Two trains later, (one full and one with only me on board!), I arrived in the old town of Dinan. Unable to take my bike on the second, local train, I then set off on foot, in search of the car that we’d abandoned at the beginning of the month.
Thankfully, it was where we had left it, only half buried in leaves and a good layer of dust. The wheels had locked up, but released with a clunk, as I pulled away, remembering to join the right hand carriageway. By later on that day, the full expedition team and all it’s equipment were reunited and we even had time to nip to the local beach.
The river in town, despite being 10km from the sea has a huge tidal flow still. When we arrived yesterday, there was just a muddy brown trickle, but at high tide, the place was transformed.
The jigsaw puzzle of fitting everything into the car was completed with remarkable speed and ease.
Finally, it was time to begin the long drive back east. We broke the journey up by stopping for a swim at Port Moguer. We timed it perfectly with high tide and had a fantastic swim in the sheltered little bay. The water felt cold at first, but once in, we swam and dived for ages in the beautiful clear waters.
As the tide went out, we were able to scramble around the rocks to our own private bay, where we fell asleep in the sun.
The drive continued east past St Marlo, but on our way back from the beach to the main road, we stopped ‘in tour style’ at one final village square (Plouha), to soak up the last French village vibe. It’s so different arriving by bike – in a car, you miss so much. So it was a great finale to stop and take it all in…
Total Ride: 0.5km
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