How I traveled in and through Brittany.
I arrived in Nantes with a plan to continue my journey to the department of Finistère. I didn't have any specific points of interest in mind for Nantes, but while in the city, I thought, "Might as well make some use of it," and went for a walk. The sun shone, I saw many folks enjoying the streets, the greenery was full of flowers, and plenty of folks were cycling. A good first impression, for sure!
I anticipated that my walk would be only through downtown, and once I hit the suburbs, I would continue to the city limits by public transportation. However, a surprise came when I reached them; no matter the suburb, they were all nice.
The streets weren't wide, highway-like roads full of cars, as in some other cities, where speeding traffic and exhaust fumes discourage walking. Instead, they were narrow, with decent pedestrian infrastructure and plenty of greenery. "I could imagine living in the suburbs like these," I thought to myself, and kept walking all the way to the outskirts. There, I wrote the name of my next stop and started hitchhiking.
I eventually clocked some 400 km covered this way, and it was fantastic. I met friendly individuals of a broad age range, everyone with fascinating stories and facts to share. As such, I learned a bit about Brittany's folklore and realities unique to the region. For example, unlike in the rest of the country, there are no tolls on highways here.
French highways are notorious for their tolls. Not in Brittany, tho. The pictured one is south of Brest, captured during one of my hitchhiking adventures.
Once near the coast, I tried one of my favorite ways to get around: cycling. When I cycle, I prefer to stay off the asphalt, and while Brittany is no match for places like Scotland, it offers plenty of fun terrain to tackle.
The bike I borrowed here, however, wasn't in its element on rocks and roots. I did not want to break it or myself, so I ventured onto the paved roads and found another surprise. Brittany turned out to be a road-cycling paradise.
Besides numerous designated cycling paths, there were many roads that were lovely to cycle on. Their surface was mostly smooth, the traffic minimal, and when I met motorists, it was okay: they slowed down and give adequate space. It feels silly having to highlight that drivers aren't morons here, but after riding bikes in some other countries where I was centimeters from dying every other time being passed by a vehicle, I don't take cycling-friendly drivers for granted.
Cycling on these roads, I thought that if I ever lived in a place like this, I might convert to a road bike – Something I had never considered before. Road cycling in Brittany is that good.
I couldn't believe how much I liked it. Suddenly, I could appreciate the ease of generating speed on the tarmac and how effortless it was to cover larger distances. However, it wasn't enough to entirely suppress my focus on paths less traveled, so I discovered that Brittany has kilometers of excellent gravel paths, too.
I was constantly amazed by the fun and scenic qualities of the roads I cycled.
Together with more pleasant walking experiences that followed wherever I stepped, I ended up by the sea.
And it was there that I was in for the biggest traveling treat: I sailed for the first time.
Now, while I enjoyed all the forms of transportation, the amazement from sailing had no bounds. You can read about how it was in a separate story HERE.
Alternatively, if you enjoyed this post, you might also like my other posts, such as:
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...or the rest of them, which you can find in my Blog Archives. Thanks for reading!
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