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Early start, on the road at 7.30 after a couple of pieces of bread and the remains of yesterday's fresh goat cheese.
The route today was mainly quiet, except on the approach to the Loire. Rather boring countryside, gently rolling, though a few small hills early on. One magical bucolic moment passing a mare and her skinny foal, a brown and white pinto, the foal gamboling and actually jumping on the spot. Reminded me of James Baxter in Adventure Time, for some reason.
Saw some large olive trees for sale, in the 400 € range. I think I heard there's a lot of unethical practice in that business and I've no idea how you'd satisfy yourself on the provenance of one of these, let alone on its health / chances of thriving.
Had to make a minor detour around the Château de la Lorie as my planned route was to take me through its grounds, and I was looking forward to having a gawp. But the sign was clear that doing so was "strictement interdite". I wonder if a French solo randonneur would also observe or would disregard? I will ask one.
I noted that today's roadside religious "signes ostensibles" were plain crosses, quite stylish in design, in contrast to the macabre crucifixes which I was seeing yesterday.
Elevenses of croissants and a superb Breton apple at the "plan d'eau" at Marans. Very difficult at this time of year to find an apple which has lasted well for so long.
This lost lane between Becons-les-Granits and St Augustin-des-Bois got me off the busier road south
but I did have to lug my bike over this broken bridge.
On southwards, generally downhill to the Loire.
It's such a big river that you barely discern the valley. As you look across flat fields it's hard to believe that the mighty river is just 300m away.
Campsite by the river at the junction of the Louet tributary at Chalonnes-sur-Loire where there are several islands, bridges and forks of the river. Afternoon coffee and supper at the festive and funky Guinguette de Louet, a magnet for canoers, cyclists, boule players, assorted holiday makers and cocktail enthusiasts. No reason on earth to move from this spot.
What a contrast to last night's campsite at Craon which, though immaculate and well-equipped, was almost deserted. Craon had a decidedly down at heel feel with numerous closed-down businesses and premises "à louer".
Here on the Loire, by contrast, business seems to be booming.
Set off at 8am after a cup of tea and a piece of yesterday's baguette. The tea leaves didn't bother me today. It's just a short stage today, 43km to Craon, as the next one is a 76km jump to the Loire with quite a bit of climbing. I'm tired, so a half day and an opportunity to rest a bit is welcome.
A mixture of roads this morning, all quiet with good surfaces. A lot of straight ones dipping down and rising up ahead, though nothing too challenging in the gradients. And no headwind today, though still breezy. That allowed me to make some headway with drying the laundry. But that job was done in a flash once the sun came out in the campsite at Craon.
Another boulangerie breakfast of croissants, still short on protein. Will need to be properly fuelled tomorrow.
In between Mondevert ( What a name! Some chance! ) and Le Pertre there are some deep woods with forestry going on.
In Le Pertre itself I noted that they ( at the épicerie at least ) are serious about cycle racing. The whole shop front is given over to two local races, the Circuit des Deux Provinces and Le Tour Bretagne, both of which have stages ending in the town, I think.
Had a peaceful break at Méral, at their "Plan d'eau", which is set up with a few picnic tables and has shelter in the form of an old pavilion type structure by the water. Maybe they used to farm and process fish here?
Then just a short distance on to Craon for an afternoon nap.
The afternoon route to Vitré had a lot of roads which were too busy to really enjoy, especially into a headwind. But there were a few pretty lanes with proper ups and downs and also one scenic and fast stretch on an official voie verte -- where I appreciated both the flat and the quiet.
Stopped to look at the church at Taillis but not convinced I got the right place. The Chappelle du Sacré Cœur was noted in the book (France en Vélo: St Malo to Nice, which I've used for 3/4 of my stages) but the church I saw seemed rather ordinary. The huge church in Vitré was more interesting, for my money, with its faintly gruesome side chapels and peaceful deep blue vaulted ceiling. Not to mention the yellow carved door
It's a steep place Vitré, and having climbed up through the town once to the municipal campsite it was probably a mistake to go all the way down again making a survey of restaurants, especially as I'd spotted a good one up top already. But getting back up the hill gave me a chance to tour the castle ramparts.
