June 9, 2019
Pléhérel-Plage to Saint-Quay-Portrieux
It rained during the night, and though it had stopped by the time I got up, the tent fly was still soaking wet. I packed up anyway since waiting for the sun to come out and dry it could take days!
I loaded up and rode through Sables-d'Or-les-Pins, glad I'd stopped last night when I did. Pléhérel-Plage seemed to be a low-key kind of place, where the mini golf has a little restaurant, but Sables-d'Or-les-Pins has a casino and fancy hotels and just isn't my kind of place. I sped straight through.
I got all the way to Erquy before finding an open boulangerie and then took my pastry over to the beach to find a place to sit and eat. But the entire beach strip was occupied by a giant brocante market so I rode further along, all the way around to the harbour, where the restaurants and cafés were as it turned out. I ate in a bar, with a nice café au lait to go with my chasse aux pommes.
After I'd climbed up from that beach town and just before the descent to the next, I saw a really interesting structure, the Viaduc de Caroual. It has lots of characteristics that make me want to do some research when I get home. It was built in 1913 to carry a railway but the railway ceased operations in 1948. The viaduct is presently being restored as a heritage structure.
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I ate my picnic lunch in a little park in Langueux. The sun was actually out for a while so I spread the tent fly over the end of the picnic table to dry it. There was a fellow yelling something from the balcony of a building next to the park. He sounded like a drunk yelling abuse (before noon!) but I ignored him since I couldn't understand him and I didn't want to pack up and move on since suspected I might need to camp. The young couple who brought their small children to play in the park left quite quickly and nobody else walking by stopped.
I followed Eurovelo 4 and the course I created at home. Sometimes they were the same and sometimes not. I can't remember which was responsible for the very steep long climb coming out of St-Brieuc, but I had to push up most of it. I rode the first steep pitch but that was it. Off and pushing the rest of the way.
I looked online for a room but no luck. It's the Saturday of a long weekend, after all. On the north side of St-Quay-Portrieux I found a campground and turned in. They had lots of tent pitches available. Since I hadn't had the opportunity to do any laundry for the last couple of days (I usually do a little every day, but long days plus no sunshine...), I bought tokens for the washer and dryer and a little tablet of detergent. I didn't know laundry detergent was available like that! Very neat and easy for the campground operator to sell as "single servings".
Tent up and clothes washed, I had dinner at Le Tartan, the closest restaurant. The best pizza I've had in a long time! And café gourmand for dessert, a little splurge since my campsite was well under 10€.
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Today's ride: 75 km (47 miles)
Total: 2,346 km (1,457 miles)
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