Due to our choice of route - along the Eurovelo 1 on the canal from Brest to Nantes - actually not that much happened this week. Most of the time we enjoyed the southern and central Breton countryside and let our minds wander here and there.
First, we spent our weekend with Anke and Nicolas near Benodet. On Saturday (September 10th), the two of them embarked on a long-planned sailing trip early in the morning, while we started the day leisurely with breakfast and a shower before heading to the beach in “Merle style”. For everyone who doesn't know Merle: She is Tilman's sister and recently successfully hitchhiked from Germany to southern Spain. Our destination wasn't that far away. 5km maybe, but with tired legs 5km is a decent distance. We were lucky because the second car stopped right away and a young woman took us with her and dropped us off right at the beach. While I went to get something to snack on, Tilman became friends with a seagull while writing the blog and named it: "Friendly MC Friendface". The rest was quite unspectacular. I read a book, Tilman blogged and slept. In the meantime, the sea was getting closer and sometime after our maximum relaxation level was reached, we decided to head back. That meant for us: trying to hitchhike. This time it took a few more tries before a young man stopped and took us a little in the right direction. We then walked the last kilometer. A little exercise has never hurt anyone. :) Back in the house we made dinner and discussed future route planning.
The next morning, we started our Sunday (September 11th) with a short jaunt on the tandem to the supermarket. I can tell you one thing: in foreign countries and supermarkets like the Super U you can waste hours by looking for something! When we got back to Anke, we realized that we had forgotten the peppers! Unfortunately, too late to go back to the supermarket in time... We spent the rest of the day doing maintenance work on the bike, bureaucratic stuff, Tilman writing the blog entry, relaxing and talking on the phone. The only exciting thing that happened were the test rides on the tandem with Anke and Nicolas. For dinner, just in time for Hannah's arrival, we prepared chiles en nogada, which apparently everyone liked. And so, another beautiful day with lots of food and chatting came to an end.
As always, the week began on Monday (September 12th) . After breakfast and a long farewell, we cycled to hilly Concarneau. There, I had an appointment with Anke at 2 p.m. for a doctor's appointment, to which she kindly accompanied me as a translator. Unlike Tilman's issues, I had female issues and wanted to get that checked out as soon as possible. Everything was fine, or as the gynecologist said, "Tout est bien." Apparently, my visit to the doctor conveniently covered the only thunderstorm of the day, so we stayed dry for the rest of the day. From Concarneau, we cycled relaxed along a former railway line to Carhaix, where we came across the Eurovelo 1 and the "Canal Nantes à Brest" again. A few kilometers later, we found a nice place to sleep by the canal.
Early on Tuesday morning (September 13th) we had breakfast at a picnic table – more civilized than usual – and continued our journey along the canal. There's not much more to say about this day... We were able to confirm what Pierre predicted a week ago: this side of the channel is much better in terms of path quality! Only the frequency of picnic spots leaves a lot to be desired! We occupied our minds with the first audio book of "The Expanse".
On Wednesday (September 14th) we woke up again at the canal. It must be said that despite its simplicity, we really enjoyed the canal route. It's fairly flat, few cars and lots of nature. However, we had a little distraction today! We drove up to one of the "most beautiful villages in France" - Rochefort en Terre. A very nice and somewhat medieval-inspired village. We loved it!
On the way back towards the canal, we passed an unannounced construction site, where we were kindly let through by the construction workers. The last kilometer on the canal offered us one or the other nice photo motif, but have a look yourself. :)
After saying goodbye to the canal with a heavy heart, we headed towards Nantes, where lovely Anke and Nicolas had arranged a place to stay for us overnight. :) Unfortunately, we encountered a not so nice railway line that really didn't deserve it´s name. Especially not in the dark.
However, Nantes did surprise us with a very bicycle-friendly infrastructure and so, after several kilometers and uneventful days, we arrived in Nantes with Alix and her husband.
On Thursday (September 15th) we wanted to take a closer look at Nantes. And so, we walked to the nearby city center. Our first destination was Nantes Cathedral. Unfortunately, we had to find out that it was closed. Several fires broke out in 2020 and destroyed some of the inner parts. This also includes a number of windows which were in part made from plumb. The fire has spread the toxic material throughout the church and it will remain closed until everything is cleared of the toxic plumb particles.
