Day 59: Locmaria-Berrien to St Samson

May 24, 2018

Jotto and Wil put forward a true non-French breakfast, with fresh fruit salad, eggs, ham, bacon, cheese, etc. etc. The quality was completely excellent and the surroundings elegant. Jotto even put on some classical piano for us. In combination with the super comfy room and bed, good wifi, and warm welcome this was one of the best places we have stayed.

This breakfast had everything. The fruit salad even included fresh nectarines.

In the calm of morning it was clear that the place was just off the bike path, making it a really perfect situation. Of course we had known it was near the bike path, but just how near only became clear in the morning.

The next thing that we knew but did not fully appreciate was that the bike route from Carhaix to Morlaix is not just a route, it is a greenway-rail trail. That means it is off road all the way, and even more perfectly signposted, if possible, than the other cycle routes. And it's even more than that. This trail out of Carhaix is only one of several. A sign along the way explained it:

Consequently the bike network looks something like this:

Guidebooks cover these trails in detail, keyed to the route numbers shown.

As we cycled along, the rail trail identity of the path was clear from stations along the way. One of these had been turned into a gite (hostel), which would have been super convenient (and probably cheap) had we known about it.

The rail trail blew us away not just because of being a rail trail, but because of the beauty of the path and the surroundings. That beauty included the overarching trees as we mainly passed through deep forest, the views out to hills and valleys beyond, flowers - notably rhodos - along the way, and at least one notable horse - watching us from the forest - and one bird, seemingly injured.

The horse in the forest and the bird on the trail. Guesses on the type of bird?

Although we seem slightly clueless about how great this route in Brittany is, many cyclists are using it - many coming down from Roscoff and heading for Nantes and/or the Mediterranean. The guys pictured below, for example, are from Paris and Lyon. They took the train to Roscoff and are going to Nantes. That is, they are here mainly to cycle the Canal. We, on the other hand, had considered it mainly as a connector until we found out what a cool area this is.

These cyclists are considering Brittany as a destination, not a connector!

We really had no idea what to expect of Morlaix. That is, we knew nothing of the layout, the style of architecture, the accessibility - nothing. So it was quite an adventure as we drew near and got some peeks at what was ahead. Then, as often happens, the rail trail just ended - dumping us out unceremoniously and with no further signage, up on a hillside. We cast about for the way to go, which was clearly down. Our first try ended in a cliff like impasse, and our second try in a laughably steep descent. With the hydraulic brakes, the descent was actually possible, so down we went. We passed a high walled former Urseline convent and were able to sneak one photo of the inside.

Inside the convent wall. No beach volleyball or anything going on here!

Suddenly we had succeeded in popping out in the square behind the main square. This turned out to be right on our route, where our map had shown us a creperie. We found it easily. It was called the Atipik Bilig. Once you know that bilig is the round griddle used for making the crepes, all that's needed is to know atipik, and we're speaking Breton!

Earlier I had written that large and slightly crispy crepes seemed to be unique to one restaurant in Quebec. Not so. I think the one out of line was that vendor in Redon, who had produced a small, soft, rolled up specimen. At the Atipik Bilig, our crepes were large and slightly crispy. This varies also by the type. Savory crepes are made with buckwheat flour, and are normally called galettes. These tend to be larger and crispier. The sweet ones are made with froment - wheat, and may be a little smaller and less crispy. We got galette of egg, ham, and Emmental, and crepes of sugar and cinammon with ice cream, in my case, caramel beurre salee for Dodie. They were really good, and in the middle of Morlaix, in the heart of Brittany, they were darn well authentic.

We popped out in the middle of medieval Morlaix

This creperie is in a hundreds of years old buildiing

A major feature of Morlaix, as we learned from postcards on sale near our restaurant, is a giant viaduct that crosses above the town. That and the Eglise Saint-Mélaine almost underneath it, formed the main backdrops for my attempts capture in photos the essence of the old town:

Old stone is the theme of the church district

We were eager to get maps 2 through 5 in a series of 5 covering the coast to the east, for which we had already stumbled on map 1. That meant a visit to Tourist Information. We already knew, of course, that they would not be open from 12-2, so that's why we had gone to lunch at the creperie. If you can't beat them, join them! Probably the TI staff were at the next table. But even when trying, we can not easily blow 2 hours over lunch, so we were still early for the TI. So we sleazed on down for a look at the harbour, and came back with this impression:

Back at the TI, the door had opened. In went Dodie, leaving me to watch the bikes. I had company in this chore from a young girl, herself watching three bikes. It turned out she was from Bilbao and was cycling up from Nantes with her parents. At Roscoff they would take the train back. I pointed out that there is a ferry to Bilbao, but actually they had left their van at Nantes so they would necessarily be driving home. I am not sure how old the girl was, but it was nice to see her on the trip with the parents. Their gear looked well used, this must not have been the first trip, at least for the parents.

Spanish family cycling Nantes to Roscoff

They're off - they look like serious cycle tourists!

Morlaix is not far from the sea, and soon we were riding up and down along the bordering hills. The marine environment always seems to evoke its own architecture, and while all stone houses were still in evidence, the overall impression was now of white ones. They are cheerier, and seem tin harmony with the more intense seaside light.

We had spotted from a pamphlet that there are three megalithic sites in Brittany, and we were right near one of them! This is called the Great Cairn of Barnemez. It is a tomb from 6000 years ago, and includes 11 multi tonne granite slabs, one of those engineering miracles of the ancient world. We cranked our bikes up the steep hill to the site, only to balk at the six euro admission price. We hiked up above the site and through a field, catching a peek at the backside of the large mound.

One other thing we did not quite see was the chateau of Le Toreau. This was built on a small island out in the bay in 1542, according to the design of the famous military architect of Louis XIV - Vauban. Intended to protect Morlaix from the English, it became a prison at the end of the 18th century and housed prisoners until 1871. As for the English, they seem to be swarming in the streets of Morlaix right now, so maybe the castle was not all that effective!

We continued to wind our way around the coastline but not for far. We had booked a gite at St Samson - on the way to Plougasnou. Yes Plougasnou. Hard as it is for us to get our minds and tongues around such places, we already have the town map and will be there in a flash tomorrow. That is, after we quickly check out Le Diben and Primel-Tregastel. These too are real places!

Today's ride: 58 km (36 miles)
Total: 3,964 km (2,462 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	7
Comment on this entry	Comment	0