A Paradocs Abroad

We spent last week doing a 4-day tour inland, and farther south in Brittany. The idea was to ride some 150+ km days in preparation for next weekend's Middenhall 300 km brevet in the UK, and at the same time, see more of Brittany. We rode pretty hard, and had some rainy days, so there aren't too many photos, but they start here in our Flickr stream.

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We were going to leave Monday (the 14th), but were both feeling a little ill (Doug especially), so put it off a day. That turned out to be a good thing because we got a phone call to go the next step toward getting our cartes de séjours (residency permits). We picked up our official receipts that say we have applied, and filled out a form for the medical exam we are required to take. French bureaucracy is a wonder to behold... they have it refined to an art-form!

Tuesday we rode ~165 km from Saint-Renan to Pontivy. This took us along the PBP route through Landerneau, Sizun, over Roc'h Trévézel, and through Huelgoat, Carhaix, and Plounévez-Quintin. We took up residence at the Hôtel Robic in Pontivy for 3 nights, and were impressed that, without us even asking, they said when we checked in "you can put your bicycles in one of the meeting rooms".

Wednesday we planned to do a loop through la Trinité-Porhoët, Loudéac, and Corlay. Heavy rain squalls driven by some serious wind induced us to cut the ride short to an ~80 km loop, and we didn't get to Loudéac, or Corlay.

Thursday we rode south from Pontivy to Carnac and spent some time looking at the alignments of menhirs, and a tumulus there. It was another windy day with heavy rain squalls every couple of hours, but we managed to be under shelter for all but the last squall. We did ~140 km.

Friday we reversed Tuesday's route and returned to Saint-Renan. The weather was much better, with only a brief shower while we were passing through Carhaix. The winds continued, and swung to the west, so the last part of the climb to Roc'h Trévézel, and most of the 65 km from their home, were into a stiff head wind.

Hopefully, we will have time and inclination to add some more details of each day's ride here later.