Lakes and Forests - Camping
LAKES AND FORESTS (Average mileage 14 mpd, maximum 20 miles - very quiet - easy)
A lovely gentle wobble through the French countryside. Few hills, short distances, very quiet roads all make it a very easy introduction to cycling in Brittany. There's also quite a bit of slack and the opportunity to run days togeter so you can really tailor this however you want and for example take the Suday to stay in Gouarec and benifit from the market at Bon Repos?
Day 1 (Sunday)- 23 kms
A really lovely ride that takes you down the river valley of the Scorff to the tiny market town of Guemene-Sur-Scorff. The tiny campsite is tucked down by a stream and has a field reached via a footbridge for the exclusive use of lightweight campers.
Day 2 - 16 kms
Another wobble along tiny roads, this time to the village of Melrand with it's 14c coaching inn and 1000 year-old-farm museum. Then on to take you to St Nicolas-des-Eaux on the banks of the Blavet river. The campsite has a swimming pool and there are boat trips on the river - oh and two really good creperies, not to be confused with the places you get elsewhere in France...
Day 3 - as far as you like...
You could take and extra day to explore Pontivy - so this is it:-) Obviously you could equally ride the other way down the canal towpath to explore in that direction as you go through Pontivy tomorrow. But the route is very flexible - up to you.
Day 4 - 28 kms
A ride up the canal towpath to the Napoleonic town of Pontivy - bustling, huge Chateaux, great centre with bars to sit outside in the sun, wonderful... There is also a campsite here in the town, which though inevitably more noisy than some, does allow easy access to the centre so it's an option for one of your spare days. Then out of Pontivy and back into country lane land. Very easy quiet cycling until the very last 500m where you climb straight up to 'Les Chantes Des Oiseaux' a magical little bar set in the woods. Then 300m down to the campsite by the lake
Day 5 - 17 kms (Friday, but you could do this on Saturday morning...)
An easy ride down the converted rail-track (part of the old Narrow Gauge system found all over France) with views over the 'Lac de Guerledan' and down to the ruins of the Abbey de oin Repos . Then a simple meander along the Nantes-Brest canal towpath to bring you back to us.