The Jenbens Jaunt - Brittany and a Bit Beyond

[Jenben]

We manage to fit in a cycle ride which takes us down the canal and then inland, Komoot is great for planning these routes, we also nipped into Fegreac to see where the Motorhome service point could be found.

When we woke up the next morning we were joined by a little group of the Renault Floride - Brittany chapter, we heard them arrive as they had air horns and wanted to use them.

Great outfits and lots of discussion while they parked up

Ready for the off again

 

[Jenben]

We head onwards , this time to an aire at Guipry Messac , another aire by the side of the Vilaine river. It’s a pay one with a c card system, to be honest it’s just a car park and we wonder whether it is worth staying more than a night.

But , it grows on us as for us it’s all about what we can do and it seems we have cycling here. The village of Guipry Messac is all along the bank of the Vilaine, it is a really lovely river, we have got quite fond of it this trip. For those who don’t fancy an aire there is a municipal campsite at the other side of the village that might be nice for another stay, it’s handily by the side of the river.

We do a couple of cycle rides , the routes are along the river which has a wide cycle path and lots of spots to stop and admire the views.

Another route takes us along the river and on a loop past the cider works, we do wonder where all the apples on our rides are ending up.

It’s lovely weather for cycling

 

[FIDGET]

Looks nice , When we are in that area we use Pont rean / Guichen aire 6 euros nice riverside aire , side of the Vilaine , bit north of you . free water no ehu

 

[Scout]

lovely thread , made me very envious ,

Thankyou

 

[LeonC]

Some lovely photos, thank you. I can't wait to get back there.

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[DMartin]

Thanks Jenben, lovely descriptions. We particularly appreciate your references to cycle routes (there will be very few in Brittany that we have not ridden) and to the occasional campsite as an alternative, because campervans like the occasional campsite!

 

[Jenben]

Looks nice , When we are in that area we use Pont rean / Guichen aire 6 euros nice riverside aire , side of the Vilaine , bit north of you . free water no ehu
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Thanks for that Fidget, I don’t think we have stayed there so another one added to my list !

 

[Jenben]

Thanks Jenben, lovely descriptions. We particularly appreciate your references to cycle routes (there will be very few in Brittany that we have not ridden) and to the occasional campsite as an alternative, because campervans like the occasional campsite!

You are very welcome, we have noticed in Brittany on this last trip that there seems to be more marked cycle routes plus cycle trails , we don’t remember it being quite so easy to plan a route on other trips to Brittany ?

Perhaps it is just due to where we have chosen to park plus Mrjenben has discovered Komoot to be really useful for planning trips out. We like cycling and walking but ended up doing more cycling than expected, the weather was very kind as well which made it easy to just explore an area further.

 

[Jenben]

and to the occasional campsite as an alternative, because campervans like the occasional campsite!

Yes thought I would mention campsites where we saw ones that looked nice as not everyone feels comfortable staying on aires and sometimes in all honesty a campsite is a good option.

 

[DBK]

We find some lovely marked walks which we follow from the aire. Anyone who ever follows these French walks where yellow markers are along route will know there is an element of jeopardy as to whether you will miss an important turning point

View attachment 545300

Been there and done that! The signs seem to assume you go in a specific direction, clockwise or whatever, so if you do it in reverse look for the signs by glancing backwards as they may be on the back of a tree and hidden from you. It's similar to the "Perils of the Campsite Map" which I've written about a few times. It goes like this.....

Collect a free leaflet about a local walk from the reception and............ promptly get lost.

All part of the Fun.

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[Jenben]

Been there and done that! The signs seem to assume you go in a specific direction, clockwise or whatever, so if you do it in reverse look for the signs by glancing backwards as they may be on the back of a tree and hidden from you.

We always wonder have they marked the route on a rock which has then disappeared

I feel it has got better on these French routes , we have sometimes felt that the marked routes from tourist offices started off well marked but at the furthest point it felt as if the route marker had simply ‘lost interest’ or hadn’t bothered to walk it as we often felt abandoned .

 

[Jenben]

Heading onwards we notice there is a free aire at Blain , it looks our sort of thing.

The community seem to have created quite a new aire , its a nice spot with a free fresh water point along with toilet and grey water drain as you go in with Motorhome parking further down.

just behind the aire is the Nantes Brest Canal.

I would imagine that in high season this would be a busy spot , even mid September there are a fair number of vans , the weather is lovely which helps.

 

[Jenben]

On our way to Blain we drive through a forest area and so decide to do a cycle route that way , a small bit on the canal and then on forest trails.

The canal here is very pretty

 

[FIDGET]

Hi Jenben , didn't you stop at Blain on your way down , or did I imagine it

 

[Jenben]

Hi Jenben , didn't you stop at Blain on your way down , or did I imagine it

Sorry I posted a photo when we were there on photo of the day I think that I knew you would like , I am just posting an update of our trip as we have more Wi-fi at home and to remind myself where we went

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[Anjistar]

This is giving us all sorts of ideas for next year! Thank you for all the detail, especially the cycle routes. We stayed around the Loire this August/September and had some really good rides around Saumur, Bourges and Sancerre.

 

[Taran_Las]

I noticed on one of your maps you were near Loheac. There is a wonderful car museum there (website here) which allows visiting motorhomes to park up for the night. There are no services.

 

[Jenben]

This is giving us all sorts of ideas for next year! Thank you for all the detail, especially the cycle routes. We stayed around the Loire this August/September and had some really good rides around Saumur, Bourges and Sancerre.

Hope it gives you some ideas , we really enjoyed all the cycling , we also love it around Saumur as that’s also great for cycling .

Once years ago,trying to get to an aire in that region, we got caught up in a retro veio event taking place on the roads and at one point had to overtake a group of penny farthings

 

[Michael Rennison]

As a Brittanyfile and cyclist it is a joy to read and enjoy the pics.

 

[Jenben]

I noticed on one of your maps you were near Loheac. There is a wonderful car museum there (website here) which allows visiting motorhomes to park up for the night. There are no services.

Thanks for reminding me, I did suggest to mrjenben that we visit but we never got around to it but I will definitely bear it in mind for another trip

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[Jenben]

As a Brittanyfile and cyclist it is a joy to read and enjoy the pics.

Glad you are enjoying it , I have further updates to post . We also love Brittany but you can’t guarantee that the weather is going to be great and so we feel we were very lucky on this last trip.

 

[Barryh]

Thanks for sharing your trip, a really enjoyable read and some lovely photos.

 

[Jenben]

Well Blain is a lovely spot, just a short walk across the bridge and over the other side of the canal is the Chateau of Blain. The advantage of being at the aire is that we can walk up to it of an evening and enjoy it all to ourselves. There is a campsite up by the chateau, not sure if it is good or bad as it is shut for the season.

It looks lovely in the evening light .

We do another cycle ride

we head along the Nantes Brest canal.

we find a reminder of home , we used to live in Royal Wootton Bassett, so I had to detour onto this roundabout to take a photo.

 

[Jenben]

We move on , the lovely side of being on MHFun is that sometimes you find that you aren’t far away from funster friends and so head for a meet up.

We join Ber090 at Penestin , at a camping car park aire just behind a very nice bit of coast line. They are often walking companions in Spain but it was so lovely to catch up with them on this trip .

we walk along the beach , it’s a big area for mussels here.

What we love about France is that they do enjoy foraging, at coastal locations we often see them on the beach with a claw type fork and a plastic bucket picking up supplies.