The Tour de France is in full swing, starting this year in the cycling-mad region of Brittany. Brittany is a big place, almost twice the size of Wales, yet as luck would have it the Tour route passes through the exact area where I cycled with my family three years ago. It was our first holiday with our son who was just five months old at the time and we were anxious to find a cycling holiday that could accommodate him but still be satisfying for us. A Google search for family-friendly cycling holidays led us to Breton Bikes, based in Gouarec in the heart of the region.
The owners, Geoff and Kate, have been running cycling holidays here for nearly 30 years and promised a great experience for families having toured with their own children over the years. They were true to their word; they fitted out a trailer with a car seat so that our baby didn’t bounce around in the back and the gite where we stayed had a high chair, cot, stair gates and other necessary accoutrements. We were provided with suggested routes that were suitable for those with such extra baggage, over flattish terrain and manageable distances. For those with older children or no children at all there are tagalongs, kids’ bikes, tandems and multiple camping options, with both point-to-point and out-and-back cycling routes offered.
All families catered for!
Gouarec is also a great base for a cycling holiday. Although it’s a sleepy little village on the Nantes-Brest canal, it has everything you need, including a superb bakery, a handful of restaurants including a pizzeria and a village shop which though small has a broader range of stock than your average supermarket, with a decent wine selection and fresh meat counter. Even better, on the day of writing, stage 6 of this year’s Tour de France rode straight through the middle of it!
Riding the Voie Verte to Mur de Bretagne
Many of Breton Bike’s suggested routes out from Gouarec start with a 5km ride along the foxglove-trimmed tow path to the ruins of the 12th century abbey of Bon Repos. After racing through Gouarec, stage 6 passed by here with 35km to go on its way to Mur de Bretagne, where the stage finished after two ascents. The abbey hosts a sound and light show in August.
Stage 6 passed through Gouarec, Bon Repos and Mur de Bretagne
We stopped off here on a Sunday, when a farmers’ market was in full flow and families fished in and picnicked by a nearby stream. We enjoyed a delicious plat du jour of spit-roasted ham at the bar there before taking an accidental detour under a viaduct while on the look-out for some Neolithic ruins that were allegedly somewhere nearby.
Taking a wrong turn is not always a bad thing
To get to Mur de Bretagne we actually needed to go over rather than under this viaduct, taking a tree-lined voie verte (a traffic-free greenway) through gradually rising farmlands to the Lac de Guerledan, which had been drained for maintenance at the time of our visit but is apparently rather beautiful under normal circumstances. You can read more about the lake and Bon Repos on the Breton Bikes website.
Scenic riding to Mur de Bretagne
The moderately alluring voie verte
The voie verte runs along a former railway line and eventually rolls into the town of Mur de Bretagne at its old railway station, which is mercifully at the top of the very steep hill that presumably give the town its “wall” moniker. When we were there the town was gearing up to host the finale of a Tour de France stage, which was won by Alexis Vuillermoz (Dan Martin won the 2018 edition). Shop windows were painted with cartoons of cyclists and the mayoral residence was resplendent in polka dots!
The town hall stakes its claim to be king of the mountains
On a non-Tour day Mur de Bretagne is a typically sleepy village, with fantastic views across Brittany from its lofty vantage point. We enjoyed a fast descent into St Aignan and took a meandering route back home via canal paths and pretty villages whose cottages sported brightly painted shutters and well-tended gardens. The problem with getting lost in this area is the ubiquitous rolling hills, so we ended up climbing more than we intended to, but I enjoyed being able to keep pace with my husband for once as he was hampered by the trailer.
A good thing about getting lost was that we got to enjoy the rather lovely Forêt de Quénécan.
Getting lost in the Forêt de Quénécan
Eventually we ended up on main road back to Gourarec, although even this was quiet and the drivers courteous to cyclists (the only aggressive drivers we experienced all week were British). This route took us through the hamlet of Ste Brigette, worth mentioning because it is the location of a really quite fantastic creperie that Geoff recommended – and I do too!
Also in the area
The campsite at Gouarec sits a third of the way along the canal from Brest to Nantes
Gouraec sits on the Nantes-Brest canal, offering bountiful opportunities for peaceful, family friendly cycling. The stretch near Rostrenen is particularly pretty, although frustratingly no one seems to have taken the initiative to turn one of the many cute little locksmith cottages nestled in the rushes along its route into a refreshment stand. After a long ride along here one day I started severely bonking and we had to take an inevitably uphill detour to Gomnel to buy an ice cream from the only shop in town that was open. Nowhere ever seems to be open in these little French towns, except the mystifyingly numerous barber shops.
Idyllic riding along the Nantes – Brest canal
Near Ste Brigitte we discovered we were on a section of Le Grand Circuit Jean Robic, a cycle route devised for tourists in honour of 1947 Tour de France winner Jean Robic. Although he was born in the Ardennes, Robic is always considered to be a son of Brittany, where he grew up.
Following in the wheels of Jean Robic
The whole area is criss-crossed with car-free cycle paths strewn with cornflowers and hedgerows populated with colourful song birds, weaving up and down through farmers’ fields and woodlands draped in mistletoe. It’s perfect for families of all ages and I’m sure we will be back.
You’re never far away from a bicycle in Brittany
Getting there
As usual we travelled by Eurostar to Paris, from there it’s a two and a half hour train ride to St Brieuc. If travelling by ferry St Malo or Roscoff are your best bets. Breton Bikes can help you with travel arrangements and transfers if you book with them.
Bex on Wheels 