DAY 2: RENNES - BLAIN: 101km
SUNDAY 31 MAY

Despite our late night we woke up before our 7am alarm and were keen to get up and get going. We had considered having the hotel's breakfast buffet but it looked very disappointing so we decided to get a coffee in a cafe on our way out of town instead.

We found a friendly bar in the sun

An elderly customer asked me to help him with his mobile phone as he was going to mass and wanted to turn it on to silent. After chatting to him it transpired he was an artist and he told us that his work, together with others, was being exhibited at a forthcoming exhibition in St. Malo. He did a sketch of me on the back of our bar bill and I asked him to sign it (just in case he did turn out to be famous).

Luckily the roads around Rennes were quiet as it was a Sunday as it took us a bit of time to find the start of the cycle path that followed the Vilaine as we were not sure what side of the river we should be on.

At last we found the cycle path




What a perfect picnic spot for breakfast

We didn't leave our breakfast stop until nearly 11am and we had only cycled 8km! We had had a very slow start to the morning what with the coffee stop and looking for the canal path and we really had to start making some progress.

The path suddenly became very narrow which slowed us up even more

The route was worth it for the view though

We met a cyclist coming the other way who advised us that the path ahead was very narrow and rough and he didn't think it would be suitable for the trailer. He very kindly took us on a road route which would avoid the worst of it and we rode together to Pont-Rean where we could re-join the river path. As we rode we chatted about cycling and it transpired that he too had a tandem and trailer.

We would have to visit Pont Rean on another occasion - at midday we still hadn't reached our half way point

The river path was beautiful




The weather was perfect




However, the path surface was variable




In places it was too bad to cycle on

It was a beautiful route but because of the surface our speed was greatly reduced. At one point we hit deep fine gravel and came to an abrupt stop and somehow managed not to fall off. We also stopped a few times as we could hear a noise coming from the back wheel but couldn't work out what it was. After stopping for the third or fourth time we realised that the stand had come loose and was rubbing the wheel. We tried to tighten it the best we could but didn't have the right tool to get into such an awkward spot. We were ready for our lunch when we arrived at Port du Guipry at 2.30pm.

Luckily the Creperie du Port was still serving

It was nice to sit down and relax over our pancakes and look at the view of the river, but we didn't get going again until almost 4pm and we were only half way through our day's distance.

We continued to follow the Vilaine

It was such a scenic ride and we made better progress after lunch although it was very hot and my bum was beginning to feel a bit numb. We passed a group of walkers who wished us "bon courage" and clapped and commented on Rob's "maillot jaune". I was looking forward to camping that evening as it was such a beautiful day.

It was nice to get back on to the tarmac

We had a bar stop at Besle where there was a campsite right by the river which was very tempting. It was 6pm by this time and still very hot - and we still had 30km to do. However, we decided that we should stick to our original route as it would put more pressure on us the next day and the only place to eat in Besle was the bar we had stopped at and the menu didn't look very good. Although it was the right decision to continue I was beginning to struggle as my bum was feeling increasingly uncomfortable and I came to the conclusion that 80km is my comfortable limit for a day's cycling. This was unfortunate as most days would be longer than that!

We had a long, albeit gentle, climb

We passed through Guemene Penfao which had some nice looking bars with inviting terraces but didn't stop as it was getting late and we needed to get to our campsite and, more importantly, out to eat before the restaurant stopped serving.

We arrived at Camping du Chateau, Blain at 7.45pm

During the planning stages I had researched restaurants at each of our destinations and had found a restaurant within walking (not cycling!) distance of the campsite and on our arrival gave them a ring to book a table and enquire what time they stopped serving to be told 8.45pm sharp. That really did not give us much time which was a shame as it would've been nice to sit for 5 minutes and enjoy the evening sun. Instead we had a frantic rush to pitch the tent, shower, do our washing and get ourselves ready to go out.

We didn't have far to walk




The Auberge du Canal was in a lovely riverside position

I upset the waiter by asking to move from inside to a table on the terrace when it became free

It was lovely looking at the boats moored along the river bank

We ate quite a nice meal of kangaroo, which made a change from the usual steak and felt satisfied as we walked back to our tent. It was a lovely warm evening and perfect for camping.