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Now retired but busy still living..

Wednesday 15 June 2011

FRANCE - DAY 9

TOP OF THE HILL NEAR ST SULIAC
After two nights in Dinan it was time to hit the road again.
With just three days left on this trip we felt that it would be sensible to head for St Malo. We wanted to have a complete day to look around the town and Peter and I also wanted to have a day to cycle around part of the coast from St Malo to Cancale.
That was days ten and eleven taken care of, so today  the plan was to cycle to St Malo by way of the small coastal village of St Suliac. Chris had read somewhere that this was a place worth a look so the plan was laid and we were on our way.
The route seemed fairly straight forward apart from a small error made within ten minutes of leaving the campsite. This meant that we cycled in a bit of a loop before finally heading off in the right direction.

OLD FORTRESS TOWER OVERLOOKING St SULIAC
VIEW OVER St SULIAC FROM THE TOP OF THE HILL

It was another very warm day and with a bit of a breeze it made for good cycling. Just a few miles from St Suliac we had a choice.... Up and over a steep hill or take a low level route..... Apparently the route via the hill offered some great views as a reward for making the effort to grind your way to the top in something approaching the granny gear. Mike and Chris decided to take the lower level route and Peter and I went for the granny gear..!
At the top was an old fortress tower ruin and some lovely views looking over the village......well worth the struggle to get there. After taking in the views and taking some photographs Peter and I freewheeled at some speed down into the village. We headed to the coastal end of the village where Mike and Chris had already arrived. Just a little way along the coastal road we found a little beachfront cafe where we stopped for lunch.




VIEW FROM BEACHFRONT CAFE
 After lunch we set off  back along the coastal road and then headed up the hill out of the village....before long we were on the outskirts of St Malo.
We found a couple of campsites about five miles from the centre of town, but Mike and Chris said that they would prefer to be closer to the ferry port itself as they wanted to be within walking distance of the old part of the town.
This was because they intended to have an easy day of exploration while Peter and I were cycling around the coast on day ten.
The ride into the centre of St Malo was not too difficult although we did need to check the route a few times. After all the quiet cycling routes we had been cycling on this trip it came as a bit of a shock to the system to be back on busy traffic filled roads again.
ROUND HOUSE SEEN IN THE CENTRE OF A TRAFFIC ROUNDABOUT-  St MALO
 We headed for the Port area and before long picked up signs for a municipal campsite....we followed the signs and eventually we arrived at the site which overlooked the ferryport . We couldn't be closer and it really proved to be an ideal site for our needs....close to the town.....easy to cycle to the ferry (about 5 mins ride) and also well placed for the coastal cycle ride that Peter and I had planned for the following day....
That evening we found a small restaurant only about five minutes walk from the site and after our meal I rewarded myself with a giant cream & icecream confection for my efforts in the granny gear earlier in the day......
A JUST REWARD FOR GRANNY GEAR USAGE....!

14 comments:

coastkid said...

Been away too on holiday Trevor but will be reading all your posts on your trip, infact i have a lot of blog posts to catch up on!
looks like you had a great time!

Tabb said...

Just found your blog while trauling around cycling blogs. I like that you've named your bikes. I just recently named my bike Ralph.

rlove2bike said...

I enjoy very much being able to read about your trip...and I click every picture.

Thanks,
RL

Anonymous said...

Thats a great round house - too bad that its in the centre of a roundabout! Your good weather continues, you've had a great trip - I'd reward myself too!

Daigo Itatsu said...

Great view...!

Anonymous said...

Nice photos again of your travel.
The round house is very cool, I wonder how is living there in it :)

Big Oak said...

Oh, the things you can see on your bike! What a great journey. I'm glad you shared it with us. That ice cream looks fantastic!

Anonymous said...

Thanks Trevor!

Mate, how do you find time to do so much cycling? My cycling experience is pretty much limited to summer..speaking of which, any tips on a nice/intermediate route round England. I was thinking of going across England e.g. Liverpool to York.
What maps to you find useful? I've got ones of the national routes round the country - but I quite fancy using my tour bike, and I'm too scared of punctures if I use those routes (majority of them are off road)

Any advice would be much appreciated.

ZyVu/Cello

xox

TrevorW�� said...

Thanks everyone for your comments..

Cello*
I find the time due to retirement..

Best place to check out various routes is the Cyclist's Touring Club I have a link from my blog side bar.

Ordnance Survey Tour Series of maps are good...they are designed for touring and route planning.

Hope this is of some help..

limom said...

Ice cream!
The devil's concoction.

The bike shed said...

I so want that ice cream, granny gear or not. But I still don't envy those panneirs.

Anonymous said...

Yes this was very helpful!
Thank you so much!
I'll start planning an enjoyable route.
Really appreciate it.

J_on_tour said...

Although not quite the same thing, I have to watch when leaving the starting point on a walk because it is my worst time for navigation too. Another interesting leg of the journey with the Round house being something special in a similar league to the ice cream.

Worthing Wanderer said...

The grub looks as good as the cycling!

Six weeks off.

 The visit to see the Consultant went quite well really ...   My ' numbers' have started to creep up again so I am going to be given...