E5 Days 11-15

Friday, March 15th

The bar in the backyard

• Our breakfast today consists of croissants and mandarins.

• We follow the Canal de Nantes à Brest until we reach the Lac de Guérledan and the path becomes more difficult.

• In addition, we encounter a school class of around 15-year-old, adolescent pupils who are far too motivated and full of energy.
• At first they are innocently standing in front of the Abbaye Bon-Repos and listen, somewhat bored, to their teacher or guide explaining some interesting facts and figures regarding the Abbaye, no doubt.

• Speaking of which: The abbaye takes us by surprise – the impressive buildings suddenly appear out of nowhere and I ask Matthäus:”Wow, what’s that?” He looks it up on his cell phone and finds out: The former abbaye is now an art and cultural center, where apparently there are also yearly knight and medieval days.
• Next we see the school class again on the lake hiking path at a large sand/stone quarrying plant.

• And shortly afterwards we hear them walking, or rather sprinting, along the path behind us and feel a bit stressed – luckily it turns out to be just a small scouting group that has to wait for the rest anyway.
• Our well-known coastal pattern also applies here: at every bay there is a stream to which you first descend and then ascend again.
• Our progress is rather slow and we need more breaks than usual.
• Of course, as always, the benches are few and far between, so we are overjoyed when we find one with a table.

• “Great,” we think as the whole class arrives shortly afterwards and spreads out on the other tables all around us, “Do they have to have their break right here?”
• At least we get going before them and over hill and dale and continue along the lake to the point where our path leads away to the village of Caurel.

• As the view over the lake is great from here and there is a bench, we take a break with snacks.
• Suddenly a kayak appears on the lake and another one behind it and we realize: there they are: all of the students!

• The on first sight lame looking hiking trip suddenly seems to be much nicer.
• “Look,” I say to Matthäus, “they’re annoying the others!” And indeed: one of the boats has come very close to another and now the occupants are using their paddles to spray the others with water.
• “Arrêt!” The sound of a humming engine is heard loudly across the lake, and finally we see the teachers as they are speeding across the lake in a motorboat.
• “Well they did everything right,” says Matthäus appreciatively and adds in a slightly raised voice: “Kids, the rain is coming, come on, paddle faster!”
• A short distance along the road we reach the small town of Caurel, which, like many places here, is very elongated -we see house after house as the village stretches along the road.

• It looks very deserted and makes a rather dreary impression overall.
• For the life of us, we can’t imagine a bar in this town, but there is supposedly one near our accommodation.
• It’s actually in the backyard of our house and seems to be more of a hobby project of our landlord Larry – mega cool!

• We arrive, are welcomed by Rosana, move into the very nice room, take a shower and then head to the bar in search of food.
• However, Larry sends us on to the restaurant opposite.
• The “Captain Cook” (there should be a prize for this successful play on words) serves hearty, French, village cuisine and the whole place exudes a real Raffezeder vibe (a village restaurant in Raabs): Lots of food, lots of meat, a TV on and guests who give the impression that they are part of the inventory – we feel at home straight away. 🙂

• Off to the bar, which of course we don’t want to miss out on.
• Larry was just about to leave, but upon seeing us stays and serves us the local “Lancelot” beer.
• John comes sauntering in shortly after us and downs three beers while we’re still enjoying our first pint.
• John, another Brit in Britain, is an original: The four of us start a conversation about King Arthur, Paris, the E5, hiking, Bielefeld and the British occupation in Germany.
• According to Larry, the King Arthur legends take place in the famous Foret de Broceliande, as every child knows.
• “What?!” replies John incredulously, “That’s garbage, the legends are all set in the south of England, every child knows that!”
• In any case, we make a mental note – since our hiking trail will take us through the Broceliande forest in a couple of days.

Saturday, March 16th

Pigs, cows, rural life

• The day starts with a great breakfast, which immediately puts me in a positive mood – especially as there are delicious baby crêpes.

