Megaliths in Carnac and a big Thanks.

A new addition, we now have pics with the blog. I can't figure out how to place the pics interspersed with the text (that I've already written) so for today they'll all be up front.

Check out the wind/whitecaps outside the habor.
The rock formations outside of carnac.
April riding out on the peninsula, check out the nice beach behind her.
A rotting boat along the shore.
Peter riding on one of the smaller bike paths.











April reminded me I hadn't mentioned the weather at all. The first day of riding it sprinkled on us about 5-6 times. So it looks like a big rain is coming, then it dissipates somewhat, then we get a light rain; doesn't last long we usually just ride thru it. The constant has been the wind. It's always blowing, sometimes hard, and usually from the west although sometimes it's swirly. The wind comes all the way from the USA/Canada uninterrupted for the most part. But it's also been sunny each day. Mixed sun and clouds. Also very cool nights.

Last night it did rain like hell, and the wind was really blowing. remember we ditched some of our rainwear rather than carry it, but luckily we awoke to a clear blue sky. Nice bfast outdoors, standard bread products. We asked our hotel owners if they knew of a hotel in Carnac, they did and called it, got us a reservation for the night, and away we went. Got right onto a bike path and rode down one side and up the other of a beautiful peninsula. Bays on either side, gorgeous beach at the end. We rode out to the very tip, it was like the Marginal Way at Ogunquit, wind was blowing like crazy and we chatted up an old French guy. He had lived in Boston for 2 years, his daughter lives there. he explained that during WWII there were lots of germans in this area as they thought they Allies might land here. Very friendly guy and before he pedaled on he thanked us for the Americans coming over and saving France from the Germans. He was very animated and got moist eyes as he told us this. Very moving and impactful for us.

Then we headed over to Carnac. We had to cross on a busy bridge, we rode on the narrow sidewalk, cars on our left, barely had room for our panniers, the wind started blowing, if we bumped the rail to our right we would rebound into the road, or we could just get blown directly into the road, I heard April scream "Peter!", but I couldn't stop, just yelled "keep riding." She's tough, I knew she could make it! Ha-ha. I get to the other side and look back and she's pushing along with her feet rather than pedaling. Reminded me of the time I had to leave her behind in order to head off the buffalo in Yellowstone during a winter ski trip. It's a dog-eat-dog world out there. Better get used to it.

After the bridge we went inland to avoid the traffic, we took a few wrong turns but meandered in the right direction; then lo and behold, this is the exact route for looking at all the megaliths and other ancient rock formations for which this area is famous. Pretty incredible, 100s-1000s of rocks lined up and standing up. Weird. Seems they were put up about 5000-2000 BC. Some of the rocks were quite large, about the size of a car, and supposedly the rocks weren't from this area, they had to be hauled in (but they say that about all these places don't they?). No one is clear exactly the purpose. I'm thinking it was some burial markers.

Then we had to hit a busy road again but found our hotel. It was out of town and April balked at the front door. She thought it might be too far on the busy road back into town. But we had a reservation and I didn't want to go searching around town for a room. So we start talking with the guy, and it's obvious the hotel is run by two gay guys, and that clinched the deal for us to stay. Whenever possible we stay at hotels run by gay guys, it's one of April's rules. They're always better; cleaner, better design, better decorating, better products (soap, sheets, etc). What can I say; it's true.

And it turns out there are backroads into two towns, so all is well. This hotel has a swimming pool, we had nice robes in the room (remember the owners), we went out to swim and the rain came again. But it was nice 20 minutes later.

Then we rode into Carnac center, checked out the beaches, but the whole area was too crowded for us. So we came back to our "country hotel", had dinner at a creperie down the road. We had these Breton Gallettes. It's like a buckwheat crepe with filling of your choice (veggies, meats, eggs). Not much to them. I could eat 3-4 on a good night. But had some nice tap beers. Then headed home to our hotel.

And we found we were locked out. There was a keypad, and we seemed to remember the guy said to keep your key with you. But we couldn't find anywhere to insert the key. So we're standing there like idiots, and then I remember the owner said something about a Valentine's day code. Sure enough we plugged in 1402 (euro ordering) and the door opened.

Christ we can't remember anything these days.