We did not dare venture to breakfast prior to 8 am, but we timed it to the minute, and opened our door right on 8 am. She was a lovely host and she made us pancakes and had a variety of foods available for us to eat.

Quickly on our way leaving the busy Monday morning streets of the city, we descended down the hill we had climbed the previous day.

St Brieuc had a lot of large street art, and we quite liked this one. Bright and vibrant representing the very diverse population of the city.

Not quite at sea level again, we transited on a gravel cycle path of good quality, that crossed this former rail bridge. You don’t always get to see what you are riding on, but given the curvature we got a great glimpse of this beautifully constructed viaduct.

Signage indicated that this forms part of EuroVelo 4 that goes 4,000 km from Roscoff (our ferry port from yesterday) to Kiev (Ukraine).

At sea level we were viewing the Bay of St Brieuc, riding along a nature reserve of international interest, 1,140 hectares in size.

Plus two sheep! The sign says to not feed the animals.

What goes down always goes back up cycling, guaranteed! We climbed a nasty climb back up and within a few km was in Yffiniac.

Yffiniac is the birth place of Bernard Hinault, famous French cyclist. Hinault won the Tour de France five times, Giro three times and Vuelta twice. He is remembered in town with this roundabout and adjacent wall.

When I was researching the town this image accompanied history, but no explanation – I just love the look on the animal’s face but have no idea to its relevance – but it appears here anyhow as I liked it!

Lamballe was where we stopped for a morning coffee, in the town square. There are half-timbered houses in the historic town center many turned into exhibition spaces and craft workshops. They also have interesting art on their roundabouts.

We had to climb to leave town, which is always a joy with legs that have cooled down and past this sign for a former chateau that looked quite magnificent in its day.

Sections remain including a war memorial.

Local school art in a village, with a ceramic map of the village including shops and houses.

Riding in France is glorious. The quiet back roads that are of good quality, rarely used by cars. Often in farming areas dotted by very small, quaint villages where it is so quiet you almost feel like an intruder. For me, this is quintessential France and why I love France.

On the ride I counted, and this trip is my ninth to this country and I will have ridden nearly 7,000 km here by this trip finish.

Up another hill and around the corner and boom, the castle of La Hunaudaye is closeby, built in 1220.

The castle was destroyed in 1234, reconstructed in the 14th century and in the 17th century left to deteriorate. During the French revolution it was raided and torched, and locals used the castle as a quarry for stone. The norther part of the castle collapsed in 1922 and the French Government intervened, buying it in 1930.

Legend says that when the monks boat, loaded with the relics of Saint Magloire, reached the banks of the Rance in Lehon, the place became joyful and bloomed like paradise. Since then, pilgrims travel widely to see the wonders.

I stole an aerial view photograph as it is interesting, the shape within the moat.

Within a few km after here we had our first mapping issue. It was taking us down a gravel road that had signs saying private. We stood and debated, nosed in a bit further but decided to re route up the road going around the edge of this village.

This photo is a typical view of a French village. Cornfields, church spire, hill, few houses.

Our planned lunch stop was Jurgon Les Lacs, where I grabbed a fresh baguette from the boulangerie, two bananas and drink from the intermache and we headed to the lake to eat.

Jugon les Lacs initially had a Roman road, leading to the construction of a fortress for the Duke of Brittany. The Duke commanded the lakes and ponds be made from the two rivers, the Jugon and the Arguenon.

This is where we sat. It was quite hot by now, around 28c.

Leaving the town we knew we had an uber shite climb ahead. The data on our bike computer was in red and amber, and the average climb gradient was 16%. Did I mention the cold legs?

Anyway, it was never a question for me, I was always walking it. Lucky it was only about 400 metres.

At one point it did reach 18%. The road was heavily painted encouraging riders in a former race.

Here is the top approaching.

This is the cross at the top to remember all those who died climbing the hill by bicycle….

As we stood discussing what a super nasty brute the hill was for a cyclist, we watched this dog trotting down the road towards us. He came in for a belly rub, peed, then continued, breaking into a trot as he ran down the hill.

He seemed to know where he was going, and was on a mission.I hope he got home safely.

The Monster trucks were on show on the outskirts of Dinan.

Dinan was our overnight destination.

In the 12th century, the lords of Dinan erected a fortress on the rocky outcrop to protect the monastery’s property and boat traffic on the Rance. The walls were demolished in the 17th century, but more recently have been restored.

Dinan was described by Victor Hugo as a town perching on an overhanging precipice, like a swallow’s nest.

From the 14th to 18th centuries it was a famous town for producing linen cloth, leather, wood and cereals. The goods were transported from the harbour.

Napoleon was responsible for the canal implementation, but it was interrupted after his defeat, but later opened in 1834.

The town is enclosed by 3 km of walls and contains many beautiful half-timbered houses.

After checking in at our accomodation, storing the bikes, showering and laundering we headed off for a wander.

The town was super busy with tourists, and we grabbed ourselves a gelato to enjoy in the heat (citron and passion fruit for me, citron and framboise Tony).

We found people heading down this little bit of a hill, so we thought we’d have a look. It kept going down, down, down. It is all cobbled and we commented how hard it would be to even push your bike up this hill.

The street is lined with old buildings and lots of artists shops.

At the base is the Dinan Port, on the Canal d’Ille-et-Rance. It is a 79 km long canal connecting Dinan to Vilaine, forming part of the English Channel-Atlantic Ocean link, long used by yachtsmen, but popular as a cruising waterway.

Some of the views whilst we worked out where the gondola was to get back up to the top, lol!!

We did walk back up. I counted 775 steps and strava recorded a 90 metre ascent. My reconstructed knee has trouble with descents, and the ascent was easier on it.

The other thing I noted, we paid $6.50 two boules (scoops) gelato at the top each, the further you went down it got cheaper, $6.00 two boules, $5.50 two boules and finally $5.00 two boules.

A nice old church snd a beautiful chocolate shop. The chocolate would not survive the trip home for multiple reasons, so sorry!

Walking back towards our accomodation we passed this building. Amazing curvatures. Safe to say nothing square or level here.

Just behind our accomodation is the old Chateau de Dinan constructed from 1382, built by John IV of Montfort, Duke of Brittany after his exile from England.

The sun was in a bad spot when we visited, and maybe we might stop in the morning when we depart.

We returned to our hotel where we met the owner Christoph. Truly funny and witty man who knows a lady from Hobart, who spends part of her year here at a house she owns. Patricia Bromley is a Tasmanian artist, jeweller and lecturer.

He also spoke of David Walsh and MONA. It is the second time this trip that Walsh and MONA mentioned to us (the other was a Swiss guy). I had not really understood the international impact and renown of the man and the museum. Tasmania owes him!

We had a lovely meal cooked by Christoph selecting the three course menu for only $29 euro. I had gravlax, fish risotto dish and creme brûlée.

A great day to ride. Wonderful weather, great route and sights. A shorter day at 80 km, with 676 m ascent.

Thanks for reading 😊❣️