A wonderful breakfast in a wonderful hotel got us ready for a wonderful day of riding. Another blue bird sky day with full sun and very little wind. It has been like this the whole trip! As Luc and Adele have been telling us it rained on and off for most of the last two weeks before we arrived. We really lucked out.

Our last day of riding would take us through the Brittany countryside with several stops along the way AND a beach lunch of fresh oysters . . . harvested from the seas this morning.

We were soon on our way. 

Bill leads the herd out of town.

Charlie is drawn to anything that is yellow and says CAT. Of course he did spend a whole career with the company.

In a short time stopped at the Jacques Cartier museum where we viewed a very informative movie regarding his settlement of Canada and the area that eventually became the United States.

The humble beaver. Wonder if the species ever realized what an important part they played in the discovery North America. It was interesting to view history from another perspective other than our own!! I’m sure the truth lies somewhere in the middle!

From the museum we headed to a beautiful point where we stopped for a snack and a few photos. The island is owned by founder and owner of the French version of Amazon. His version must be just as successful!

. . . mmmmmm, wonder if it is for sale.

Carla helped Adele get the goodies ready.

 

. . .Adele had purchased some of Carla’s favorite cookies, a taste she acquired when she was a college student in France.

Our happy group.

Then . . . it was on to Cancale for a rest and oceanside oyster fest. We had a while to explore the village.

The Queen was in town this afternoon. Here is her Bentley she keeps in France for when she visits. Nice. Say Jeeves, can we get a ride up the hill?

Many never really got used to the ‘joint’ bathrooms. Many times there is a Women’s stall and Men’s stall with doors, as there is here on the right, and a urinal area right out in the middle. Oh those French!!!

Here is a fishing version of the WWII Duks we have in the Wisconsin Dells. Fun to watch him drive around the beach and then putter off to sea!

The tide was definitely going out during our visit to Cancale.

Wonder if this jellyfish stings?

While we explored, Adele laid out a wonder spread of goodies and Luc did a great job of introducing us to Brittany’s fresh oyster cuisine, by bringing dozen after dozen.

We were hungry and fixin’s of cheese, olives, bread, chips, wine and hard cider slid down as easy as the oysters did.

Don’t forget the bread with Brittany salted butter!

John, our two fisted, two bottled sommier.

Ruth has some of each!!!

Charlie hits the appetizers first . . .

While Luc visits his favorite oyster stands.

Sitting on the seawall. Bring those oysters on!

Adele making sure everyone gets some chocolate too.

Oh boy!!!!

Luc explains to emJay the finer points of ‘slurping down’ your first oyster . . .

Bottoms up!

A double whammy!

Adele FINALLY decided to try her first oyster on this trip with us. How did it all turn out . . .  go here to see the video!!!

All too soon it was time to hit the road and wind our way back to Saint Malo. We had to climb back out of the port to the highland and we all thought the oysters swimming around in our tummies gave us a little extra boost! The sun continued to shine as we pedaled through village after village, fields of lush produce and LOTS of cows!

The herd gathers for one last roundup in the parking lot . . .

. . .   fills up on water

. . . and climbs up from the seaside village of Cancale to high ground.

The group fragmented into several clusters, some riding back in the van. emJay and I ended brought up the rear, stopping to take photos and enjoy the countryside. Soon John joined us and the three of us biked the last half hour into Saint Malo. We were riding slower and slower and slower trying to drag the last day of riding out as long as we could. The great countryside, small villages with their narrow roads, the friendly local folks on the streets who ALWAYS greeted you with a “Bonjour”, the animals, farm fields, streams, rivers and estuaries we passed during the week all flashed through our minds and wouldn’t let go.

Remnants of German WWII fortifications?

Nice place along the way . . .

One last photo from the trail . . .

But . . . the inevitable finally caught up with us and we entered the ‘burbs of Saint Malo and finally arrived at our hotel. The riding part of our trip had ended.

Home Sweet Home . . .

Time to take off the bags, pedals and saddles and load the bikes on the trailer one last time for us.

Everyone got cleaned up and packed up and went exploring but reassembled on the veranda  6:30pm for cocktail. As I was leaving the room I looked out through our open window (no screen) and a saw a seagull sizing up our room. Thinking of John and Diana’s experience with the bat I thought this guy was looking for an entree into our room to see what we had to eat. Closed the window!

We all had a lovely time on the veranda overlooking the ocean, snacking and drinking ‘al fresco’.

Next it was time for our private dining room, more vino and piano music while we dined . . . and did we eat!!!!

But before we did we had to solve the sect of Charlie’s spoon. . . for the answer of the notch . . .check with Charlie!!

Appetizers . . .

Entrees . . .

Desserts . . .

John volunteered to give the ‘end of the trip’ speech and did a great job . . . tip envelopes were passed to Luc and Adele . . .

Nice words were shared by our two guides . . .

A few more glasses of wine and café were had . . . and before you know it, time for bed. On to Mont Saint Michel tomorrow!!!