When I locked up outside "La Soupe Aux Choux" there was a group of 4 finishing up at a table outside. I asked whether they'd eaten well and whether it was a good restaurant. They assured me yes on both counts, and then came clean that they were in fact the restaurant's owners/staff.
Tonight's apéro was a "Pousse Rapière" (Rapier Thumb) a mixture of Armagnac and sparkling wine. Tasty, and not too sweet at all. Three French cycle tourists from my campsite came in by chance or good judgement. They were on a 5 day tour of the region and seemed pretty serious about their food and drink, though they deferred to one member of the party when it came to choosing the wine. Interestingly they also went for the Chadonnay de Thau, which comes from an area near Sète and which I associate with the Étang, with shellfish and with Picpoul. Delicious, like everything at this excellent restaurant.
When I told the waitress that you don't often see frogs legs in the UK except in Vietnamese restaurants she told me that they aren't so common in France either these days. Dommage!
No real rain during the night, good to pack away a dry tent after the first camp. Made tea using the Trangia meths stove, less than 5 mins to boil the water. Lovely cup of Darjeeling but maybe I could have afforded the weight of an infuser to save spitting out all tea leaves.
Two croissants from the nearest Boulangerie for breakfast. I don't think that's enough protein, will work on that.
After leaving town I strung up my clothesline but it's not really the weather for drying and in fact after an hour it started positively raining, so abandoned that attempt.
Citroën specialist:
Got to the Botanical Garden near Coglès at 11. An excellent find, well worth a detour or even a special trip. After a huge restorative pot of Earl Grey I toured the large and very varied and well organised gardens. A big Japanese area, a lovely walled garden / potager with spectacular climbing and rambling roses.
Also amusing ornamental planting of green and red lettuces.
You could easily make a day trip of these gardens and the restaurant on site looks very good.
After that my route to Fougères (thank you cycle.travel ) included some really old ways, almost overgrown in places
No shortage of protein in my picnic lunch overlooking the castle at Fougères. I now have a substantial saucisson on board, which will last for a few lunches.
Arrived St Malo around 8.30am, pretty much on schedule. We left Portsmouth late but clearly during that time they were able to fix the technical problem which had caused the boat to run slow earlier in the day.
There was more jolly chitchat with other cycle tourists as we gathered on the garage deck to retrieve our bikes from the pile of maybe 40 bikes. No racking at all is used, bikes are just propped together in a line of about 6, perhaps 7 deep, all leaning up together. Not an adequate system as components and accessories can get dislodged or even broken. Had a good chat with a Swiss couple in their eighties who are on a trip back home from Sweden ( via the South Downs ). They haven't felt the need to go electric just yet.
Despite having had a good breakfast on board (particularly the apple juice and fresh grapefruit) I stopped for elevenses at the Cancale oyster market.
I got a sampler of 4 types raised with different techniques and for varying ages.
Much preferred those with a fresher sweeter flavour rather than for example the "pied de chaval", which I found toodark, chewy and earthy, and the market vendor characterised as nutty.
After a slight inland wiggle, passing impressive fields of cabbages, a long stretch following the huge "Bay" with its multiple rocky out crops and islands, with the Mont Saint-Michel itself just a tiny triangle in the distance.
Loads of restaurants and retailers specialising in oysters and other fruit de mer. "Si t'aimes la mer, t'aimes la musette " read one blackboard. The musette turns out to be a small crab from “the Baie". 
A stretch of wiindmills along the coast, mainly converted to residences now.
The soil here looks like ash or cement, pale grey and dusty. I wonder if it's rich or whether the farmers are using a lot of additives? 
Saw some huge delicious-looking cabbages being harvested and some cabbages under cloches. Quite a few of the workers looked south American. 
Lovely route up to the Mont St Michel up farm roads on the west side of the canal, the tourist facilities all being on the east side. 
Cross the barrages and then south on the east (touristy) side to Pontorson.
Made in the Cotswolds. Published by Éditions Système D Ltd.
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