So, we continued through the most beautiful streets of Nantes to a basilica. The stillness inside was super impressive, especially when you have just been walking on loud and noisy streets.
Nantes also surprised us with a well-preserved castle commissioned by Anne de Bretagne, among others. Nantes used to belong to Brittany and was at loggerheads with Rennesin the old days, who was supposed to be the capital of Brittany. Today, Nantes no longer officially belongs to the administrative district of Brittany. Nevertheless, you can still see the Breton flags everywhere. We climbed the wall and had a nice view of the city. At a green square, Tilman remarked: "A paradise for city planners".
Since churches always radiate a beautiful calm, the next one was added to our program.
Then, we went off to my personal highlight of the day: the planetarium in Nantes. On the way, we strolled along the Loire and found some well done green spots to relax. We like the city better and better!
Along the Loire, there is a spot where the names of all the ships that sailed from Nantes with slaves to places all over the world are engraved.
Unfortunately, the website of the planetarium gave us only little information about the opening hours and programs and so we had to try our luck again and found ourselves in front of a closed planetarium. But as lucky as we are, a door was open and we just gave it a try. A woman came straight towards us and Tilman had barely explained in one sentence who we are when the woman suddenly replied in English: "Ah, you are the two cyclists. We received an email from the Brittany Planetarium. I'll introduce you to someone.” We didn't expect that we were already so well known. :) We were introduced to Vincent, who proudly showed us their software and what he has already tinkered with and I have to say, I am really impressed by the variety and the handling of the software. We need that too! Unfortunately, the software is only in French. :( We chatted a lot and had some enlightening moments. Here are just a few of them:
- The story of how the big bear got its long tail is not part of the mythology.
- "Septentrional" = "northern" in French, comes from "sept", i.e. "seven" and comes from the fact that you can find the north with the help of the big dipper, which has seven stars.
- Aachen, or in French: Aix-la-chapelle, was the capital of France for a short time under Charlemagne
- the person who maintains the website with the database of all planetariums works in the planetarium in Nantes. There is also a funny anecdote about it. Apparently, a friend travelled to Peru and discovered a planetarium in the basement of a larger hotel. Beaming with joy, he told the people from Nantes that he had found a new planetarium for the database. He got the answer back: "Oh, there is a fourth planetarium?!" Of course, this planetarium was already in the database :-) https://www.aplf-planetariums.org/en/
Also, the planetarium has many models of different space missions and rovers. The coolest exhibit ever: The large publicly exhibited piece of Cherlyabinsk! The staff at the Brittany Planetarium have already told us so, but to see the piece of space up close is very impressive! Many, many years ago, the ZKP2 was also used here - the model that was also found in the Planetarium Potsdam at the beginning of this year. Nowadays a digital system with French software is used. We chatted a lot and got one or the other tourist tip for the region and then made our way back. When we got back to the house, we cooked dinner for everyone and chatted for quite a while.
On Friday (16.09) we set off again around 11 a.m. The first 20km away from Nantes just flew by! Nantes really is quite a bike friendly big city and we will miss it. As Alix had already announced, not only did the landscape change today (much flatter than Brittany), but the houses also became a little different. Less houses built of natural stone, mostly a little flatter and with red roofs. Interesting and well-preserved churches can also be found here. :) Tilman was in such a good mood that he was even able to motivate a group of children on the side of the road to do a La Ola wave for us. The reason was most likely him being relieved to have finally sent the postcards we've been lugging around since Normandy via la poste. In the evening we arrived at Tatjana's place (via welcometomygarden).
This week's constellation is: "the little dog". Vincent's favorite constellation from the planetarium in Nantes. It takes a lot of imagination to recognize a dog in an image consisting of only 2 stars. It´s popularity among the stories of the stars comes from the brightest star: Procyon, which is the 7th brightest star in the starry sky. Together with the nearest other brightest star in the sky - Sirius - the two dogs (Procyon - the small and Sirius - the large) follow the hunter Orion.
The destination for our next week: towards La Rochelle and Bordeaux - the Pyrenees and thus Spain are getting closer and closer! So, if you know someone in Spain, feel free to contact us - maybe we'll be able to stop by.
Until then!
Tilman & Ida