Train and bike to Portsmouth, Overnight ferry to St. Malo, Stop off at the “Cafe du Theatre” for a coffee boost, now 3 connecting trains to go the few hundred km to Nantes (3 tickets for me and three tickets for my bike, obtained with some difficulty, through the complicated SNCF website).
The ferry had a good french restaurant (highlight – Calvados baba with apple 3 ways). But my first french cuisine in France is a quick galette with cider outside Rennes station, between trains.
The lovely botanical gardens in Nantes, always soothing. My hotel is ok but not soothing, on the more modern side of the city there is an air of, I don’t know, anxiety, all the food shops have beggars outside, the illegal immigration problem manifest. I had booked a hotel 10km outside the city, but they cancelled the booking due to a sudden death in the family!
But now it is day 3 and I am on my way, quiet lanes, vineyards, countryside and, around lunchtime, this touristy village with a castle and an old bridge (it is a Sunday). I have some bread and cheese in my pack, but a spot of proper lunch would be nice. The restaurants all appear to be closed.
But there is a Creperie, so my second lunch is another galette, with water this time, and coffee of course.
Beside a roundabout a monument to ancient laundry techniques.
For the night I have a room in a house, just the room, use of kitchen. It’s the spare room in a house. It is a modern house with a robot floor-cleaner, which I hear clunking around the place as I unpack, the place is empty at first but the owner turns up later. I must have eaten at the local restaurant but can’t remember a thing aout it, it was five days ago.