Month: Feb 2026

Le Petit Tour de France (Normandy, Brittany & Pays de la Loire) – Day 8

Le Petit Tour de France (Normandy, Brittany & Pays de la Loire) – Day 8

gavscyclingadventures

Etape 8 –Saint-Nazaire to Soudon (Saturday 28th June)

We had an 8am rendezvous for breakfast & were on our way under grey skies & a slight headwind, but with the promise of temperatures in the low 30 degrees centigrade this afternoon. The early part of the route took us through the suburbs of Saint-Nazaire on quiet back roads.

Leaving Trignac, we picked up a local cycle track that cut through fields of wheat that have been harvested & hay baled. Behind 1 of the bales, I spotted a single person tent & bike trailer – it looked like a wild-camping cyclist had found their perfect spot to stop last night.

The small village of Montoir-de-Bretagne delivered us onto our first section of hard-packed gravel, as we followed a disused railway track a couple of feet to our right. We saw a couple of walkers, but other than that, we had the route to ourselves.

The gravel track continued to narrow & deteriorate the further along it we travelled, until at Lieu-de-Er the gravel turned to cricket ball-sized stones – Sean & I don’t have the skills to ride this, so we joined the main road towards Pontchateau (we both recognised the name as being 1 of the stations we stopped at on Thursday’s train ride to Saint-Nazaire. The road was busier than we would have liked, but much better than the rough off-road trail we’d left behind!

At the 22-mile point, we reached the small commune of St Anne-sur-Brivet & I spotted a patisserie, so of course we stopped to sample their wares! I chose an apricot tart which was delicious washed down with an orangina.

We remained on tarmac until we passed through Quilly, where we picked up some more hard-packed gravel for a couple of miles. When we re-joined tarmac, we crossed the Canal de Nantes a Brest, before finding the start of the Route Forestiere de Carheil, which was marked by a Memorial to 2 soldiers who were killed in action on 21st August 1941.

This was a beautiful stretch of tarmac which cut straight through the surrounding forest. We had some much-appreciated protection from the sun, which was now beating down on us whenever there were gaps in the trees.

Leaving the forest behind, we joined the Ligne de Sable a Montoir de Bretagne voie verte which took as past a holiday park where children were taking advantage of the various activities on offer, while the parents watched a band.

We stopped for more fluids in a supermarket at Nozay – I found the outdoor furniture section & sat down on a €65 bench for 5 minutes in the air-conditioned cool!! Sadly, I didn’t have room in my panniers to buy the bench! By now, my elbow was making me very aware that it wanted me to stop riding for the day, but we were still 20 miles from our hotel for the evening & in the middle of nowhere, so it was a case of simply keeping the pedals turning.

We stuck mainly to tarmac for the remainder of the route but had the roads & lanes to ourselves. We passed a field of cows who all congregated at the fence by the road to offer us encouragement to keep moo-ving (sorry!)

Passing through Chateaubriant, we were on the home stretch, 1 final section of cycle track before arriving at our Chambres d’Hote for the evening called La Marmoire, just outside Soudon.

We’ve just finished a 3-course plat du jour of prawn & avocado salad, poulet with vegetables & rice, followed by tartlette d’abricot – it was delicious! We also made some new French friends – Eric was on a short cycling trip with his daughter Alice & luckily their English was significantly better than our French & we had a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Saint-Nazaire to Soudon was 68 miles in length with 1,900 feet of climbing. We had another great day exploring a beautiful part of France. The landscape & scenery continue to impress, so here’s to more of the same tomorrow.

Le Petit Tour de France (Normandy, Brittany & Pays de la Loire) – Day 6

Le Petit Tour de France (Normandy, Brittany & Pays de la Loire) – Day 6

gavscyclingadventures

Etape 6 –Val Couesnon to Rennes (Wednesday 25th June)

This morning’s breakfast set a new benchmark in quality – all locally produced, we tucked into fresh watermelon, yoghurt & granola, scrambled egg on toast, a croissant and crusty bread & apricot jam, all washed down with fresh grapefruit juice & coffee. It was a feast fit for royalty & we devoured the lot!

We set off under grey skies, with high humidity in the air & the possibility of thunderstorms later in the afternoon. By mile 15, we’d completed 75% of the day’s climbing, as we followed small lanes that took us between fields of wheat & maize. Finally, we had 2 long distance encounters with birds of prey, as they patrolled the wheat fields for their vole breakfast. The surrounding countryside & villages don’t look much different to how they were 500 years ago – the 1 exception was at Marcille-Rhoul, where we saw a historic farmhouse surrounded by wind turbines in the far distance.

Etang du Bulet marked the end of the early climbing & we spotted a couple of swans with their cygnets in tow on the far side of the lake. At Mentreuil-sur-Ille we joined a gravel path which followed the Canal d’Ille et Rance, as it gradually descended towards Rennes.

We had the path to ourselves, except for the occasional dog walkers, cyclists & joggers. There were locks every couple of miles, so the canal could follow the contours of the land downhill.

The expected thunderstorms never arrived, but it remained humid, so we were grateful of the shade offered by the trees on the banks of the canal. An unexpected bonus was spotting L’Ecluse Tropicale, where we enjoyed a Breizh cola & café-au-lait.

Just before our adventure on the canal ended, we passed a beautifully restored lockkeeper’s cottage. It was the perfect end to an hour of riding in paradise.

The final 15 miles were nothing to write home about, other than to say we had to circumnavigate Rennes to reach our hotel for the evening & this required us to ride busy roads, before finally returning to quiet lanes for the final 15 minutes.

After the opulence of last night, we’re in a B&B Hotels motel this evening – it was automated check-in, door codes to get into the building & your room & the simplest of hotel rooms.

Val Couesnon to Rennes was 43 miles in length with 1,700 feet of climbing. I’ve taken the decision to have a day off the bike tomorrow, as my forearm has been getting more painful each day I’ve ridden. This is my 6th consecutive day of riding & we’ve covered 260 miles in that time. Tomorrow would require me to ride 76 miles from Rennes to Saint Nazaire, which is too much for me now. I need to investigate the bus & train timetables, as we have already paid for 2 night’s accommodation in Saint Nazaire!