• We set off at a leisurely pace on the short stage – first along small roads to the Voie Verte.
• We follow it for most of the day – the landscape is just as unspectacular as the path: fields stretch out on both sides of the path, here and there is a lonely farm (there are so many of them that there is almost always one in sight).

• Speaking of farms: the most spectacular thing that happens today is when the path in front of us suddenly fills up with a whole herd of piglets being herded across the path.
• Shortly afterwards, the same thing happens with a herd of cows – we really are out in the countryside.

• Fittingly, we booked an overnight stay at a farm just outside Saint Caradec, where containers – a bit like in Dutch vacation villages – are rented out.
• In the flat, barren landscape, we can see the containers looking a little lost in the huge field from afar – they could definitely learn something from the Dutch in terms of spatial planning and design.

• We are met at the yard by a boy who says: “I don’t rent out the containers, but I can take you there”, whereupon he takes us to a woman who says: “I don’t rent out the containers, but I can ask”, whereupon she calls the lady who apparently rents out the containers and tells her that we are accommodated in container 3.
• They can also take a leaf out of the Dutch book when it comes to furnishings, which here are rather sparse and look pretty cheap (which says something if even I can tell).
• There is, however, the luxury of two bedrooms, two bathrooms and two toilets – wow, things we need!
• We make ourselves a somewhat sad dinner – in keeping with the ambience – from the leftovers we still have.
• Then we chill out in bed, read, write, talk to Matthäus’s parents on the phone and spend a very relaxed evening overall. 🙂

Sunday, March 17th

Things to keep weavers busy

• We start the day again with a homemade breakfast, but today it only consists of a baguette and a piece of cheese.
• Then we get going very slowly, but take a really long time today and chill out in the accommodation before we set off.

• First, our path leads along a very small, cute canal, which for some reason is higher up – Matthäus reads a sign: The canal was dug in the early/mid 19th century by former weavers who (probably in the course of industrialization) became unemployed.
• We actually meet walkers along the way and are surprised until we realize: “Ah, it’s Sunday…”
• Eventually, we reach the larger canal via small roads and shortcuts.

• One of the small paths almost leads into someone’s garden.
• Confused, we slow down and start thinking “Oops, does the path continue here?”
• As we have already startled the guy working in the garden and he looks at us questioningly, I say: “Bonjour” and ask where the way to the canal is.
• He laughs and points to an inconspicuous little secret path next to the driveway – there it is!

• By now it’s Sunday afternoon and everyone, but really everyone, is out for a walk or a bike ride – it’s teeming with people.
• We haven’t seen so many in one place since the beach at Kerklody.

• We are almost relieved when we leave the canal. Our path leads through the forest and we finally reach the access road to “La Ferme de La Cavalerie”.

• We found it via Google and were impressed at first sight, although the host, Alban, looks a bit grumpy in the photo – but perhaps only because his wife, Fabienne, is smiling brightly next to him.
• The two run a farm here with organic farming and direct sales on the farm.
• We see Fabienne in the garden, but she is so engrossed that she doesn’t respond to our calls and waves, so we ring the bell and a not-so-grumpy-looking Alban opens the door.
• He calls Fabienne, who greets us warmly and shows us to our apartment in a really beautiful old house right next door.
• First we chill out as usual and have a round of coffee and tea.
• Fabienne then brings over a really delicious three-course dinner, which we eat in its entirety and find very tasty.

• Blissfully in a schnitzel coma, we fall into bed and fall asleep immediately.

Monday, March 18th

Barbarenbarbier Marie

• We are once again served a wonderful breakfast, Fabienne sits down with us and we talk a little, and we are proud of the conversations we can by now manage with our shaky French: Fabienne tells us about her organic farming and about the soil of Brittany, which is largely granite, so that water doesn’t accumulate but runs off, causing everything to end up in the valleys and rivers.
• We talk about the hiking trail, which also takes us through Fabienne’s home town of Ploermel.

• Finally, we stock up on a few treats for the journey in the farm store before packing up and setting off.

