Mike here again... with an update. As many avid readers would know, it's not often that I let reality get in the way, but unfortunately sometimes it pokes its head up and just won't be ignored!
So, "how did the St Malo run go?" I hear you asking... well it was a journey... and we got here with a little help from SNCF (the french trains).
Here's the story!
Monday St Grave to Ploërmel 36k
We left you last time in our little upstairs granny flat in St Grave. The next morning we headed off down a 2k hill to the canal path. It was cold, the coldest we'd felt (so far), and I got out my long fingered gloves and head band thing (that covers my ears) for the first time. Everything was wet from overnight rain but fortunately the rain had stopped and the canal path was sealed (when was this a thing??). So we mad good time and while cold there was occasional sun shine, we soon found ourselves coming into a magical town, just breathtaking in all directions, so of course we stopped for coffee and cake! After this we continued along the canal to the point where a new bike path headed north towards St Malo (woohoo!). It was actually a rail trail and just beautiful to ride along. This continued all the way to our overnight stop in Ploërmel where we'd booked ourselves into a retirement home (yep for real), not because Serena thought it was my time, but because it's a thing they do here, to give intergenerational connection (that must be why Serena was there). It was a super clean and spacious room, with a seperate bedroom and small kitchenette which suits us perfectly!
Serena excited to find the path sealed
Tuesday Ploërmel to Loscouët-sur-Meu 42k
Surprisingly, the next morning I was free to go... and we packed up feeling positive. The weather looked colder so I chose to wear my long pants over my knicks and Serena got out her long knicks. See... we were prepared! Then we headed off, and immediately realised we weren't in Kansas anymore. It was a whole new level of cold. Within the first 5k Serena had added .. Jeans over her knicks, a pair of my socks over her long gloves (a testament to her skill level as a rider) and a second pair of socks for her feet.
Still freezing we rode slowly to cut down the wind chill and made it to the end of the rail trail in Mauron (seemed appropriately named as the locals stared and wished us "Bon Courage!"). We stopped at a supermarket and bought Serena thick winter gloves (which she put over her long gloves) and some thicker socks (which she put over her already 2 pairs of socks). We then headed into the town centre and stopped inside and in the warn for a great lunch.
At this stage we knew things were in trouble. We had 18k to go to our booked accommodation, and the next 2 days were forecasting strong headwinds (not a problem except for the chill factor) and rain (a huge problem at this temperature). So, we spent some time weighing up the options, and realised our best option was to hit the road and head to our planned accommodation - time was also against us as we try to be off the road by 4 now due to failing light. We pressed on, and fortunately had good roads, arriving frozen but OK at our accom at 4:30, not too bad!
Wednesday Loscouët-sur-Meu to Gare La Brohinière (and then St Malo) 15k
After a good breakfast that was included in our accommodation, we checked the weather, and no improvement was to be found. Fortunately we had a small window of no rain, and a bike path (another rail trail) a few hundred metres from our place, so we quickly packed up and jumped on the bikes, heading off in near freezing conditions to the nearest station as La Brohinière, 15k away. Good road followed our rail trail, and we were quickly back on the old bike path to St Malo, but with just 64k left to St Malo, we turned right and rode the 1km to our station. Dark rain clouds and a huge rainbow were in the sky, and with 500m to go the rain started. Fortunately we made it to the station and the glass waiting booth before getting too wet. An hour later we were on our train to Rennes, in the warm and looking at the amazing scenery. I was wondering if we made the right call, it looked so beautiful ... but when we arrived at Rennes and headed out of the station to get lunch... wow... it was arctic! After a great lunch we quickly headed back to the station and grabbed a hot chocolate while we waited for our train to St Malo.
Thursday St Malo
After a night listening to the rain pour and the wind howl, and feeling disappointed but sure we made the right call, we headed out to check out St Malo (it started sleeting as we walked!). It's gorgeous!
Good call ...trains and bikes are a great combo when the weather doesn't play ball.
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