Celtic odysseyNEEDING A MOOD MANAGER FAST, I ordered a stiff aperitif. I drank it straight down and ordered another as the puddle of water around my table spread across the restaurant fl oor. Steam rose from my lycra, even as I shivered. The waitress brought a towel with the second Ricard, and a mop.
I had cycled from the bustling and attractive port of Vannes in southern Brittany that rain-lashed October morning, en route for St Malo, some 200km away. My plan was then to sail to Weymouth in Dorset and cycle across to Devon. The scenic coast-to-coast route is mostly along old railway lines through small towns and villages leading to the old seaside resort of Dinard, opposite St Malo.
Known as Green Way (Voie Verte) 3, it is one of many routes being linked by a European cultural and economic initiative to connect South West England with its Celtic neighbours on the French side of the Channel. And vice versa, of course. ‘Vélo West’ links cycle routes throughout Dorset, Devon and Cornwall via the Channel ports of Weymouth, Poole and Plymouth to Brittany and Normandy as part of the €8.6 million scheme. Financed by the European Regional Development Fund in Brussels to stimulate co-operation between EU areas, the idea of connecting at least 2,000 miles of cycle routes on either side of La Manche is aimed at highlighting the Channel regions as environmentally friendly tourist destinations in themselves, rather than places to get out of as fast as possible.
The project, which will see cycleways in Dorset linking up to routes in Devon and Cornwall, incorporating the 200-mile Cornish Way, is due for completion in August 2013. The idea is that cyclists will use the Channel ports to link the splendid routes, such as National Cycle Network Route 2 through Dorchester, Lyme Regis and other majestic stretches of Dorset, with the huge and rapidly expanding network of Green Ways across North West France.
My task, as a publisher of coast-to-coast cycle books, was to test ride some of the new routes across the French and English peninsulas. I had started by traversing Devon via Dartmoor, taking the ferry from Plymouth to Roscoff, and then crossing Brittany from north to south. I had then made my way from the sailing port of Concarneau to Vannes for the start of this ride.
For the benefi t of the reader, my job also involved sampling local produce along the way, hence the aforementioned sodden lunch in the medieval town of Malestroit, about 50km north east of Vannes. It was a late Monday morning as I squelched into town, along a section of the Nantes to Brest Canal.
I circled the attractive centre before deciding to eat at Le Grain de Sel. Instinct told me something about it was spot on. I chained my bike to a lamppost and was immediately struck by an ancient carving on the beam of the building next to it: an animal playing the bagpipes. Nearby, were spinning pigs and a man beating his wife. Most of the half-timbered houses had ornate carvings and on the church of St Gilles itself, demons administered torture, alongside drunkards and acrobats. A cosmopolitan mix of saints and sinners, a distinct whiff of Medieval sulphur.
Inside my culinary sanctuary the €12.90 menu offered potato galettes with artichoke hearts, followed by a succulent beef stew and chocolate soufflé. This and the ink-black vin de Cahors lifted my fl agging spirits above the spires of St Gilles. I stretched the meal into a cheese course until quite dry and thoroughly replete, and was the last person to leave. The rain had stopped, at least for the moment.
I had cycled from the bustling and attractive port of Vannes in southern Brittany that rain-lashed October morning, en route for St Malo, some 200km away. My plan was then to sail to Weymouth in Dorset and cycle across to Devon. The scenic coast-to-coast route is mostly along old railway lines through small towns and villages leading to the old seaside resort of Dinard, opposite St Malo.
Known as Green Way (Voie Verte) 3, it is one of many routes being linked by a European cultural and economic initiative to connect South West England with its Celtic neighbours on the French side of the Channel. And vice versa, of course. ‘Vélo West’ links cycle routes throughout Dorset, Devon and Cornwall via the Channel ports of Weymouth, Poole and Plymouth to Brittany and Normandy as part of the €8.6 million scheme. Financed by the European Regional Development Fund in Brussels to stimulate co-operation between EU areas, the idea of connecting at least 2,000 miles of cycle routes on either side of La Manche is aimed at highlighting the Channel regions as environmentally friendly tourist destinations in themselves, rather than places to get out of as fast as possible.
The project, which will see cycleways in Dorset linking up to routes in Devon and Cornwall, incorporating the 200-mile Cornish Way, is due for completion in August 2013. The idea is that cyclists will use the Channel ports to link the splendid routes, such as National Cycle Network Route 2 through Dorchester, Lyme Regis and other majestic stretches of Dorset, with the huge and rapidly expanding network of Green Ways across North West France.
