Voies Verte

Dissension in the ranks! The Voies Verte has driven a split right down the middle of the happy bikers.

As a reminder, the VVs are a series of bike/hike/horse routes throughout Brittany that have been built on old railroad beds. Hard-packed dirt, no cars, through the forest/farms, usually very pretty, almost always flat or with a very slight grade.

So our plan was to use the VV7 to go from the south coast to the north coast.

We started on it today. April ecstatic, and I’m not really a fan.

Here’s April:: don’t let him fool you - he loves them too! Keeps looking at the map and talking about heading out on the roads and then settles right back into his saddle and down the path of the Voie Verte! A total thumbs up from me - I am not afraid to be who I am - a happy rider/hiker on the Voie Verte - no need to have an ego here - just enjoy the moment. Vive les voie vertes!!!

I beg to differ. Let’s be analytical here. It’s great to be off the main highways. But we get that on our side roads. The scenery on the VV is pretty nice. The problem is it’s kind of boring, just flat and straight, and you get no variety in the peddling. Mind-numbing just to pedal along, never getting any up/down. Ass and ball numbing too. And you’re always having to push just slightly. The exception is the slight downhills which can go on for miles. It’s really weird on the downhills, you’re coasting along at maybe 8mph, never faster or slower, for 2-3 miles at a time.

Anyway it’s just for two days. And April is super thrilled on these paths. So freakin happy. She’s now looking for an “I love the Voies Vertes” t-shirt.

The day was pretty straight-forward: get on the effing VVand just keep pedaling. Ha-ha.

Actually we bought our lunch today at a huge supermarket: baguette, hard cheddar from Scotland, salami, prunes, and we had been carrying some fruit and chocolate. Right after leaving the market we got hit by a cold rain. It was short but we stayed cold because the VV was in the forest and it was shaded and kept dripping on us. But we toughed it out, then stopped for our nice lunch. It really hit the spot. Then we pedaled on. Brain, ass, legs, balls all got numb.

Got lost alongside the river/canal outside of Plouhaix (our destination). First we headed down one side of the canal, the turned back because it seemed to be heading away from town, went down the other side, it too was wrong, went back on our original path and it was the right path. We pulled into Carhaix and didn’t have a great map for locating our B+B. The VV was crossing number of small roads but we didn’t see ours and we were headed into the city. At the last road crossing there was a tree-cutting truck and we didn’t see the road sign. So we hit the busy main road, it turned out to be the highway we were looking for. Took a right, asked for directions at a bike store, they told us to take 2 more rights, and we ended up exactly at the intersection where the tree-cutting truck was working. It had been blocking the sign we needed. Anyway the driveway for the B+B was also right at this intersection. We literally had passed the entrance, then rode in a circle to get back to it. Shits weak!

This B+B is fantastic. It’s an old manor house from the 1600s. A British couple, Penny and Pete, have been restoring it. It’s classy yet fabulous, just like Mimi and Bridgette! And being a Brit, Penny served us tea and a delicious pound cake. It seemed impossible, but April was even happier than when she had that Apple Flan or when she was on the VV. We chatted Pete/Penny up about skiing in the States. They’re planning a trip for this winter. We suggested Utah and Alta//Snowbird/Deer Valley/etc. We showered, April toured the gardens, I got on the internet. Plus they’re serving us and three others dinner.

Dinner awesome, stuffed tomatoes, cheesy potatoes, salmon baked in Filo. Nice Euro type of conversation. The home cooked meal and dinner party type of atmosphere makes everything a little more enjoyable.

Overall our favorite place of the trip so far.

Interesting side note: they just finished a huge music festival in Carhaix. They had 250K people here for the festival. And it was right next to this B+B. We saw them cleaning up. If we had been here a few days earlier we certainly would not have been able to find a room. Springsteen headlined last year.