FRANCE - DAY TEN & ELEVEN

COASTAL VIEW

SMALL COVE ON OUR COASTAL RIDE

The day of the Coastal Ride that Peter and I had planned started dull and very overcast. We had experienced rain over night but at about 0700hrs the rain stopped. We had breakfast and prepared the bikes and at about 1000hrs we were off.
Mike and Chris had planned to have an easy no cycling day while Peter and I were cycling along the coast. The route out of the town centre was easy to follow and as I had pointed out to Peter we only needed to ensure that we kept the sea on our left.
The route was typical French coastal road cycling ....plenty of ups but just as many downs...the road surfaces as most of the time in France were smooth and the cycling was exhilarating. The only real downside were the crosswinds which meant that you had to keep your wits about you....if you weren't careful you could get blown badly off course. After about an hour it started to rain and for only the second time on this trip I had to put on my waterproof race cape.
We visited Pointe du Grouin which seemed to attract quite a number of visitors and then we headed for the small town of Cancale where we found a small cafe for lunch. I must say that I found Cancale a bit of a dissapointment...I don't know why but I had expected it to be a more attractive place than it was. Having said that, the rain of course did not help.
After lunch we headed back to St Malo via a more inland route but the crosswinds were just as bad.
We found our way back to the campsite with no problems, even being cheered on and waved at by a coach full of French schoolchildren.
Cycling is such a popular sport in France that wherever you go you often get schoolchildren waving and shouting 'Allez Allez' in encouragement as you go past.
That evening the four of us had a look around a World War 2 Fort that was just behind our camp site before settling down for a meal.
So our cycling was now all done....apart from the five minute ride to the ferry port on the Friday we wouldn't be doing any more riding. The plan was that on the Friday morning we would have a lazy breakfast.....break camp and pack everything in the panniers....and than leave the bikes at the campsite while we had a look around the old walled section of the town just the other side of the ferry port. The camp receptionist said we could leave the panniers in the office for safety and lock our bikes up just outside the office.
We had a great day looking around the town (some pictures below) and before we knew it the day had gone and we were in the short queue for the ferry and our return trip to the UK. On it's return to the UK the ferry called in at Jersey and we arrived back in Poole just after 2300hrs.....

It had been a great trip and although we didn't cover huge distances it had been another key step on my recovery back to health after my cancer treatment. There was a point during my treatment that I didn't think that I would get back on a bike again, let alone do a trip like this, so this was a bit of a milestone for me.
It was certainly a good test of Me - Bike - and Equipment prior to the ride back to the UK from Gibraltar (UK2ROCK2UK) that JD and I plan to do in a couple of months time.

I will tell you about the success or otherwise of certain items of equipment in my next post.......

VIEW OF THE FERRY FROM NEAR OUR CAMPSITE

THE ETOILE DU ROY IN THE PORT OF ST MALO - THIS SHIP WAS BUILT AT MARMARIS IN TURKEY  AND IS AN   AUTHENTIC REPLICA OF THE FRIGATE HMS BLANDFORD FROM 1741

A FRENCH CUSTOMS BOAT

A VIEW FROM THE OLD TOWN WALL - ST MALO

ANOTHER VIEW FROM THE TOWN WALL

GENERAL SEA VIEW

NEAR ST MALO PORT

OUTSIDE THE OLD TOWN WALL

PETER PACKING UP ON OUR LAST MORNING