My task, as a publisher of coast-to-coast cycle books, was to test ride some of the new routes across the French and English peninsulas. I had started by traversing Devon via Dartmoor, taking the ferry from Plymouth to Roscoff, and then crossing Brittany from north to south. I had then made my way from the sailing port of Concarneau to Vannes for the start of this ride.
For the benefi t of the reader, my job also involved sampling local produce along the way, hence the aforementioned sodden lunch in the medieval town of Malestroit, about 50km north east of Vannes. It was a late Monday morning as I squelched into town, along a section of the Nantes to Brest Canal.
I circled the attractive centre before deciding to eat at Le Grain de Sel. Instinct told me something about it was spot on. I chained my bike to a lamppost and was immediately struck by an ancient carving on the beam of the building next to it: an animal playing the bagpipes. Nearby, were spinning pigs and a man beating his wife. Most of the half-timbered houses had ornate carvings and on the church of St Gilles itself, demons administered torture, alongside drunkards and acrobats. A cosmopolitan mix of saints and sinners, a distinct whiff of Medieval sulphur.
Inside my culinary sanctuary the €12.90 menu offered potato galettes with artichoke hearts, followed by a succulent beef stew and chocolate soufflé. This and the ink-black vin de Cahors lifted my fl agging spirits above the spires of St Gilles. I stretched the meal into a cheese course until quite dry and thoroughly replete, and was the last person to leave. The rain had stopped, at least for the moment.
A peace treaty during the Hundred Years War had been signed here in 1343, but it had lasted marginally less time than my lunch. I followed the canal for a while then took the old rail line again, heading north to Ploërmel where I had booked into a chambres d’hotes for the night. The afternoon stretch was mercifully only 19km along fairly fl at terrain, but enough to build up a head of indigestion. The wages of sin. Well worth paying.
My plan was to cycle in a leisurely style, stopping off to look at things of interest whilst researching a guide book. Vannes is on the Gulf of Morbihan and is easily reached by rail from any of the Channel ports, so it’s an excellent start point for those wanting to do a Celtic coast-to-coast challenge.
Route 3 takes you through the Brocéliande Forest, rich in Breton Arthurian legend, weaving its way through deepest Brittany before emerging on the long and meandering Rance estuary in the north. My lodgings at the 19th century Chateau de St Malo in Ploërmel were imposingly grand, and my hosts charming. The enormous four-poster and vast bathroom hit the spot. The following day was a pleasant dawdle of less than 40km to Le Bois Basset, a working French farm B&B in the forests outside St Méen-le-Grand. I soon passed the Lac du Duc on the edge of Ploërmel. It is Brittany’s largest natural lake and lies on the edge of the Arthurian forest. Shrouded by dense deciduous trees, Green Way 3 follows the sand-based track of the old rail line before giving out onto quiet open lanes for 40km or so of rolling agricultural land, dotted with farfl ung villages where time really has stood still.
I dined with Patrick and Anne-France at the farm – a wholesome meal featuring locally picked wild mushrooms washed down with homemade cider. They told me about the area and the cycle museum in St-Méen, dedicated to local rider Louison Bobet, the fi rst ever Frenchman to win the Tour de France three times on the trot (’53-‘55). It was closed when I passed. Probably just as well; a famously haughty character who fancied himself as a French David Niven, he would not have approved of a slow, middle-aged cycle tourist with unfeasibly large panniers.
I continued along the charming lanes, at last with the challenge of a few gentle hills, taking a 6km diversion to the famously scenic half-timbered medieval village of Bécherel. This is the Hay-on-Wye of Brittany, with 17 bookshops dotted around its higgledypiggledy streets. Back in 1989 a group of local women went on holiday together, to the Welsh Marches for the annual book festival. They were so impressed they decided to emulate its winning formula. I heard all this over lunch at La Part des Anges, from Olivier Chifolleau, wine merchant and proprietor of the tiny restaurant perched among the bookshops.
An excellent rural retreat for those ambling along is La Priquetais, a chambres d’hote in Trévron, near Dinan. Run by an English couple, John and Audrey Emmett, it is a handsome old farmhouse smartly done out for pilgrims (it’s on the road to Santiago de Compostela), hikers and cyclists. I stopped for a cup of tea and a chat before heading on to Dinan, where I was hard pressed to decide whether the walled citadel, perched on the cliffs above the river Rance, or the delightful port area a couple of hundred feet below, stole the show.
After another easy day (about 55km) I locked the bike in the hotel garage and sauntered through the old town, round the cathedral and down the precipitous cobbled path leading to the inland port, where bars with terraces invite the passer-by to idle away the time of day. It was now perfect autumnal weather and an orange sunset bathed the bay as the sun sank behind the city walls. Dinan, with its massive vaulting viaduct, is a must for anyone passing through Brittany.
