Loire valley cycle, day 1 - Ferry to St. Malo

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The plan: Four cyclists from London make their way to the Loire valley, and cycle and camp and cycle and eat cheese, drink wine, visit chateaus, slaughter the language. Our itinerary included Angers, Saumur, Chinon, Azay-le-Rideau, Loches, and Blois. To keep costs down while allowing us to procrastinate planning, we got to France via train to Portsmouth, overnight ferry to St. Malo, train (TER allows full cycles, not TGV) to Angers, and then similarly for the return, train to Caen, overnight ferry, and train back to London.

England was suffering from its stereotypical weather of clouds and sporadic rain, and the ferry crossing was rough enough to make our viewing of Prince Caspian in the ferry cinemas very unpleasant. The cabins were all booked, so we had reclining chairs, but we observed seasoned travelers who laid out sleeping bags and air mattresses under stairwells and behind chairs, and took note.

In the morning we watched the ferry dock as the sun rose over St Malo, an impressive walled city of granite. We walked along the wall and admired the waves breaking on dark rocks below, and enjoyed galettes, or buckwheat crepes. All before realizing that we had forgotten to wind clocks ahead one hour and thus missing our scheduled train to Angers and incurring a two hour delay. We took short excursions into town centers during connections along the way, and maneuvering the stairs and escalators reminds me to try to seek direct travel next time.

Despite the recommendation to try the bistro next to the station, we find that the campground, Camping Du Lac de Maine, is further outside of Angers than expected, and we instead settle in for a quiet evening and eat at the camp canteen.

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