Post by richmayn on Jun 22, 2011 17:51:43 GMT
Myself and Mrs M have just come back from a week-long jaunt around Brittany on our 900 Diversion. Apparently they hadn’t had rain for three months prior to our arrival – needless to say in rained every day we were there.
Our first destination was Carnac, on the south west coast of Brittany. After taking the overnighter from St Malo, we had intended leaving the dual carriageway at Dinan. Being a dimwit, I missed the turn-off and we ended up doing a dog-leg before heading back down and leaving it a Broons. After a coffee stop in the village of Caulnes, it was cross-country pretty much all the way to Vannes, then on to Carnac.
Leg two saw us achieve a long-held ambition to ride the Cote Sauvage, Quiberon. It’s a spectacular coast road, and even in bad weather the views out to see are magnificent (see the pic below). From Carnac, our next destination was Concarneau, one of the biggest fishing ports in France, with a lunch stop on the way at Armor Plage, a pretty village north of Lorient.
By the time we reached Concarneau it was well and truly chucking it down, and being a fishing port there was another hazard – gulls. I ended up having to buy a pack of Vileda coths to clean off the debris from a direct hit on the seat, fairing and panniers.
The town itself is well worth a visit – we took a day off from riding to walk around the Ville Close – a walled town that sticks out into the harbour, accessible by footbridge or two-minute ferry ride. Don’t make the mistake of booking a hotel in the working port part of the town though – you can’t escape the smell of fish.
Leg three should have been the most scenic ride of the lot – up to St Pol de Leon, Finistere. We had been looking forward to the scenery around Huelgoat, but the cloud came down and the heavens opened, making the third full-day’s riding a bit of a chore.
St Pol de Leon is a lovely little town, about three miles short of Roscoff. It has two cathedrals, a cinema and not much else, and everything seems to shut quite early in the evening. There is a decent supermarket, a few nice places to eat and it’s a short walk to the sea – what more could you want? The Hotel du Cheval Blanc is very bike-friendly – when we arrived, Madame came out to show us where we could park the bike under cover, and she was really helpful. Although we spoke French with her, I am told she also speaks really good English.
The final day’s ride turned into a bit of a nightmare, to be honest. The original plan had been to head to Morlaix, Lannion, Paimpol, then pick up the coast road all the way back to St Malo via Dinard. Unfortunately, I took a wrong road out of Lannion, and we wasted at least an hour riding round in circles. Eventually, we decided to head to Guingcamp and pick up the N12 dual carriageway – just as the wind speed got up to over 60kmh. It was truly frightening – I don’t have huge amounts of confidence in high winds and we were frankly terrified. Once we had got through St Brieuc, where there is little alternative to the N12, we peeled off and manage to get on the coast road, as per Plan A. The ride to St Malo was much more pleasant, although time prevented us from visiting the lighthouse at Cap Frehel, immortalised in the film A Very Long Engagement.
What have we learned? The 900 Divvy is an excellent two-up tourer, even when fully loaded. Oh, and Brittany in June is a bad idea – next year it will be Spain for us.
Our first destination was Carnac, on the south west coast of Brittany. After taking the overnighter from St Malo, we had intended leaving the dual carriageway at Dinan. Being a dimwit, I missed the turn-off and we ended up doing a dog-leg before heading back down and leaving it a Broons. After a coffee stop in the village of Caulnes, it was cross-country pretty much all the way to Vannes, then on to Carnac.
Leg two saw us achieve a long-held ambition to ride the Cote Sauvage, Quiberon. It’s a spectacular coast road, and even in bad weather the views out to see are magnificent (see the pic below). From Carnac, our next destination was Concarneau, one of the biggest fishing ports in France, with a lunch stop on the way at Armor Plage, a pretty village north of Lorient.
By the time we reached Concarneau it was well and truly chucking it down, and being a fishing port there was another hazard – gulls. I ended up having to buy a pack of Vileda coths to clean off the debris from a direct hit on the seat, fairing and panniers.
The town itself is well worth a visit – we took a day off from riding to walk around the Ville Close – a walled town that sticks out into the harbour, accessible by footbridge or two-minute ferry ride. Don’t make the mistake of booking a hotel in the working port part of the town though – you can’t escape the smell of fish.
Leg three should have been the most scenic ride of the lot – up to St Pol de Leon, Finistere. We had been looking forward to the scenery around Huelgoat, but the cloud came down and the heavens opened, making the third full-day’s riding a bit of a chore.
St Pol de Leon is a lovely little town, about three miles short of Roscoff. It has two cathedrals, a cinema and not much else, and everything seems to shut quite early in the evening. There is a decent supermarket, a few nice places to eat and it’s a short walk to the sea – what more could you want? The Hotel du Cheval Blanc is very bike-friendly – when we arrived, Madame came out to show us where we could park the bike under cover, and she was really helpful. Although we spoke French with her, I am told she also speaks really good English.
The final day’s ride turned into a bit of a nightmare, to be honest. The original plan had been to head to Morlaix, Lannion, Paimpol, then pick up the coast road all the way back to St Malo via Dinard. Unfortunately, I took a wrong road out of Lannion, and we wasted at least an hour riding round in circles. Eventually, we decided to head to Guingcamp and pick up the N12 dual carriageway – just as the wind speed got up to over 60kmh. It was truly frightening – I don’t have huge amounts of confidence in high winds and we were frankly terrified. Once we had got through St Brieuc, where there is little alternative to the N12, we peeled off and manage to get on the coast road, as per Plan A. The ride to St Malo was much more pleasant, although time prevented us from visiting the lighthouse at Cap Frehel, immortalised in the film A Very Long Engagement.
What have we learned? The 900 Divvy is an excellent two-up tourer, even when fully loaded. Oh, and Brittany in June is a bad idea – next year it will be Spain for us.
