Day 3 – to St Nazaire (120 km)

The B&B in Josselin was amazing. Not only did our room look like something out of a interior design magazine, but the continental breakfast included fresh pineapple, hot crepes, fresh bread and a bucket size mug of coffee for Simon. The Saturday market was literally on the doorstep, and we grabbed some local cheese (a “comte”) and some cherries (the French cherry season has just begun) for our picnic lunch.

The morning's ride was a leisurely trip alongside the Nantes-Brest canal along the Ouest valley. The canal, originally planned by Napoleon as a result of a British blockade of Brest, is a wonderful piece of engineering work covering over 200km of countryside. For cyclists, the main benefit are the tow-paths which are long and flat.

After a quick picnic lunch, we headed as a far as Redon where we were forced to decide whether to head to Nantes or the coast. In the end, we decided to go to St Nazaire (a) because it was closer; and (b) because we fancied fresh seafood for dinner.

With about 20km to go, we stopped at a McDonalds for free wifi (we downloaded yesterday's blog) and stopped at a humongous supermarket for supplies. We are now the only guests in an overpriced hotel, having been the only diners in its overpriced restaurant. The staff are now going home, and soon we will have the whole place to ourselves....