Day 1

Sunday morning 7am. Brrr, heavy dew on the ground. Has it been raining? It sounded like it was pouring down all night, but it wasn't. It was our babbling brook. In an ideal world, we would have been lulled to sleep by its gentle murmurings - but no, the bl@#*y stream kept us awake all night!
We began the day by having breakfast in a cafe in Gouarec with the rest of the group. A bizarre combination of a bowl of coffee or chocolate, a piece of cake and a crepe. Still, a sound lining for the stomach! It also gave us chance to meet the other people and to ask any questions of Geoff and Kate before we set off (like the French for a pitch, which could come in handy on a camping holiday!)

Here we are, ready for the off! (note baguette as essential part of luggage!)

We were given maps and clear instructions detailing the route we would be following for the coming week, and we were off! A nice easy ride today, only 15 km or so to get into the swing of things. We could have combined days 1 and 2 to have a really long ride of around 40 km, but as it turned out, we were quite happy to stick to the route plan.

Into Plelauff - our first hill! Puffing our way up it, a nice lady in a car assured us that we were nearly at the top! Phew! Thankfully, a short one as the temperature was climbing nicely. The roads were very quiet and the terrain not too taxing; some uphills, but always counterbalanced by a downhill!

The first photo-call of the day was in a village called Langoelan. This village was described as having one of the best lunch restaurants around. Well, we didn't find it, but we did end up in the dead centre of the village...



Paul waiting patiently as ever while I mess about with the camera. (Note, baguette still intact!)



We considered stopping here for lunch but the village was so quiet we decided to carry on to where we were going to spend our first night, Guemene Sur Scorff, as it was only another 7 km away. A few minutes later, disaster struck! Bombing down a hill, the bike wobbled. I shouted to Paul to stop - we'd just had a high-speed blowout!

Paul pretending that he can fix punctures.
(If you look very carefully in the foreground, you may just be able to make out the old inner tube at my feet, where I placed it after replacing it with a new one...)

We retired to the side of the road and set about effecting a repair. Luckily in our spares kit we had a brand new inner tube. Patching the repair could wait until we got to the campsite. Up-ended the bike and removed the wheel. Easy-peasy. Tyre off, inner tube out, new one in, tyre back on again. We could be professionals (with strong thumbs) . Back wheel back on - encounter v-brakes. Hmmm. Work out how to release them and slot wheel back in. Re-connect v-brakes. Easier said than done, they're set up very close to the rim. Squeeze, push, squeeze. No luck. Sit down sweating. Think logically. It came off, so it's got to go back on. Idea! Remove wheel, reconnect v-brakes, let down tyre, put back wheel, re-inflate tyre. Hooray! Success! Off we go again, by now feeling hot and hungry, it's about 1:30 pm and past our lunch time!
Half an hour later, we reach our destination Guemene Sur Scorff.
The camp site here is a small municipal one (very small, there was only one Dutch caravan and one tent there when we arrived) but very neat and tidy with nice clean toilet block with a couple of showers. We pick a nice shady spot and pitch the tent. Later we go and explore the village, but first - Lunch!!

Du pain, du vin, et......... du boursin!!!! (Note remains of baguette!)

 Go on to Day 2