In the morning I said my goodbyes to Gwen and Caro and hit the canal again. Pretty flat and straight it was and by lunch I was in Rohan with the skies covered by heavy grey cloud, threatening to rain. As stopped at the bridge to check my route and a fella pulled up alongside me on a fat bike all kitted out as a bike packer. Said my greetings in French and he asked if I par-ley-voo’d in Anglais and why yes of course I do! Luke, from England it was and he was wondering where the Eurovelo 1 was – I pointed in the direction I thought it was and said to him I may not be right and I’d not seen any signs or anything. Off he went and I decided to go to Decathalon as I wanted a proper mug, a stainless steel bad boy of at least 500ml, stuff the little rubbish one I had that held but a sip. While riding there I spotted Luke on the other side of the canal heading in the other direction…ok. I got my mug from Decathalon and then followed the route I had available on my phone and it promptly led me into a weird no-man’s land kind of place…rough single track, bouncing all over the show, slow going and windy too…but I persevered and eventually it looped onto some decent track and I cracked on as the skies got blue.

As I got within a couple of km’s from Blain I spotted Luke and stopped to have a chat – he was looking for a place to sleep. I said I’m heading to Blain as there was a campsite there and he said he might do that too – I never saw him again, but, I did meet 2 English guys in Nantes a few days later who had also met Luke and mentioned he’d pushed on and was en-route to the Pyrenees. Wherever you are Luke – hope you’re well dude.

So I arrived at the campsite in Blain, right by a beautiful Chateau. The receptionist was super friendly and once all was done she jumped on her bike and showed me around. The site was quiet so I picked a nice spot next to a table and got my stuff sorted out. As I was finishing up a couple I had seen in Malestroit arrived – but – they had a tandem, with the front rider being only responsible for pedalling while reclining in the seat and the second rider at the back, doing the steering, braking and pedalling! We got to chatting and they were a French couple just finishing a tour of France. The bike was hired from a shop in Nantes where they lived and were returning it the next day. I got to have a ride in the front seat – so cool, you can pretty much chill while pedalling, even read a book, and the rider at the back does all the work!!

The campsite was lush, it had a gas cooker! I rode around the Château, cooked a dinner and had a good night’s sleep.

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