Wednesday, December 13, 2006

2006 - Highlights

Around this time of year you tend to look back over the past 12 months and muse on the good and bad things that have passed.

So just for the record and to jog my memory when I pass by this thread again the 2 highlights of 2006 were
  • Getting to the top of Tourmalet.
  • MaxV*2 + MCR

TDF Journal Wednesday 31st May Rennes>L'Orient Fired up and off to see the sea











Distance 175
Time 7:07
Climb 1226
Weather Sun

This turned out to be a lovely day. The sun shined throughout and I rode my longest distance to date, 175km, including over 1200m of climbing up and down over the rolling Brittany countryside.

I had thought that, given the size of the city, I would find it hard to get out of Rennes. But in fact navigation proved to be the least of my early morning problems. Prior to my trip I had obviously thought about (and worried about but not too much) the various hazards that might befall me. Punctures yes, falls maybe, sunburn, beesting, saddle boils...for a pessimist the list could go on forever. However I must say that I did not think I would catch fire!

But today I managed just that. Following my early three-course-blow-out-lunch mistake I had taken to just having a light lunch. When possible I would buy this in advance, hanging a few croissants, cheese etc in a plastic bag from my rear saddle bag. This had worked perfectly well except today the bag, unbeknownst to me, slipped and started to rub against my rear tyre.

I put my rather hard progress through the streets of Rennes down to the after effects of rather too much food the night before. Also the rather strange odour that seemed to be everywhere I put down to big city smells, that I had become unused to with all the fresh air and countryside I had been experiencing. However when I stopped at some traffic lights I was a bit surprised to be surrounded by some tendrils of smoke. I looked behind and found that my lunch of pain au chocolats was smoldering away on back wheel. I quickly jumped off my bike and poured some water over my "lunch" to put it out. Sadly nothing could be salvaged and I would need ot search for some food later in the day. However on the plus side my pedaling became a lot easier..

Once out of Rennes I had a great day of cycling. The weather was perfect, the roads quiet and rolling. I made very good progress, at one stage even managing to overtake 2 cars and a tractor on a fast bit of downhill.

Everything was perfect up until about 10 km out of my destination for the day, L'Orient. I had covered over 160km in the day and was at the stage of wanting to get to my hotel and have a shower and a meal. Fortunately, I thought, that would be easy as I was on a road that led dead straight to the heart of the town (which was on the sea so downhill all the way.) However, for the second day running, the road abruptly turned into a fast three lane carriage-way, where cycles were not allowed but also had no-where to go.

Having wasted time and effort trying to find a way into Rennes I was in no mood to repeat today. So I decided to cycle down the hard shoulder and see what happened. I figured the second worst thing (the first worst involved a big truck) that could happen to me was that the police would pass by and take exception. But I reasoned, what realistically could they do? and if they did stop me at least I could get them to show me the way.

As it happened my journey was uneventul. Cars and trucks whizzed by ignoring the cyclist in their midst, as if this happened every day. And it probably did because this was after all, France. At one stage I did get a bit worried when I thought I heard a motor bike behind (and thought it was a gendarme) but I turned my head to see I was being followed by a young boy on a moped (also in theory not allowed on this road). Reassured I was not the only mad one on the road I pressed on. I eventually left the road and found the centre of L'Orient.

My day's travel troubles were not quite over. The whole of the centre of L'Orient was being dug up and the directions to my hotel were not at all clear. I had to stop and call Mrs M to see if she could help with directions. Eventually I got to my destination, which turned out to be very nice but did not serve evening meal.

This turned out to be a good thing. As mentioned I had been following the recommendations in the Guide de Routards and today it turned up trumps, leading my to probably the best restaurnant of my tour. At first it did not seem too promising. L'Orient is by the sea but I to leave this behind and walk through some of the less well heeled areas to find my dinner. I arrived early so had a picon at a very nice bar before going the the restaurant. Entering was like going into someones home. The decor was modern but friendly with large windows at the rear looking out onto a small garden. I was the first diner to arrive and was greeted by the husband of the couple who ran the restaurant. He was the sommelier, his wife the chef. When I expressed an interest in some beer as an aperitif he recommended "Lancelot" from a small local brewery. This turned up and was marvellous. Then he explained the menu which was different from most. There were six dishes and you had the choice to have as many of them or as little as your appetite could manage (if you did not fancy one or two then you could ask for some alternatives.) All the dishes looked tempting and, having cycled over 100 miles in the day, I had an appetite for all of them so I sat back and tucked in.

http://www.brasserie-lancelot.com/


The food was superb. Freshly cooked, portions just sufficient to leave me full but not to bursting. I let the sommelier choose the wine and he surprised me by giving me some Alsatian Tokay that I really liked (despite living in Strasbourg, I am not the greatest fan of Alsace wine). After several happy hours I left the restaurant in a very good mood, the walk back to my hotel helping my digestion and also giving me time to wonder how it was that I had found in the backstreets of a not too fashionable French coastal town a restaurant better than any I had ever been to in the UK.