There's an author who's books I read who coined the phrase "Mercedes Day", when all things told, you'd rather have done the trip in a chauffeur driven Mercedes than on a bike. Today was not a Mercedes day, although heaven knows, I've had a few on this trip... The day riding to Seville, when the temperature hit 45°; The day riding from Bayonne in the pouring rain and hail; the day to Saumur when it couldn't make up its mind if it was going to rain or not, and yesterday, when it rained continuously for hours. I may get another, but let's hope not.
I left Château-Gontier at about 8.30, after a good night's sleep and a good breakfast, and almost immediately went back on to the riverside path, following the Mayenne for miles and miles. And I mean miles and miles, about 40, to be precise. It wasn't paved, but the surface was so good I made excellent progress.
After a couple of hours (as explained in this morning's video update) I heard this voice "Steve! Steve! C'est moi, Pierre" and I was caught up by the guy (I assume the manager/owner) of the bike shop from the previous day. "Thanks for the (Google) review!" He was just out for a morning ride, but I guess he got to Laval a lot faster than me, because I saw him on the way back too!
I stopped for a coffee and a lemon pie in Laval and in a typically French scene, the post lady pulled up outside with her e-bike and stopped for a coffee too.
Just before Laval there was some serious work being undertaken on one of the weirs, and all the lock gates had been left open to let the river level fall enough to perform the works. This continued all the way up the river until the town of Mayenne itself, but nevertheless the riverside scenery was very pretty. I stopped taking pictures of lockside buildings after a while...
After Mayenne, I left the riverside, but followed an Avenue Verte, on a disused railway for about 15 miles, followed by a short stretch of roads and another railway for another 10 miles. It makes me wonder why we don't have so many of these in England? Imagine the Taunton to Barnstaple greenway, now that would be exceptional.
I arrived in tonight's stop of Domfront at about 5.15 pm, time to walk up to the old town before returning to digs.
With a bit of luck, tomorrow should be my last day in France, I have less that 75 miles to the port and the ferry doesn't sail until 23.30 or something silly. Then it's Portsmouth on Friday morning and homeward bound...
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