Cycling holiday in (Brrrrr) Brittany over Easter

fat bloke

Booked the ol ferry to France for the second half of March. It's deliciously cheap compared to the summer. 500 quid lands the whole family plus bikes and car in Northern France. We could put the heads down and go South, but I really like Brittany and we're going to chance it and simply be prepared for the fact that the weather will be largely similar to here.

ANYway.

Just wondering if anyone here has any tips for the area generally. We haven't booked our accomodation yet so we could go anywhere really and, like Ireland, it's dead easy find nice quiet rural backroads to cycle around. As long as myself and the mrs get our couple of hours spin fix every second day then it's all good, and we can even chuck a turbo in the boot.

But if there are any "must cycle" routes in Brittany that are worth picking out, then I'm all ears.

koutoubia

Went to Brittany once in March.
It rained form the moment we docked till we boarded to go home.
Head South.

christy02

fat bloke wrote:

Just wondering if anyone here has any tips for the area generally. We haven't booked our accomodation yet so we could go anywhere really and, like Ireland, it's dead easy find nice quiet rural backroads to cycle around. As long as myself and the mrs get our couple of hours spin fix every second day then it's all good, and we can even chuck a turbo in the boot.

fat bloke wrote:

Booked the ol ferry to France for the second half of March. It's deliciously cheap compared to the summer. 500 quid lands the whole family plus bikes and car in Northern France. We could put the heads down and go South, but I really like Brittany and we're going to chance it and simply be prepared for the fact that the weather will be largely similar to here.

fat bloke wrote:

ANYway.

fat bloke wrote:

But if there are any "must cycle" routes in Brittany that are worth picking out, then I'm all ears.

Sure you could have got ferry cheaper? I pay less in June (460) and disappointed as I only paid 400 last year in June

I head south but Brest down the coast is nice. Loads of campsites and cottages. Take your pick. Enjoy the trip

poochiem

This should give you some ideas. Loads of great cycle routes, many off-road. I travelled Roscoff to Nantes along V1 - also look up Velodyssey for more on that one. http://www.freewheelingfrance.com/where-to-go/cycling-brittanys-green-ways.html

fat bloke

christy02 wrote: »

Sure you could have got ferry cheaper? I pay less in June (460) and disappointed as I only paid 400 last year in June

I head south but Brest down the coast is nice. Loads of campsites and cottages. Take your pick. Enjoy the trip

Dunno what ferries you're using but I paid 1600 in July a few years back.

First Up

The worst of the weather is usually out on Cap Finistere. East or south of that it tends to be a lot better. In early April I'd hedge my bets and go down a bit. Besides, Brest is possibly the least attractive town in France.

First Up

fat bloke wrote:

Dunno what ferries you're using but I paid 1600 in July a few years back.

July is peak season. Its a lot cheaper off-peak.

Manchegan

Do not underestimate the impact that the surfaces of the Voies Vertes will have on your journey time.

If your aim is to take in the scenery, it's no problem. If, however, you're planning a journey from A to B over some distance, the compacted gravel will sap your effort, especially if you're laden with panniers.

I travelled from Roscoff to Pontivy, and if I was to do it again, I'd get a satnav to negotiate a backroad route instead.

http://velo.tourismebretagne.com/troncons/la-velodyssee-roscoff-pontivy

See the following comment from the author of a book on Brittany's Greenways*

http://www.freewheelingfrance.com/where-to-go/cycling-brittanys-green-ways.html#comment-2119478918

*http://www.reddogbooks.com/gw.html#sthash.bIPIQOQS.dpbs

Uncle Ben

Lots of forestry, flat land, and medieval towns between Fougeres and Rennes. Or else the coastal cycle from Avronches via Mont St Michel and St.Malo is well worth a trip. German and US cemetaries, old gun emplacements and the best sea food platter in Cancale.

JK.BMC

Uncle Ben wrote: »

Lots of forestry, flat land, and medieval towns between Fougeres and Rennes. Or else the coastal cycle from Avronches via Mont St Michel and St.Malo is well worth a trip. German and US cemetaries, old gun emplacements and the best sea food platter in Cancale.

Myself and Mrs BMC spent 2 weeks cycling in Brittany last summer - easily the most enjoyable holiday for many years. Came via Cherbourg and the generally uninteresting interior of Normandy before heading to St Malo. We found the roads/routes around Avranches/Mont St Michel quite busy and St Malo is a seriously big city to enter/navigate "en velo." But once we got south and west of St Malo, there were some truly endless possibilities in terms of cycle routes, greenways and cycling-friendly towns and villages. Maybe avoid the coast - we went to Cap Frehel and despite the high summer, it had a "Belmullet-cloudy-six miles-strong winds-1000mb-falling rapidly!!!" kind of feel about it.
Some of the interesting places we saw were Dinan (beautiful walled city) Moncontour (hill-top town with great history) and Lamballe (very typical agricultural heartland town; home to the French National Stud, for horse-lovers etc.) And if you find the rural village of Gomene, you will surely visit the weirdest death-metal music venue, situated opposite the catholic church in a tiny, conservative farming community. Odd is not sufficient to describe it....

