Sunday 20th May. Mauron (2) to Redon (3)
49 miles 4hrs 21m riding time. Average speed: 11.29mph Total: 105 miles
As has proved to be the norm, the start of the voie verte from Mauron to
Malstroit was elusive. I did two laps of a large recreational lake getting
some odd looks from fishermen before I found it. Once found, it was a nice
smooth wind-free ride, although the weather was overcast in contrast to
yesterday’s bright sunshine.
I noticed lots of strange diagonal marks on the track’s surface but
I didn’t really give any thought as to what had caused them until
the roller-bladers started to appear.
I’ve never given any thought to the demographic of the people who
roller blade either, but there were dozens and dozens of lycra-clad middle-aged
people carrying ski poles grimly skating along. I’ve never seen anyone
over the age of thirteen wearing in-line skates before.
Malstroit
Malstroit is a fine half-timbered medieval town and its centre is very
pretty.
I turned off the voie verte for the D10 at Malstriot and arrived at lunch
time just as the shops had closed for the day. I had been hoping to find
a shop as I was running short of water. I decided to press on. I left Malstroit
on the deserted D764 which shadowed the river Oust for a few miles. The
voie verte had been really quite busy this Sunday morning but so far the
roads have been deserted. The weather began to change for the worse this
afternoon with light rain and a strong breeze but luckily I’d just
arrived at the Hotel le France in Redon before the rain began to really
pour down.
Redon, situated at the junction of a river and several canals, railways
and main roads is the transport hub of central Morbihan. Predictably however,
on a Sunday – it’s shut. I found the only open restaurant in
town and inside chatted to a Californian couple (one of whom was a keen
cyclist) who were on a canal boat vacation. They’d been on the Canal
de Nantes a Brest for a week and apparently they’d experienced terrible
weather - let’s hope it doesn’t last.
I had a bit of a disaster with my bike’s trip computer today. When
I cleared the day’s mileage I accidentally erased the wheel size settings
so it won’t know how far or fast I’m travelling. I sent Sue
a text asking her to have a root around in my garage to see if she could
find the instruction book for it so that I can try to re-calibrate it.
The answer came back within minutes. Even 500 miles from home I still have
a support crew! It was still raining as I made my way back to the hotel
and I was tucked up in bed for just after 9.30.
The view from the saddle