Distance cycled since Modbury 663 miles
Last night we had a great evening.
After arriving at Hotel La Voltige, I discovered that my friends, Monsieur and Madame Tabard, who owned the hotel previously, now live in the house immediately opposite the hotel. So I decided to visit them but was told that they had arranged to come over to us, which they duly did. It was lovely to see them and we reminisced for over an hour. They haven't changed a bit and still look so young. Despite having sold the hotel on 1 May they were working until Sunday (19 May) handing over to the new owners. They have now taken a well-earned retirement.
Monsieur et Madame Tabard, nous vous souhaitons les bonnes retraites!
The new owners of La Voltige looked after us well and we sat down to a lovely "plateau de fruits de mer", washed down with a good white wine and followed by a delicious apple and ice cream dessert. We wish them every success with La Voltige and understand it is the first hotel that they have owned.
We set off at 9.15am this morning after a good breakfast and were waved off by our friends.
We headed north and decided to avoid all primary roads as far as possible. We managed this for all but about 3 miles. Today's target distance was always going to be low and we were happy with that ......... although we did meander deliberately to increase the mileage for fear of the shame and humiliation that would be brought on our families if it was too low!
The sun shone again, the temperature climbed to 20C and all was well. There was still a fresh headwind but, what the hell - we're accustomed to it now. We wandered up to Bignan and then Moreac where we stopped for coffee at 11.30. Then on to Naizin where I bought my usual baguette (and Rob breathed his usual fresh air) and we stopped a few miles up the road for me to eat.......and Rob to breathe! We continued along country lanes until Noyal-Pontivy, then hopped onto the main road for the last 3 miles to our hotel.
We've booked a room at the Ibis Budget Hotel on the east side of Pontivy, close to the autoroute D768. We've paid 65 euros for Bed and Breakfast for both of us and there's a restaurant adjacent. Our bikes are safely garaged and secured in the hotel's underground car park.
Tonight, I may do what I hope will be a last laundry session before our return to Plymouth. I'm pleased to say that neither of us have resorted to the old student trick of wearing our underwear right way round and then inside-out to prolong the "service intervals", as we are fastidious about ensuring that our clothes are clean. After the episode in the bad weather on the Spanish/French border, when my white cycling socks were so grimy that the dirt was difficult to remove, I had serious words with my socks and warned them about their future behaviour. One pair of white socks ignored me completely, became oily in La Rochelle and was duly binned. This seems to have brought all the other socks to their senses and they are now behaving themselves!
Thanks for your comments, Chris, Rob and Sarah and Steve. Rob West has a photo of the pizza machine as we couldn't believe it either!
Photos:
Hotel La Voltige
Monsieur and Madame Tabard, the previous owners
Plateau de fruits de mer
Our coffee stop at Moreac
Great to hear that you caught up with your friends...as a boost to the new owners here is a website link for those interested;
ReplyDeletehttp://www.la-voltige.fr
I know your French is up to scratch (ish) but how about Rob's? Was he sitting there bored for an hour or did he understand every word?
Yes the pizza machine is intriguing - you'll have to post a collection of photos from Rob's camera when you get back....to go alongside the book you are going to write.....you are going to write a book aren't you?
Almost there! Good to hear the weather has improved, should be perfect for the ferry trip home. Look forward to seeing the photos
ReplyDeleteI reckon you should turn around now and ride for a week with a tailwind! Should get you back to the start in no time.
ReplyDelete