From here you can take a small ferry up the Rance estuary, or simply cycle the last 25km along the parallel rail track into the upmarket seaside resort of Dinard. It’s worth spending a night in both towns before catching the quick-hop ferry across to St Malo. This was to be the last leg of my Celtic odyssey, which had started – and would end in a few days’ time – in England’s West Country.
I took an afternoon ferry across to Weymouth, arriving early evening. The cycling in Brittany had been easy and entirely suitable for a young family. It’s also good fun for those wishing to push it a bit, as the fairly fl at terrain is an interesting mixture of forest and open air with some splendid sections on quiet country lanes and even quieter villages.
The next section through Dorset proved more challenging, the rolling English countryside providing a perfect counterbalance to the easy gradients of Green Way 3. I was aware of Dorset from the works of Thomas Hardy, despite having hardly visited before. It felt immediately familiar as I cycled down to Chesil Beach; steep gradients, immaculate farmland, deciduous copses, ivy-clad church towers, thatched roofs and unspoilt Victorian shop fronts all linked by a network of lanes and hedgerows. The steep topography divides the communities into separate entities, the hills and gorges providing light and shade of hugely varying degrees. But it makes for hard cycling. Following National Cycle Network 2, which will one day link Dover with St Austell in Cornwall, I took the back lanes to Bridport via the Hardy Monument (dedicated to Thomas ‘Kiss Me’ Hardy, the naval commander in whose arms Nelson died at the battle of Trafalgar). This entailed a stiff climb from sea level to over 700 feet with little respite. Bridport was one of the high points of the trip – a lively market town whose pubs and restaurants heaved with life.
The following morning – a Sunday – I set off for Axminster and passed a smart looking café. The place looked so enticing, I decided to stop for a cup of tea. Before long every seat was fi lled and there was a queue outside. It was only then I realised I was at TV chef Hugh Fearnley- Whittinstall’s Canteen and Deli. Perhaps there was just time for an early lunch? After a fi tting end to what had been as much a culinary adventure as a cycle ride, me and the bike boarded the local train for our fi nal jaunt home.
The route
Brittany (200km): Vannes – Questembert (the cycle track on this section is not yet in place but you can jump on the train for a swift cheat) – Malestroit – Ploërmel – Mauron – St Méen-le-Grand – Dinan – Dinard – St Malo.
Dorset (60km): Weymouth – Abbotsbury (Chesil Beach) – Hardy Monument and Route 2 – Bridport – Axminster railway station.
All the Info...
Starting in Brittany from Vannes
Suggested stop-offs (you won’t wish to stop at all of these unless you are really dawdling or with a young family).
VANNES: www.brittany.co.uk.
Hotel La Marébaudière, 4 rue Aristide Briand:
+33 (0)2 97 47 34 29.
www.marebaudiere.com
www.marebaudiere.com
Around £75 per room.
PLOËRMEL: www.ploermel.com.
Around £77 per room.
NEAR ST-MÉEN-LE-GRAND
Chambres d’hotes Le Bois Basset, 35290, Saint-Onen-La-Chapelle:
+33 (0)2 99 09 40 14.
+33 (0)2 99 09 40 14.
http://boisbasset.bcld.net.
Around £40 per room.
Around £40 per room.
TREVRON
Chambres d’hotes, La Priquetais, 22100 Trevron:
+33 (0) 2 96 83 56 89.
www.lapriquetais.com.
www.lapriquetais.com.
From £50 per room.
DINAN: www.dinan-tourisme.com.
Hotel les Grandes Tours, 6 rue du Chateau, 22100 Dinan:
+33 (0)2 96 85 16 20.
www.hoteldinan-grandes-tours.com.
From £34 per room to £80 (family room sleeping 5).
+33 (0)2 96 85 16 20.
www.hoteldinan-grandes-tours.com.
From £34 per room to £80 (family room sleeping 5).
DINARD: www.ot-dinard.com.
Manoir de la Vicomté, 6 avenue Georges Pian,35800 Dinard:
+33 (0)2 99 46 12 59.
+33 (0)2 99 46 12 59.
From Weymouth to Exeter
BRIDPORT: www.westdorset.com.
Spray Copse Farm, Lee Lane, Bradpole, Bridport, Dorset D16 4A:
+44 (0)1308 458510. From £70 per room (£45 single occupancy).
+44 (0)1308 458510. From £70 per room (£45 single occupancy).
Channel Crossings
Brittany Ferries: Portsmouth – St Malo: from £49.
