Postcards from Provence and beyond

Finally, after 700km of pedalling, we had a morning, when we didn’t have to get up before sunrise.

After making the leap up to Brittany to avoid the heat, we did a long ride yesterday to Carantec, just a hefty stone’s throw from Roscoff.

It meant that we had broken the back of the journey, and would just have a short ride today to get to the accommodation we have booked for a couple of nights. We thought we’d booked three, but our brains were so addled by tiredness and heat that we booked the wrong dates. Hey ho.

Yesterday evening, we were exhausted and were in the tent and asleep, before 9.30, and slept, happy in the knowledge that we didn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn. Although, if I’m honest, we slept so heavily that I’m not sure we would have heard an alarm.

We finally pulled our eye-masks off at 6.45, to find the sun streaming into the tent, and the birds singing in the hedges behind us. It felt really odd to have slept for so long, and even stranger not to be slipping into our silent, morning packing-up routine.

We pulled on normal clothes (not cycle kit for once), and set about making coffee, watching the rest of the camp site getting going around us. The funny thing was that we felt we’d had an amazing lie-in, but were still pretty much the first up, on the site.

When we left Provence, 11 days ago, we had imagined that all our mornings would start like this. A coffee, watching the day start, before a slow pack-up and a whole day of riding, stopping to sit on walls to admire the views, or in a boulangerie to enjoy a second breakfast.

The last thing we had imagined was the incredible heatwave, and having to start early and get rides done, just to make sure we didn’t suffer heat exhaustion, as the temperatures rose, beyond anything we’ve experienced before.

But, we’ve still loved every day, and the simple joy of pedalling the back roads of France, cycling from the apricot and peach orchards of Provence to the artichoke and potato fields of Brittany, which is what we found ourselves pedalling through today.

You can Watch a little video from today’s ride here

After our wonderfully slow start, we packed everthing down, chatting and even laughing out loud, as we did it, not worrying about whether we would wake anyone up, in the process. And then pedalled out.

It was  only going to be about 15km to tonight’s stop, so we were able to take it slowly, enjoying the views across the estuary, as we cycled towards Saint Pol de Leon.

I mentioned the different scents before, but today was a new one for us, as we reached the top of a hill, to the pungent smell of onions, from a vast field that was filled with them. It was a little different to the honeysuckle and privet that we’ve smelt over the last few days.

We stopped in Saint Pol de Leon for breakfast, sitting in the main square, munching almond croissants, with the bustle of the morning going on around us. When we did our first ride down through France, we passed through the town before it was awake, so it was nice to be able to sit and enjoy a slow breakfast.

Then a last few kilometres to our little home for the next 2 nights, just 100m from the most beautiful beach.

We settled in, then took a walk, and found ourselves on a white sand beach, with turquoise waters. It was idyllic and looked as if it was the Caribbean, rather than a beach on the north coast of France.

We popped back to the house, grabbed soemthing we could swim in (I managed to forget a cossie), and our little chairs & returned to spend the afternoon swimming, paddling and sitting watching the boats bobbing on the tide.

It was simply the most perfect afternoon, and we only left, as storm clouds started to build and rumbles of thunder cut across the gentle lapping of the waves.

We have a couple of days now, before catching the ferry across to the UK, and we’ll just enjoy having the oppportunity to explore this little bit of Brittany, that we have always quickly left behind, in our dash to head south.

Today has been relaxing, we pedalled a total of 15km, but are shattered tonight, watching the clock until we deem it OK to go to bed.

I think, we have a sense that the journey is done, the anxiety that comes with the trip is over, and our minds and bodies have just slowed down a bit.

Let’s see where tomorrow takes us, after what I think will be a very good night’s sleep.