April 30, 2023
Mēdrēac to Plōermel
A short ride to a tiny home.
Benoit offers to drop us and our bikes off at the start of the Voie verte which runs from Mouron to Ploermel. While I’m beginning to improve, this sounds like a great way to skip a section of road. He soon has our bikes loaded in his van, and after we’ve farewelled Genevieve and thanked her for her generosity and for being such a welcoming host, we’re off.
It’s interesting chatting to Benōit about local issues and the types of building methods about, from rammed earth to wood. Many issues, for example, penalising diesel vehicles over a certain age, we’re familiar with from the UK.
The Voie verte is beautiful in the early morning and though we share the path with the occasional walker and cyclist, there’s little sign of humans. The noises of birds are loud, constant and high pitched. This is such a contrast to last year’s Moselle ride, when birds were rarely heard. Why, we wonder? The babbling of innumerable brooks also accompanies us.
Our accommodation in Ploermel was advertised as being in a tiny house, and there’s no argument about that. To ascend to the patio from which we enter, we must negotiate a spiral staircase, the diameter of which is about 500 centimetres. We have to pass our bags up from below while one of us catches them at the top. The bikes we are able to stash in a quiet corner of the gated courtyard below, surrounded by a clump of bamboo. They blend in nicely. Inside, the apartment has most of what one needs with the exception of space. No matter- it’s cosy. Access to the bed is via the kind of ladder I last used in my flatting days. Midnight toilet visits will need to be taken with care. As an added bonus we are a biscuit’s toss from the ancient cathedral and its bonging bells. Quasimodo might come swinging down at any time.
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It’s Sunday and the only store open is a nearby convenience store where we buy potatoes and a can of ragout and a few apples along with copious amounts of yogurt. We plan to dine in style.
A quick look at the next day’s route reassures us the we should be able to fly along. The day, May 1 is also a public holiday, celebrated by workers nationwide. Even the weather is promising to come to the party, with a partially sunny 19 degrees.
No amount of bongs are going to keep us from sleep tonight. We cautiously ascend our steep ladder and pretty soon we’re away.
Today's ride: 27 km (17 miles)
Total: 386 km (240 miles)
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