Time 5:02
Climb 950
Weather Sun
I did not know it at the time but today marked the first, painful, appearence of two things that that would dog me off and on for the rest of my trip: punctures and "rue barees". The former is a bit ironic as the one thing I was a bit paranoid about at the beginning of my tour preparation was punctures, to the extent that when I started riding again I fitted "Slime" innertubes (which are meant to be self healing). Even despite these my first trips out on my mountain bike resulted in me pushing the bike home after numerous punctures so I ended up taking multiple inner tubes instead.
Anyway, now the weather was getting better and the roads smoother I decided to try blowing my tyres up a bit, so inflated them to 120psi. Theory of this is that the higher the pressure the quicker you go. Maybe but very shortly after doing this I found my tyres were flat. I used both my spares to sort out the problem and set off. Shortly after, bowling downhill through a town I noticed a shop specialising in tractors and cycles. I stopped and bought some replacement tubes.
This turned out to be a very lucky break as after a while I came across a sign saying "rue baree - deviation". Being a law abiding Brit I followed the deviation but regretted it because
a: it was hilly
b: it took me onto a newly tarmaced road with sharp gravel specifically designed to puncture bike tyres. So I ended up repairing the third puncture of the day (under the watchful gaze of an old farmer and his dog).
These unexpected delays put rather a dent in my schedule for the day. I had planned to stay overnight in Rennes, the largest city on my route. But my hoped for early arrival was getting later and later. Things deteriorated when I approached the city itself. I found that that my road in suddenly became a motorway and very dangerous for bikes. Worse there seemed to be no easy detours. I ended up following some farm tracks, very frustratingly being able to see the city in the distance but with no road leading to it.
My compass came in really useful at this point as I used it to take any road that headed west. Eventually I came to a more built up area and was able to follow some cycle paths that got me to Rennes city centre.
By now it was somewhat later than I had planned to arrive and I had no hotel. So I headed to the tourist office where I learned that Rennes was full. Fortunately there was a room at a hotel a short distance from the centre, though it was expensive. Beggers can't be choosers (provided they have a credit card) so I took the room and cycled off to find it. This involved going over lots of cobbled streets so I was thoroughly shaken up by the time I arrived.
Lecoq-Gadby
The hotel (Lecoq Gadby) proved to be small and chic (and dear). The rooms did not have numbers but names. I was in the smallest of them (Napoleon IIII, not sure if the emperor himself was as small as his more famous predecessor). I showered changed and headed off to explore Rennes, armed with a suggest pedestrian route to follow.
Rennes Tourist Info
Had a very pleasant time. Rennes is a very easy city to explore on foot,with a young vibrant feel due to its very large university. It reminded me a bit of Strasbourg (though not quite as nice..) My excursion was made even more pleasant as the evening was warm and sunny. I planned to eat later but the hunger pangs of my somewhat longer than expected day were starting to bite so I had emergency fillup at a fast food pasta bar (not something I had seen anywhere else). I also had time for a beer (large) and a quick call home at one of the many tables outside (as below).
I was away for a couple of hours and the walking had rekindled my appetite. I had a meal the hotel in a very swanky restaurant with some top notch grub/beverages. The Vire-Clesse wine was excellent but the star of the meal was some Epoisse cheese, very smelly, very nice. (Apparently it was called the "King of all cheeses" by Jean Brillat-Savarin the lawyer, politician and according to Wilkipedia possibly the most famous French gastronome of all, whose most famous quote was "Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are". Praise indeed!)
Viree-Clesse
Epoisee info
More Epoisee info
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