Enjoy - and bring warm/waterproof clothes

christy02

fat bloke wrote: »

christy02 wrote: »

Sure you could have got ferry cheaper? I pay less in June (460) and disappointed as I only paid 400 last year in June

I head south but Brest down the coast is nice. Loads of campsites and cottages. Take your pick. Enjoy the trip

Dunno what ferries you're using but I paid 1600 in July a few years back.

457 stena line first 2 weeks in June. Car 2 adults and 2 kids. Roof box and 4 birth cabin

Last year they did a deal around ploughing championship time. Got 25% off.
Pont aven from cork is a rip off. Nearly double price.

fat bloke

Well. Has to coincide with school holidays for me, which is also when (& why) prices are up.

godtabh

Any routes around Port Bourgenay? Heading there in the summer. Haven't found anything on strava yet

killalanerr

Just go south hit the motorway and go south,we are old hands at this last year in late august we planed to stay up north we had 2 nice days up them parts until the rain came so the plan was shelved and we headed south,Im not sure how much time you have but maybe consider St Antoni de Calonge Girona,Spain taking in the coast between Narbonne some super camping and cycle routes around there, enjoy where ever you go

fat bloke

We;ve plenty of time (ten days) but tbh it's money has us planning to stay North. It'd be two tanks of fuel down to Spain and the same on the way back, plus tolls, which would add significantly to the cost.

We're hoping to keep a few quid for sun-worshipping over the summer so we don't mind skimping and staying north for the Easter. We were in Scotland this time last year and had a lovely trip despite some inclement weather

fat bloke

We;ve plenty of time (ten days) but tbh it's money has us planning to stay North. It'd be two tanks of fuel down to Spain and the same on the way back, plus tolls, which would add significantly to the cost.

We're hoping to keep a few quid for sun-worshipping over the summer so we don't mind skimping and staying north for the Easter. We were in Scotland this time last year and had a lovely trip despite some inclement weather

First Up

fat bloke wrote:

We;ve plenty of time (ten days) but tbh it's money has us planning to stay North. It'd be two tanks of fuel down to Spain and the same on the way back, plus tolls, which would add significantly to the cost.

You don't need to go all the way down to Spain. The only really crap weather is likely to be on Finistere and anywhere south of that should be grand. An hour or two driving would sort it.

fat bloke

First Up wrote: »

You don't need to go all the way down to Spain. The only really crap weather is likely to be on Finistere and anywhere south of that should be grand. An hour or two driving would sort it.

Anywhere especially?

Weekdays it like down there West of Nantes? Lots of "sur-mer" 's. But I always thought (perhaps mistakenly) that the coast was a bit flat and featureless there compared to Brittany's rugged granite

First Up

fat bloke wrote:

Anywhere especially?

fat bloke wrote:

Weekdays it like down there West of Nantes? Lots of "sur-mer" 's. But I always thought (perhaps mistakenly) that the coast was a bit flat and featureless there compared to Brittany's rugged granite

The Vendee is flat allright. I'm really just talking about the weather. The worst of it in Brittany tends to be way out west so you might get away with the southern bit around Lorient or even northeast. But I'm not able to advise on cycling routes.

nilhg

fat bloke wrote: »

Anywhere especially?

Weekdays it like down there West of Nantes? Lots of "sur-mer" 's. But I always thought (perhaps mistakenly) that the coast was a bit flat and featureless there compared to Brittany's rugged granite

We drove down to St Jean de Monts in the Vendee one Easter, it was very pleasant there during the day maybe a little cool in the evenings, though I think Easter was later that year. I wasn't cycling then and the area is flat enough but I think you'd find some nice routes either up and down the coast or through the marshes.

http://www.vendee-guide.co.uk/cycling-in-the-vendee.htm

We also stayed one summer in the Grande Metairie near Carnac, that's a lovely site in a lovely area and one I wouldn't mind visiting again with a bike.

http://www.lagrandemetairie.com/en/

cdaly_

You could also consider riding some of the route of the Paris-Brest-Paris randonneur. Stages 5 and 6 through some smaller roads and pretty villages. Stage 7 climbs over the Roc Trevezel before descending into Brest...