal path before reaching Pont Coblant where I had booked a canalside room at a restaurant/sports centre Bistro near uncle Tony.
It became another boiling hot and humid day but the canal was just spectacularly beautiful and peaceful. The occasional cyclist, walker or fisherman were all that I encountered along the way. Equally there were limited refreshment stops, especially on a weekday, so at mid morning I was delighted to come across a friendly lady with her little caravan alongside her lock keepers cottage. She was making crepes. More cold drinks and some fun with my appalling French and I was on my way.
At this point the locks come thick and fast as the canal climbs steeply to the Grande Tranchée that connects two valleys at the highest point of the canal at 183m. This deep cutting through rock was cut and blasted to a depth of 23m for a length of 3.5km with the help of prisoners as labour in the early 1800s.
The beauty of reaching the highest point means the remaining ride towards supper at Tony’s was all ‘downhill’ – a relative term on a canal but none the less helpful psychologically given the mid 30’s humid temperature.
I arrived at Pont Coblant, my room for the night, late afternoon having run out of water towards the end. Special moments when you sit down at the end of such a ride with a couple of long cold drinks in front of you – that ‘Ice Cold In Alex‘ moment if you have ever seen that famous British war film.
After a shower and rinsing out the kit I set off further along the canal for 3kms for supper with Tony and George at Coat Pont – Lock 228 just south of Pleyben. Great to see them again and George had cooked a super leg of lamb! Generous – it was perfect! Thanks guys.
Day Three
It was a tough night with the room so hot plus a few battles with mosquitoes! They got my blood! I got less than 4 hours sleep. The owner had kindly put a fridge in the room with breakfast and I was up at 0600 and away in the cooler morning conditions. There was even a few spots a rain from the humid overcast sky as I retraced my steps back along the canal.
Tony had given me a few slices of his special fruit cake which made for a great second breakfast after three hours along the path.
By midday I had reached the friendly lady at her lock cottage caravan selling crepes. The ‘Complète Special Crêpe’ was perfect – egg, ham and cheese.
With the boiling hot weather I decided to change my plan and make the final day back to Saint Malo a little easier. So rather than heading north to the coast at St-Brieuc I booked a small hotel in the little town of Trévé and planned to ride the back lanes across country to Dinard – 95kms.
The last few kilometres to the hotel became a bit of a battle. I think my fluid and food intake had been less than needed and the heat was still in the mid 30’s.
Still, I arrived in the little town of Trévé and got sorted with shower and kit wash before crossing the square to the local bar – Shelby’s -and ordered a couple of pizzas (some for Sunday breakfast) and welcome zero beers and large bottle of water. France/England rugby was on the television so there was some banter and laughter!
Day Four
Up at 0615 and I was away after a couple of pizza slices with the church bells ringing at 0700 heralding an overcast day with the temperature much easier than previous days.
I was flagging a bit after an hour and an half and started wondering where I might find some breakfast on a Sunday morning in deep rural France. Dropping into the pretty little town of Moncontour there was a beautiful sight! A patisserie – one of those wonders of France. Stocked up with all I needed I stopped a while in the square with a pain au chocolat and almond and apple tart! Perfect.
The riding was good on the clear open roads in rolling countryside and strangely a joy to have some climbs and descents after constant peddling off road for most of the three days. Just something different for a change.
There were loads of French cyclists out in small groups or on their own. I was stopped at one point whilst trying to call Kate and a lovely old guy pulled up asking if I needed help. Reckon he was well in his 80’s. ‘Ma femme’ I explained and thanked him. Ah ‘la femme’ he smiled like that was the problem and rode away laughing!
Another spectacular town arrived a couple of hours later – Jugon-les-lacs. A beautiful square with a cafe full of Sunday morning conversation. They had decaf and a nice 20 minutes was spent listening to the quiet murmur of French Sunday morning life.
I headed on to join the Green Way V2/V3 and made my way north to Dinard to catch the Corsaire ferry across to St Malo booking into a local hotel before heading into the city for a good fish supper.
Afterword
I caught the day ferry back to Portsmouth the following morning and onwards to the Island for the ride back home.
When planning the trip I had thought about taking my camping kit but in the hot conditions was very glad I went for budget hotels along the way.
It was so warm that all my kit easily dried out after rinsing each evening. I didn’t wear a jacket or gilet once!
My Mason Bokeh was comfortable and reliable as ever having now looked after me for over 29,000km.
Thanks to my lovely Kate for encouraging me and Uncle Tony and George for providing the target for my ride and a super supper.
Useful Guides
The Green Ways book is a little dated but great for planning the trip. If I had been riding slower and longer the local interest points in both books would have been really useful.
I rode The Tour de Manche in Sept 2018 over seven days. Isle of Wight, Plymouth, Roscoff, Cherbourg, Portsmouth and home. Another beautiful Brittany/Normandie option for an adventure.
- The Haywire Heart
Chase
Mandrola
Zinn
Outside Books ↩︎
Ultra Distance Biking 