More tourists come to France than any other country: Guemene-Penfao to Nantes
I fell asleep at ten or so, but was awakened at midnight by a barking dog. When I figured out that the dog was outside the campground in the adjacent town and that the neighbors weren't going to do anything about it, I stuffed some tissue in my ears and went back to sleep. The dog was still barking at two in the morning when I got up to answer nature's call, but had at last fallen silent at four when the roosters started in. Despite all that, I still slept well, not emerging from the tent until eight. The snack bar was open and I got a couple of croissants and two cups of coffee before packing up and heading for the coast.
The hard part of navigating proved to be getting out of town on a very busy road. I was able to turn off the main highway and onto some quiet farm roads after about six kilometers of nervous riding, and the day became suddenly much better.
I briefly rode along the Villaine. That's a rental boat passing. These are very popular for slow cruises on the rivers and canals all over France, but the pace of about 4 kph is a bit slower than I want to go.
I rode through Fégreac to Thehillac and on to Missillac where I had lunch in a bistro. Why all the "ac"s you might ask? So did I, and I am informed by the history websites that the probable reason is that its a contraction of the latin endings -acus and -acum which indicate a place, so Thehillac is Thehill's place. After lunch (not memorable) I continued toward Guerande and the roads became more and more laden with caravans, motor "homes" (I thought that a vacation was about leaving home, not taking it with you), minivans full of kids and suitcases and cars pulling trailers. The shoulders on the roads were narrow, and even though I tried avoiding the main routes, they were uniformly busy.
There are a lot of old windmills in the region. Its rare to see one with any of the machinery intact, though. I had to squeeze off the road into the grass to get this picture, and even then I got the evil eye from passing motorists.
When I got to the gates of Guerande, I could see why the tourists come here, but there were so many of them that police were at every entrance to keep cars from entering, and to point the way to the vast parking lots outside the city.
Guérande is famous throughout France for the salt produced there. Its sea salt and is harvested in these salt pans. I got honked at for trying to take this picture even though the route was marked for bicycles.
I ended my ride for the day in Batz-sur-Mer at the railway station. The train for Nantes was empty when I got on, but within a few stops it was filled to standing room only with day-trippers returning to the city. I know that I am but one of the horde who make up tourism in France, but that doesn't make me any less tired of the constant over-crowding. When I got to Nantes I had no trouble finding a hotel close to the station. I showered and then went into the city for Indian food. Despite the intense national pride in French cuisine, foreign food is beginning to make inroads. The tikka masala was quite good.
Nantes is full of neat art works; Yes, this is a curved football pitch. If you look closely there is a curved mirror in the background that reflets a rectangular image of the field. And the local guys are having a match on it!
