On Wednesday 2nd May there were ten of us for the day trip to France - Lin, SueP, Carol, Len, David, Mick, Brian, Ray, Mark and me. We drove in three cars to Portsmouth and boarded the 20:30 overnight ferry for St Malo. The loading procedure was a lottery as usual with the rest of us enjoying a glass of wine on board whilst Len's car had not even boarded. The cabins were allocated by car rather than as we had booked and this meant that we ended up with an extra cabin, so Ray and Brian had a cabin each on their own. After a nice meal washed down with a few bottles of wine we headed for our cabins. In the morning we awoke to a lovely sunny day and had breakfast before disembarking. We as disembarked some time apart we made our way separately to Montreuil sur Ille, about an hour's drive away. The early arrivals were able to get another coffee in a bar, or in one instance a quiche at the Patisserie.
After slapping on the sunscreen we headed down the gravel surfaced canal towpath towards Rennes. There were well surfaced cycle paths down both sides of the canal. We stopped for team photos at the Old Mill at Saint Gregoire on the outskirts of Rennes It was only a short distance to the centre of Rennes on cycle paths all the way. We toured around the old centre then went looking for somewhere to eat and found Le Progres bar behind Republique where we enjoyed a light lunch.

 

After lunch, we headed for to the bikes and set off back to the start by the same route. When we got to St Germain sur Ille there was a sign on the other bank showing an alternate route that appeared to be on road. The vote was to take this so we set off up a slight incline then in about 300m the sign showed the route going back on the towpath. At first this was narrow but OK and then deteriorated to muddy grass for about 2 miles - but everybody struggled through. Full marks to Carol who made it on a road bike with skinny tyres!. Now that we are back, I see on the map that we should have stayed on the road and avoided the unsurfaced but signed canal path - the other bank was smooth gravel. The rest of the ride back was uneventful and we got back to the cars OK - 40 miles with 60m of ascent - so flat as a pancake. We loaded the bikes and drove back to the ferry stopping enroute to stock up on some tipple. After another nice meal it was back to the cabins. In the morning after disembarking it did not take long to get back to Basingstoke. A good social group ride.