Saturday

Day three was tough. I'd expected to ache on day two, but that didn't happen until Saturday morning, when every movement seemed painful. I'd slept well despite the traffic noise, and the charming girl who ran the site had let me have free electricity to charge up phone, laptop etc, so after breakfast I set off up the hill into the town and in search of the voie verte. (Not route verte - my mistake.) Loudéac seemed higher than the surrounding countryside so I hoped for an easy start, but any height advantage I had was more than offset by the headwind and by the now-wet piste, a sort of gravel/mud mix which meant I was forced to pedal 2 or 3 gears lower than on tarmac. I decided to aim for the next main town, Mur de Bretagne, which was about 15 miles away, and focus just on getting there. By the time I did it was lunchtime and a storm seemed imminent, so I stopped in the main square and ate a delicious pizza (and a salad and a crêpe!) under a canopy whilst watching the rain pour down onto the bike.

Feeling better for the food, but still with stiff and painful legs I set out again and waited to see the mileometer clock up 20, which seemed to take an eternity. But then I began to relax a bit and the distance passed more quickly, helped by dropping down for a few miles onto a flat canal towpath, which got me into Gouarec. 

The tow-path towards Gouarec

My aiming point was Rostrenan which would give me a not too shameful total of 35 miles for the day. Back on the soft piste again, I eventually got there around 6pm and found a supermarket open so stocked up on supplies; with Sunday and Monday looming I was aware that all French shops would be closed - how does anyone make money there? But Rostrenan seemed a rather bland and not very friendly place, and the camping was down at the bottom of a long hill which I didn't fancy having to climb again the next morning, so I decided to continue further along my route - a wise choice as it turned out, as the next few miles flew by and Maël-Carhaix was a very sweet village with a camping "aire naturelle" just to the south by a lake. There were a few other cyclists and a handful of caravans in a couple of very large fields. It was beautiful, peaceful and a great place for the night. Total for the day: 44 miles of difficult pedalling - I felt pleased.

Campsite at Maël-Carhaix