Day 4

From: Paimpol To: Le Val-Andre

As I prepared to leave Paimpol on the Monday, I tried to get an idea of what the weather had in store following the heavy rain the previous day. Mme. St. James insisted that I form the question in acceptable French before she would share an opinion, and only then offered "entre le deux". With that, I packed the bike keeping the rainwear close at hand.

I headed south along the coast (D786), taking a detour on the D94 through Kermaria to see the 13C chapelle, as suggested by the Michelin Green Guide.

Gargoyle on Chapelle		Front window section under trees..

Side view with spire

From Kermaria, I took the D21 and D9 into St. Quay-Portrieux, and from there rejoined the D786 heading for St. Brieuc. The road turned into a motorway a few kilometers outside of St. Brieuc, so I was directed onto the surface roads, as bikes are not allowed on motorways. The descent into the town is an impressive 13 degrees, and while I could see the motorway traffic passing overhead over the ravine, I was being directed into the town. It took me almost 2 hours to get out of there and back on track, and in the process I had done the ascent/descent a total of 4 times. While people were willing to offer directions, they invariable directed me back onto the motorway. In the end, I got out the compass and worked my way through a suburb in frustration, ending up on the east side of town, where I wanted to be. At this point it had started to rain heavily, so the day wasn't getting any better. It was 4.00pm before I got clear of St. Brieuc, so decided to head for le Val-Andre, approx 20k away, for the evening.

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