Well we had the best weather we could wish for on the ride from St Malo to Dinan - sunny all day with clear blue skies and not a cloud in sight.

The arrangements did not go to plan as Len had to call off at the last minute to care for Lin after her accident. We were booked on the ferry in Len's car, but borrowed his bike rack and used my wife's car with Mick and my bikes on the back. This meant we left Basingstoke slightly later than planned, but still arrived at Portsmouth nice and early on the Monday evening. Brian, Laurie and Mark traveled in David's car and arrived only a little ahead of us as they caught more traffic.

We seemed to wait ages in the queue to board - it is much easier if you arrive by bike as you are boarded first. Whilst David drove through the security check without being stopped, I was selected for a random check. We were behind a Swiss registered estate car in the check area that was loaded to the brim - the passengers and some of the luggage had to be put through the scanner. The officer checked the inside of the car and underneath by mirror, but just as well did not ask to search the boot as we would have had to take the bikes and rack off. Having got through security there was about another 30 minutes queuing before we could board. However once aboard we dropped our stuff off in the cabins and headed to the restaurant for a meal - some were much quicker off the mark than others.

After a quick breakfast on board, the ship docked at 8:15 local time in the morning and it took about 45 minutes to get off and drive to the Gare Maritime car park closeby to unload the bikes. It was warm even at that time, so shorts were definitely in order. We cycled on the main roads through St Malo and St Servan towards the Rance Barrage, about 50% on cycle lanes before joining the dual carriageway that crosses the river and climbs up to turn off on the back roads to Dinard. We took the path alongside the beach to the town centre and headed in the general direction of the start of the Avenue Verte, a few one way streets hindering navigation but arrived exactly at the start point without searching - it is not signed in Dinard. The trail is mostly dead straight and surfaced in very fine compacted gravel that makes for easy cycling. Unfortunately, the trail does not pass directly through the towns and I missed a turn off for a coffee and cake [as I was reminded frequently during the day] so we carried on to Dinan port. After taking a few photos we headed up the hill to the town - it did not seem as steep as I remember, but then I was fully loaded for touring then rather than just out for a day ride. When we got to the square outside the church, we locked the bikes up and stopped for a beer in the cafe bar opposite. As it was very pleasant we stayed there for a light lunch before walking around the battlements and the rest of the town.

It had been an easy ride so far and we had agreed to take an alternative way back that went by road and more closely followed the river. Potential places where we might find a cafe were agreed and it was down the hill again to the river. nice and easy at first then climbed up the valley sides away from the river. The route passed through a few villages with lots of junctions and it could be best described as rolling. As we would round a bend we would see the road climbing up ahead. We were using Mick's Garmin GPS for navigation and having rode up to the top in one village, it said turn right. It was a nice downhill, but as soon as I saw the river, I knew it was a dead end.  However, the good news was that there was a cafe restaurant there, so we stopped for coffee. Close to it there was a rough steep track that headed back up that could provide a short cut. The sign said no cycling so we headed off to climb back up by road. However, the more gung-ho half decided to push the bikes up the track. As you might imagine, we waited at the point where the track met the road again, but there was no sign of the others. After a check it seemed the track continued up the hill so we went on up the road until we joined then further on. From there the road went down to a bridge over the river before climbing up the other bank on a busier road. We turned off onto a quiet road and headed back towards the river bank and Saint Suliac. Before we got there we could see a steeper hill up ahead from some distance away - the granny rings were put to good use on that one. After that it was more of the same except the roads were becoming busier the closer we got to St Malo. We crossed under the dual carriageway to the Rance Barrage and then it was back into St Servan towards the ferry. By this time, it was rush hour with heavy traffic, but we got back to the cars without problem.  The ride was 46 miles and according to the different GPS's between 750m and 900m of ascent in total.

We loaded the bikes and locked them to the racks before a walking tour of the St Malo ramparts. Originally, we were going to a supermarket to stock up on supplies, but as we were a bit tight for time we decided to head for the ferry about half a mile away, but on the other side of the ship lock. Coming out of the car park, the bridge over the lock was closed so we had a long detour, along with half of St Malo, to the other side of the bridge and the ferry. Although they had been loading the ship for about 30 minutes, it still took ages queuing before we could board. After a quick shower and freshen up we met in the restaurant for a meal.

In the morning when we disembarked, the queuing in lanes for immigration was fairly random. On the way out, the queuing lanes were generally dealt with in sequence, but on the way back our line was mostly ignored and we were the second last car out of the port. The journey back was OK but slow.