Moncontour to Dinan - French Fling - CycleBlaze

June 7, 2019

Moncontour to Dinan

Tailwind!

Yes, today I had a noticeable tailwind for a while.  It was great!  I also had some crosswinds and quite a bit of rain.

I should have gotten out the door quicker, but I don't know if that would have made much difference.  It looked clear and sunny when I was packing, so I dressed optimistically in shorts and without my jacket.  Less than 10 km down the road, I pulled over to suit up in full rain gear.  It didn't rain quite all day, just intermittent light showers in the morning.

I hadn't bought lunch supplies since I suspected I might need to hide out from the weather and it actually wasn't bad when I stopped in Jugon-les-Lacs for lunch. But the skies were glowering and I knew something was coming.

It's a cute little town and there were 3 indoor dining choices on the little main square.  There were also some food trucks since there was a small market this morning. However, it wasn't a park bench kind of day--and it would be challenging to eat take-out crêpes or half a rotisserie chicken sitting on a bench.

I ate at a crêperie that got quite busy.  I arrived just after 12 and by 12:30 it was full. I noticed "reserved" signs on some of the tables, a surprise in such a small town.  I had the formule galette (galette complète, crêpe au beurre caramel salé, café) and a small bottle of cider.  I felt quite sated after all that and went out to unlock my bike.  The clouds chose that moment to drop their load.  I waited a while for the rain to lessen and then set off. 

Jugon-les-Lacs. I waited in a bigger doorway across the Place. I ate at L'Elysarose. For some reason I didn't take any other photos today!
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I hadn't gotten more than a couple hundred metres when the rain intensified to downpour status and I pulled in to a hotel/restaurant/bar just on the edge of town.  I spent more than an hour there, drinking tea and reading my book.  I used Booking to find a room in Dinon since, even if the rain stopped, the ground would be absolutely saturated.  I felt justified when later I saw a farmer digging a trench to drain his field, a swathe of which had already been destroyed.

Eventually the rain did lighten enough to get back on my bike and continue to Dinan.  This is the part where I had the tailwind--sometimes accompanied by rain.

Coming into Dinan wasn't particularly pleasant, and navigating to my hotel less so, especially since the entire area near the train station is blocked off and dug up.  I'd focussed more on price and it turned out Hôtel La Québécoise is not an easy ride from the centre of town.  Or maybe it is, without howling wind!  Did I mention that the rain had been replaced by wind?

The hotel itself is a bit interesting.  It started in the 18th and 19th centuries as a diligence relay (where the horses were changed and travellers could eat and/or stay the night) and became a farm when that means of travel died out.  It's been a hotel again since 1992 and has been operated by a woman from Québec and her Breton husband for the last 20 years. 

Unfortunately, the wind and occasional showers are such that I don't want to go out tonight so here I am, holed up in my room, raiding my snacks bag for dinner.  At least I could get a small bottle of cider from the hotel bar (the bar isn't open, but you can get bottles to take away).  Good thing I had a decent lunch!

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Today's ride: 54 km (34 miles)
Total: 2,197 km (1,364 miles)

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