a long day. To get out of Saumur we followed the Velo signs that took us up steep little hills in small towns down back streets, through farm and horse lands up more steep hills around sharp turns, it was very tiring and Doug was not enjoying it from moment one in part because his bike just would not go into low gear without throwing the chain. We took plenty of breaks for water an air. Parts of it reminded me of the east coast.
because there were a number of tributaries along the way the path does a lot of zigzagging and backtracking. At one point we were stumped for about ten minutes on how to get across a small river. The map said there was a Velo ferry and we could see it but over on the other side with no one around to bring it over to us. The alternative was a one mile walk on an overgrown dirt trail then a crossing on a very busy freeway bridge then a down climb to the river to find the path. That looked like a lot of work.
Doug and I noticed a chain and he pulled on it. It came but nothing happened. He pulled some more, still nothing, we hesitated, he pulled some more and it moved. He pulled the boat all the way across( 30 feet maybe) I loaded the bikes and then I pulled the other chain attached to the front of the boat and we went across to the other side. This made our day much more endurable, having tha bit of unexpected fun.
Then about 10 plus kilometers outside of Angers the temperature went up and even though it was overcast it was very bright and humid. We got hot As the Velo route went through tiny farm roads (straight half mile then left then go half mile then turn right, go half mile then turn left pretty much until we hit a major road with a lot of fast traffic headed into the city for a long time.
Much of the construction in this area is done with black slate, stacked slate. There is a large ex quarry of it in Angers that has been turned into a natural park, i.e. Re-naturalized. Most of the slate is a deep glossy black. It is beautiful. The fort in Angers is made with it, paths are made, fences, walls, benches etc. I stopped to take pictures.
Due to the confusing Velo signs we eventually opted for google maps to get us at least to the gare(sncf) train station to orient ourselves. There isn't any easy camping except on the other side of town or several miles north. Doug sort of collapsed with a beer and recovered his spirits. After a brief amiable discussion and ample cursing at the crazy signing for this bike route, we decided to get a hotel room.
the phone had 3 percent charge....oh I forgot t o mention that was part of the trouble. The maps from tourism office were very general and you know they have a green line between two cities but no streets or street names, remarkable. the phone had barely enough charge so we used it sparingly.
we walked across the street. Then across the next street and I stopped in front of a hotel with rooms available for a great price, so long as you don't mind not having a bathroom in the room, but down the hall. Doug made the arrangements and they let us store our bikes in the little mini lounge. We hauled all our bags upstairs and collapsed. Looking out our window at the other buildings in the block(no alleys) I noticed that several were missing some of their plaster coating, revealing stacked slate walls. Some of the buildings were more than three stories. Amazing.
we stayed two days and did laundry at the lavarie, I walked around the chateau( did not go inside) stopped at a writing store and bought a fountain pen that takes cartridges. That kind of stuff. Shopped for food at a small bio market, went to the nearby boulangerie, we got a gift for George who has been managing the garden. Then we saw Wonder Woman. All French.
lastly we had to find a train up to Britagne for us and our bikes. All trains have transfers to get there which meant dealing with bikes and stuff. Only 68 eruos for two on a 6.18 am train and we would arrive about 11am. Um there was a hitch getting the tickets, but now such things are just normal!
I found tickets to Saint Malo for the following day (June 28) using the sncf voyages app and chose the TER which is a regional city to city train that takes bikes. The app and sncf are so awesome that they don't give you email tickets, you have to go to the station and either use the machine to print it or wait in line at the ticket office.
so yes, Doug discovered that there was only one machine working and waited half an hour to use it only to discover that it couldn't find the tickets we bought( keep in mind we got all the confirmation emails and a confirmation code). So he went to the ticket counter where they also could not find the tickets or at least could not access them. So we were given new tickets with a hand written notes on the back and an official stamp saying in essence- do not bother these customers no matter what.
We requested a wake up call for the next morning for 4.30am. And got up. Made coffee, hauled all our bags downstairs, strapped them to our bikes and got on our train with no problem. There was actually a ramp to take the bikes down instead of stairs or escalator( and we have used both so far and it is not too safe).
we got our bikes hung up(after taking everything back off) and got comfy. We were headed to Rennes where we would have 50minutes to transfer. This turned out to be reasonable if a little stressful.
The place was half under construction and packed with people. Stairs and elevators were jammed and long lines at each. The trains were being announced only a few minutes before they were supposed to leave and the controllers were checking every persons ticket as they went down the stairs to their track.The stairs wee too steep for us but there were elevators that fit our bikes with a little forceful jamming. Our train headed to Saint malo was hardly occupied.