• First of all, we follow the road to the canal, which we reach at the point where our originally planned campsite in the barrel would have been, which it is not yet open.
• About 2 kilometers later I say to Matthäus: “Hey, we didn’t even see the camping site in the barrel!”, whereupon he looks at me puzzled and says: “Huh, what do you mean? I even showed it to you and you took a photo of it!” “Ahso?!” We take a look: There is indeed a photo of it – oh dear!

• Today’s route is again along rather small and muddy hiking trails, which is strenuous, but also very beautiful.
• Nevertheless, I am delighted when we reach the Canal Nantes à Brest again for the last stretch.

• It is simply beautiful and super relaxing to hike along.

• We soon reach Rohan – after all, today is another relaxing stage – a nice little town on the canal.

• There’s a crêperie right on the way and we’re so excited that we rush in straight away, which surprisingly works because it’s lunchtime.
• This is the first time that a restaurant is on the way AND open!!!
• By the way, we’re super lucky, the crêperie is open from 12:15-13:15 and it’s 12:30 – phew!
• We go in and, despite the break stage, all the blood has apparently drained from my brain into my legs, because I say confidently: “Nous sommes une table pour deux personnes.”
• The waiter manages to react totally professionally, doesn’t even bat an eyelid and replies: “Pas du problème.” (in what way is that not a problem?! ) and leads us to a table (for two).
• We eat delicious crêpes for about an hour and a half, including a dessert crêpe flambéed with Cointreau, as Fritz recommended.
• With the fire that the waiter lights at the table, we entertain the neighboring table for the second time today.

• Pete and Sharon, where we’re staying tonight, weren’t expecting us so early, but Pete kindly rushes over to welcome us and we immediately switch on their washing machine and dryer, which we’re delighted about.
• Chill out and then Sharon conjures up a delicious three-course dinner.

• The setting has the perfect British sitcom style, Sharon has given us a bell to ring if we need anything and the only thing missing to complete the picture is a carpet with a tiger’s head.
• We chat a bit with Sharon, laugh a lot and spend a really nice evening with our two British hosts, who to our amusement have me noted down as “Marie Barbier”.

Tuesday, March 19th

“This hat is from Uganda”

• The breakfast Sharon has prepared for us is of course great – so we eat it with relish and order fried eggs to go with it.
• Then we slowly get ready, but we are so slow that the guests, who only had breakfast an hour and a half after us, overtake us and set off on their bike tour before us.
• As we leave, we chat with Sharon, who tells us about her blog and how she ended up here, fulfilling her dream of owning her own BnB, but the two of them are actually already on the move again and thinking about where to go next.
• We strongly recommend a long-distance hike, completely free of sarcasm. 🙂
• There are all sorts of funny hats hanging on the wall and I point to one at random and ask: “What’s the story of this hat?” “Ah”, says Sharon, “this hat is from Uganda…”
• It turns out that the two of them have already been to Uganda and we are already engrossed in a conversation about Talking Hands, Uganda and so on.

• Finally, and after we have exchanged contact details once again, we set off for an abbey along the way.
• Through an open gate, we suddenly find ourselves in the inner courtyard of the abbey and already have a feeling that we shouldn’t be here when the gate lady, as I kindly call her, tells us with a very loud and gruff “Où allez vous?” that we are not allowed to enter the abbey just like that.

• We continue along the canal.

• There’s a restaurant along the way that Sharon and Pete didn’t recommend (“But well, it’s the only one on the way”).

• However, the question of whether we visit it is answered quickly, because it is on the other side of the canal and there is no bridge in sight.

• At the end of the stage, to our utter amazement, there are not only benches but also deckchairs (?!?) on which we naturally treat ourselves to a break.

• But the highlight is undoubtedly the bend after which Josselin appears – a medieval town with an imposing castle on the canal – and our hotel right opposite with a great view – mega!!!

• We still have so much energy left that we decide to take a walk around the beautiful medieval town and it pays off!

• Stone houses, half-timbered houses, small gardens, a beautiful church and small stores adorn the townscape.
• In one of these stores we buy two kilograms of cabanossi (“Are you sure, the whole pack?!” “Yes man!”)
• Dinner in the restaurant with a view of the illuminated castle and good night!