Left my hotel in Pleneuf-Val-Andre at 9:02 and sped down hill for about a kilometer to take in the beach and harbor before I headed northwest out of town. Beautiful village on one side of a large rocky hill and an equally beautiful beach on the other which unfortunately was built up completely along with a small casino. I keep seeing them along my route with Loto advertisements as well. Even France has lowered its cultural standards. The beach area is a huge tourist attractions but fortunately for me the place was pretty much folded up for the season. With rain forecast for noon, I climbed out of town and tried not to take any wrong turns. The water stayed on my right within eye sight as I navigated the back roads. One seaside town after another, cafes sprinkled around the harbors and boats sitting in the mud. Despite the high latitude, the weather remains mild and everyone keeps their boat in the water into November. Noon arrived and dampness slowly turned into a light rain. I pulled out the rain gear and hunkered down for a wet ride. The rain stayed light, off and one again all afternoon. Fives hours of riding northwest towards Paimpol and my body needed fuel. Being Sunday afternoon, pretty much everything was closed, yet I pulled into an open bar for beer and to eat what I had on board: pate, fromage, a nectarine, chocolate and miel. The bartender followed by two locals gave me directions to a seaside hotel. My GPS took me down the road and had me descending at least thirty stairs shrouded in vegetation. Walking of course with both my disc brakes on full kept my steep decent under control. Remember my bike is no light weight at eighty lbs.. Below was a quaint village with a hotel which was "complet", full, no vacancies. This was not a good thing considering my wet sweaty condition with over forty miles ridden. Fortunately, I was given directions to a small village two K up a long incline where a small hotel was located next to the local church. Welcome to Plouezec. It looked closed, I knocked at two doors and was getting ready to leave when an elderly man came out. Saved by the bell! He showed me a nice room up an outside stairway by a beautiful lush garden area. This place is ancient as is the whole village and everything is built of stone. Charming! After cleaning up, washing my riding clothes in the sink and taking an hour nap, the owner drove me back to the seaside village of
Brehec where I had a delicious diner avec vin rouge. When I was done, the restaurant owner called c the Saint Roch hotel where upon the owner retrieved me. Everyone knows everyone.
Tomorrow, I will make a short ride to Pointe de l'Arcouest where I will take a one mile ferry ride over to Ile de Brehat which is supposed to be very nice . A lot of Parisians have houses there and if I am lucky, they won't be there! They are the ones who give the French a bad name, sort of like New Yorkers invading New England. The sun is expected to shine for a few days and I hope to pitch a tent for two nights.
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