End in sight

I found myself further than I'd expected by Sunday. My return ferry was booked for Monday night from Roscoff and I would hopefully reach Morlaix by the end of today, leaving just a few miles for Monday. Perhaps I could spend the extra time by the sea.

I set off, still a bit stiff but feeling better than yesterday, and got as far as the larger Carhaix before the first of many sudden showers to pass over. I saw this one coming and stood under the doorway of a factory on the outskirts of the town while it passed, but the others came while I was in the countryside so I would just stop riding, put up my hood and wait for them to pass. After Carhaix the track became two small muddy ruts in the grass as far as Poullaouen. I was now moving north, and having looked forward to getting the south-west wind behind me for the first time on the journey, found it had changed direction to north-west, so I was still riding into the wind!

The track opened up once again and was now following a disused railway. Some of the station buildings still existed, such as this one:

The gradients seemed gentle and about 9 miles from Morlaix a descent began which continued all the way into the town. I hadn't realised how much higher than sea-level I'd reached and it was lots of fun going down so continuously over such a distance. So I was exhilarated on reaching Morlaix and after a quick crêpe decided I'd continue on to Roscoff. It felt great to be back on tarmac again and the ride out of town along the west bank of the river was smooth and fast.

Looking back into Morlaix

There were some steep climbs in store, though, before reaching Roscoff, and a rather busy dual carriageway in which some cars got very close to me and even closer to the hostile gestures I felt forced to make in response with my outstretched left hand! I stopped in St Pol and ate a take-away pizza by the road as it was getting late, then continued on the few miles to Roscoff and found a camping to the west of the town right on the sea. Reception had already closed so I found the proprietor in the loo block who said I could just have the night free of charge! I went right to the border with the beach to pitch the tent and this was the view:

Total for the day: a very respectable 56 miles!