Tregunc - Lorient: More rain and an R&R day (Rain and Recuperation) - Brittany - Loire Valley - Burgundy 2010

June 10, 2010

Tregunc - Lorient: More rain and an R&R day (Rain and Recuperation)

It's again grey and for the first time we have strong headwinds. It's not far to Pont-Aven, a small port just inland from the tip of the Aven estuary, popular with tourists. We spend a while looking around before we move on. This was where Gauguin came to paint in the 1880s and inspired the Pont-Aven School of artists before he left for Tahiti .

A specialty of Pont-Aven are gallettes, full of butter, similar to short bread. I adore them. See the copy of a Gaugin painting on one of the tins.

So many temptations in Brittany, and almost everything full of good salty butter, not the sweet butter served elsewhere on the continent. I probably clogged my arteries past all repair in the weeks we were there.

Again uphill to leave the port. By noon it is raining again. We have a quick lunch of sandwiches in a fast food stand and get into our rain gear. I give my Sealskinz socks one more chance but they suffer the same fate as yesterday. By the end of the day they are full of water - as is everything else I have on. The padded seat of my cycling shorts has absorbed water like a sponge, a very squishy feeling.

It was a mistake not to wear my hood, not because my head got wet but because the rain ran down my neck and my shirt got dreadfully soaked.

On a bright sunny day, the ride would have been one of the best. The road takes us down to lagoons, inlets like fjords, and back up. The climbs are more moderate than in the past days but the rain is unrelenting. In Guidel I have a cup of hot chocolate to warm me up, but there are no hotels or B&B's evident. It is early afternoon and the tourist office is closed for the day.

When we set our for Lorient, the skies open up. However, the wind has died down and we have a bike lane most of the way approaching Lorient which gets us out of the way of the traffic. We are thankful for all the breaks we can get.

In the center of town we pass Hotel Cleria and inquire about a room. The price is okay and they have wifi. First thing after checking in, we look at the weather forecast. Rain is predicted for tomorrow so we decide to stay two nights.

We shower, look at our pictures from the day, check our emails, save the GPS tracks. And it's great to be in dry clothes again. The hotel recommends a restaurant around the corner, Le Pic, which is excellent. We go for the 3-course menu today - we feel we earned it. I have oysters, fish and the highlight of the meal is the dessert, raspberry-meringue ice cream. And a bottle of Chardonnay.

There isn't a lot to do in Lorient but we are happy to do nothing in this weather. The city was almost entirely destroyed in WWII and Lorient reflects an architectural style of the 1950s. No old town, no sightseeing but there is a laundramat a few blocks away which helps us to get our clothes clean, and more important, dry.

Today's ride: 50 km (31 miles)
Total: 286 km (178 miles)

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