CARNAC OR BUST hotel based route
(Average 23 miles, longest day 32 miles. Easy paced and varied) Carnac is probably one of the most famous monuments in France but the whole area is littered with Megalithic monuments, many of which you can walk round. Also available as a camping based tour.
One of our most popular routes this gives the chance to cycle through quiet unspoilt countryside almost due south to the coast. Once there your hotel is 30 minutes ride from the biggest megalithic monument in Europe - Carnac. The beaches there are spectacular to say the least.
Route plan.
Day - 1 - First night (Saturday) spent at the most lovely little Chambre D'Hotes where the owner is a chef in semi-retirement (as you'll discover) who will feed you like kings and provide a picnic lunch for the following day if you wish.
Day 2 - 30 kms.
An easy first 'proper' day takes you down the Scorff river valley first to the little market town of Guemene where you can grab lunch, or just sit outside a bar and munch a sandwich and a beer. Then on to the village of Melrand. Tiny, sleepy and with your hotel - La Tourelle, a 16c inn.
Day 3 - 51 kms
The longest day but as you get nearer to the coast it gets flatter and faster so in fact it doesn't seem as long. It also passes through several villages where you grab lunch. The Hotel at Erdeven is tucked back from the main road and is only 1 km from the beach.
Day 4 - Free day
Up to you what you do, visit Carnac, laze on the beach, sleep in your hotel room...
Day 5 - 39 kms
Time to leave the seaside and track back north. After a very short section on moderately busy roads you dive into country-lane-land again and wind your way to the town of Baud, a bustling little place and the hotel Cheval Blanc another old stone built inn.
Day 6 - 27 kms
A choice today... Short and very pretty if hillier than before - or a quick swoop down to the canal which you can then follow all the way to Pontivy with the village of St Nicolas-des-Eaux at half way - it's longer and slower but a very special section of the canal and of course no traffic of any kind... Last few kms on the canal towpath to get you right into the town of Pontivy - one of the nicest in Brittany with lots of places to eat, lots of classy little shops and a hotel converted from an old townhouse - Hotel Europe.
Day 7 - 24 kms
Once more into deserted country lanes and a rollercoaster ride through the forest de Quenican to the fantastic Creperie at St Brigitte for lunch. Then on to the tiny village of Caurel and a lovely Chambre D'Hote in the village where you'll be very well looked after (and fed...)
Day 8 (Saturday) a 10 km ride back (mostly downhill) to base at Gouarec
A mere step along the canal towpath to bring you back to base.