Distance cycled since Modbury 706 miles
Last night's stop in the Ibis Budget was fine but budget was a key word - a bit basic with towels that had clearly seen fluffier days, plain white cotton quilt covers .....and hard mattresses on planks!
On arrival yesterday, I had noticed that the hotel was split into two - the ordinary Ibis and the Budget Ibis. Hmm. I asked what the difference was and the receptionist explained, but my French is often not good enough to pick up the finer detail. Anyway, the gist was that in the ordinary Ibis, the rooms were bigger and a bit more lavish and the en-suite facilities were completely separate from the bedroom. I questioned this last bit and she repeated that the facilities were "open" to the bedroom in the Budget. This did concern me a little - Rob's a really good pal and we've become close on this trip, but I didn't want to be lying in bed while I could see him, out of the corner of my eye just a few feet away, straining on the toilet! We went up to our room with me in trepidation and Rob in total ignorance of my concern. I needn't have worried. The toilet and wc were separately walled off but it was the wash-hand basin that was within the bedroom. I really must either improve my French or stop having such a fertile imagination!
The difference between Budget and ordinary Ibis cropped up a few more times during our stay. Whenever, we ordered a drink or food we we were asked which part we were staying in and, when we said Budget, the staff seemed to apply different criteria. It was a bit of an apartheid, albeit the staff were always friendly. However, we couldn't charge things to our room (which we'd had to pay for in advance). We were clearly the poor relations! Nevertheless, our basic room had 2 beds, a good shower, wc, TV, free wi-fi, electric radiator and air-con and it suited our purposes just fine.
After doing my last washing session we went to the attached restaurant to eat. Rob continued his crusade against ducks whilst I had a steak, duly followed by a cherry/ice cream/liquer concoction for Rob and a rice pudding with rum and raisins for me.
Our system of finding our next hotel using booking.com let us down last night as the nearest that it could find us was 12 miles beyond our intended destination, Carhaix Plouguer. Luckily, Rob found a hotel smack in the middle of Carhaix via Google and a quick call reserved a room at Hotel d'Ahes at a B and B rate of 58 euros. Yesterday's cycle was over decidedly 'lumpy' terrain and today's promised to be more so; hence our desire not to travel too far, in keeping with our 'winding-down' philosophy.
We got away at 8.15 after a really good value breakfast which more than satisfied our needs. The weather started sunny and bright which is not always a good sign and sure enough the sky darkened to the point of rain. I knew that if I put on my "day-glo orange" rain-jacket it would either attract sunshine or dazzle passing motorists. It did both and we escaped the rain all day.........but the wind! Oh, it was strong and blowing into our faces again from the north.
We cleared Pontivy by 9 and went up to Cleguerec via the D15 and from there to Silfiac, keeping to back roads to get maximum shelter and minimum traffic. In Silfiac, we passed a bar/tabac with a sign painted on the window: "Fish and Chips - frying on Friday" and a little bit further on a sign directing people to the Cricket Club! We pressed on to Lescouet-Gouarec and then stopped for a coffee (Rob) and hot chocolate (me) at Mellionnec. The bar owner, although French, started talking good English and I complimented him. He explained that he had to as so many of his customers were English speaking and that Silfiac, Lescouet and Mellionnec were 33 percent populated by British ex-pats. Indeed, while we were talking, a New Zealander came in for a beer and complained that the weather had been so bad that he felt as though he'd wasted 2 years of his life. Not even Rob could cheer him up.
We left Mellionnec and just above Bonen came across the Nantes-Brest Canal and my old mate, EuroVelo 1. We followed this for a few miles but it deteriorated from being a smooth tarmac surface to a gravel-covered hardcore, which was simply uncomfortable on road/touring bikes. So we rejoined the road, having by-passed Rostrenen, and had lunch of a chocolate bar and a coffee at Mael-Carhaix at around 2pm.
We arrived at our hotel at 3pm and saw our bikes safely locked away in the owner's office. We followed our usual routine of showering and getting ourselves respectable. Rob dealt with his work and we enjoyed a few beers in the hotel bar (while I do this blog).
For tomorrow night, we wanted to cycle and rest up just short of Roscoff, to give ourselves a relaxed day on Saturday. Tonight's hotel owner kindly found us the Hotel Restaurant de la Gare in Pleyber-Christ (73 euros B and B for both of us) which I rang to reserve a room and who will safely garage our bikes again. That's it - the last hotel we'll be staying in on this trip and it leaves us about 20 miles for Saturday morning ..... and time to do a bit of shopping or browsing and to reflect on what we will have done.
France has not yet done with us though. The bar owner in Mellionnec has said that the temperature tomorrow morning is forecast to be 4 degrees and we know that the headwind is going to blow until the very end of our trip.
C'est la vie!
Photos:
Storm clouds gathering.
The bar at Mellionnec.
A sunny interval.
Lunch stop at Mael-Carhaix.
That really is a bummer to have to face that head wind every day, after all the meticulous planning you have done Elan, to ensure the smoothest of trips....but it goes to show you cannot account for what mother nature will do. But good on both of you - you have both stuck at it and earned huge respect from everyone following you. Congratulations and well done...perhaps next year you can cycle from Roscoff down to me in southern Spain...at least if the same wind is blowing you'll get the benefit and also we pretty much have guaranteed sunshine (well for at least 320 days of the year)...and you know how good it is here for cycling. ;) I'll make sure Rob tries some great cuisine too!
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