Au revoir France

Chez moi. It was good to leave our bags at the hotel and go sightseeing on the bikes

5 minutes away were the 4 enclosed basins. This one is Basin Vauban named after the famous engineer who designed St Malo's fortress and many other forts for King Louis XIV. At this time it was to keep the Dutch out

The shipping enters through this huge lock and can then sit at a constant level.

 It's because of the huge tides.

 In the 1700's when it was being built the harbour would have been full of French war ships like this one

France has so many lovely beaches that there's so much room for everyone. It's now high season and this is a top tourist spot !

That's Dinard across the bay. Can you see the diving board and the submerged swimming pool. At low tide the water is way out past that.

  Sadly tomorrow we leave France. It's been a beautiful leg of the journey and St Malo a nice exit point.

 At 8.00 we go thataway to Jersey

St Malo

On our way back to the canal we wind our way down narrow lanes. 

Passing the local movie theatre

And back on the canal the first village is Evran. I've found a do-er upper for anyone that would like a nice house in France

La Rance has a mill beside each lock. Now converted to houses

This one was selling sculptures

The ancient town of Lehon was next, with its lovely 13th century monastery 

And not far down the road is the busy tourist town of Dinan

15th century half timbered houses

The Ronce river gets wider from here on

 until the last lock at St Samson-sur-Rance

The trail leaves the canal and river here and follows an old railway line all the way up to Dinard. 

There's a little ferry across to St Malo but I wanted to see the Barrage. A damn across the inlet that harvests the massive  tides that this area has. Big mistake! Just about impossible to get to easily by bike and we had to lug them down these steps or get on a busy highway

The force of the tide was frightening but it made for good fishing. This was the worst part of the whole trip but it didn't last long and we've booked into an Ibis hotel for 2 nights so we can linger just a little longer in France 

D'Isle-et-Rance canal

Renne was like a ghost town when we rode out. Even though it was 9.30.

Strange ! Just a few council workers. We found one solitary shop open so we stocked up for lunch.

The locks are all manually operated like the ones in England so the lock keepers houses appear to have been sold off. The gardens and houses down this canal are spectacular

There were heaps of cyclists and a lot with packs like us but in the first 50kms we never saw one boat except those moored

Then at Onze Ecluse ( 11 locks ) a crowd was watching 2 German boats come down the locks. 

  The penny dropped. It's Bastille day!

  France's biggest holiday

Every one wants to go to the midi to cruise the canals but this part of France is much prettier both by boat and bike

It's 3.30 and we've done 60kms so we start checking out the villages for a bed

 OH BOY. Nothing, no one home or closed for the holiday. Try the next town , then the next...

Finally we find a bar open in Treverien

 Julian spoke English and did some ringing around for us. He contacted David , from Jersey, who contacted Ian and Clare, from Guernsey , and then David came and took us there . By bike of course

 What a stroke of luck. Ian and Clare's Gite " La Rue" is a beautiful old french farm house . They put on a barbecue for us and we had our own Bastille day celebration

If you're thinking of a holiday in France, this Gite is ideally situated and Scoobie said to tell you , the email address is 

 IANCGILES@GMAIL.COM

La Vilaine

 Oh no! Not again !  I threw that damn tube away and put the new one on i'd bought. The yard had another 6 bikes in it that had arrived last night.

Since we'd seen Redon before we made another executive decision to miss it and head north and pick up the Valaine at Besle-sur-Vilaine. First goal, Guemene-Penfao

Now this is a good sign! What a beautiful village . 3 stars on its Flower village sign means it's going to be pretty special. 

The old village wash house .Laverie

  The road was quiet and in no time we had reached the river at Besle-SV.. It's coffee time ,(which I knocked over!)

Napoleon had the Vilaine made navigable and then had it joined up to St Malo on the north coast. Partly to avoid the treacherous seas off the end of Brittany and partly to avoid the English navy

Now the English use it to get to Bordeaux. It's a beautiful cycleway.

Each dam had to have a lock beside it and most had a mill as well. Some are still working.

Pilgrims. On their way from Le Mont St Michel to De Compostella in Spain. See the scallop shells on their packs?

The houses in this area are made from the local stone and many of them have a turret. 

This Kenyan lady( on your left ) gave us directions to a hotel for the night. 

 Out of 3 hotels we tried, none would open before 5pm, one had a full sign up but NO cars. We carried on in to Rennes and treated ourselves to a flash one😉 

  First time we've done 100kms for a while. Had a kebab around the corner and met another kiwi couple, Rick and Isabel