When talking to Margot and her husband last night, we didn't realise that we were all staying in the same hotel. As we were about to leave this morning, when I took the key back to reception there she was. It was good to see her, a lovely young woman and a shame we didn't have the time to get to know her and her family a little better. But.....c'est la vie!
We had breakfast at a little patisserie next to a Super U supermarket, coffee and croissants and a little fruit loaf to go.
It was a warm morning so shorts and shirts were the dress for today and the path was good. Unfortunately, on a stop for photos my bike stand broke again! The bikes are brilliant but we don't understand why the stands are such rubbish. We left the canal near Peillac to ride to La Gacilly, as suggested by Frederic. The cycle path was a shared flat road though there were no cars for the first part. Then we began to climb, through rolling green hills dotted with grey roofed white farm houses, and into a head wind. The scenery was gorgeous, but the going was tough, we struggled up a hill and down again only to find another one! It seemed as though we were never going to get there, but we did. It is a very pretty town, there were lots of people and traffic and after a little look around the town, we bought cold drinks and continued on our way. The return to the canal was via a different route and much more friendly, just a couple of smallish hills going up and a long one going down. On the way we stopped for a rest at a fishing lake, where we were fascinated by a remote control echo sounder which one of the fishermen was using.
Back on the canal it was easy riding
and on reaching St Martin, we stopped at a bar for refreshments before riding up yet another hill to our accommodation, where Mike did a repair job on the bike stand.
M. Patrice Tatard is our host for tonight, he is a former Paris restaurateur who now runs a chambres d'hote with his lovely wife Claudine. They had friends from Paris staying with them, Pascal (who was our interpreter as M. Patrice doesn't speak a lot of English) his wife and their young son, and another couple with their small daughter who were also guests. We all ate together at a large table on the terrace,
a delicious five course meal cooked by M. Patrice and with our fractured French, Pascal's very good English and Patrice's and Claudine's bit of English, we had a fun evening, a lot of laughs and were treated like members of the family. What more could we ask for? An absolutely fabulous experience.
(Mike thought he recognised the man in the blue shirt, another Pascal, and he was right! The gentleman is a former European Poker Champion and appeared on a television programme which Mike used to watch).
and on reaching St Martin, we stopped at a bar for refreshments before riding up yet another hill to our accommodation, where Mike did a repair job on the bike stand.
M. Patrice Tatard is our host for tonight, he is a former Paris restaurateur who now runs a chambres d'hote with his lovely wife Claudine. They had friends from Paris staying with them, Pascal (who was our interpreter as M. Patrice doesn't speak a lot of English) his wife and their young son, and another couple with their small daughter who were also guests. We all ate together at a large table on the terrace,
a delicious five course meal cooked by M. Patrice and with our fractured French, Pascal's very good English and Patrice's and Claudine's bit of English, we had a fun evening, a lot of laughs and were treated like members of the family. What more could we ask for? An absolutely fabulous experience.
(Mike thought he recognised the man in the blue shirt, another Pascal, and he was right! The gentleman is a former European Poker Champion and appeared on a television programme which Mike used to watch).
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