We woke wonderfully refreshed, after a peaceful sleep in our dinky 2 berth cabin.
Gary as usual was up early, in fact probably earlier than the norm as he has been one excited bunny for the whole ferry trip - (For those that don't know, he's quite passionate about boats and the ocean). Anyway we mosied downstairs for a spot of breakfast and admired the ocean view till our arrival.
Just before we docked we got talking to our newfound cycle friends, Tom and Anja, and missed the call to go down to the vehicle area, when we finally did get there our lonely bikes were the only "vehicles" in the hold. Oops! From there we made our way into Roscoff to pick up some bread for lunch - my French can't be that bad as I managed to walk out with a baguette!
After Tom, who speaks French (yay), got some directions from a local we then headed out of Roscoff. Oh and I should mention our new mantra for the road is "Stick to right, give way to the left". Gary has been the slowest to catch on to riding on the right hand side of the road with the rest of us having to call out to him a few times when we turn a corner or start off.
The plan is to make our way to Carhaix where we then get on the Brest-Nantes Canal and head for Nantes.
The days riding was quite picturesque, riding along the river emptied by the tide, rolling meadows and mossy woodlands. The weather started off with a little drizzle but lovely and sunny in the afternoon. The terrain was gentle undulations and some climbing but gentle in that you just sat in the seat spun the legs and take in the view. We stopped at a stream (in Australia I would have called it a creek) and used the water filter to fill up our bottles.
Tom said this was the done thing as French tap water terrible. We have since found out that Tom must be pretty picky as everyone else drinks the tap waster :)
The days riding made a wonderful change from the steep hills of Cornwall and Devon. As we were chatting with Tom & Anya a bit while we rode along we found ourselves at a campsite before we knew it. As nobody was around we took the advice from the notice on the door and set up camp as we pleased - near the babbling brook thank you! A little later we noticed reception was opened so Gary & I, armed with our phrase book, headed on over to settle our bill. Fortunately we were second in the queue which gave me some time to rehearse what I needed to say. When it came to our turn I managed to blurt out something - I don't know if it sounded French but it certainly wasn't English. Gary was impressed at least, especially when I came out with the line that we were cycling. The guy behind the counter was mainly amused and after a few moments of making me suffer he turned the conversation to English. None the less I was quite proud of myself!
After dinner we poured over the Europe map with Tom and Anya, picked up some pointers and started shaping some idea of where we go. Tom and Anja are on a worldwild endeavour with New Zealand their plan.
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