8: Lazy Girl

I woke up at 7:30 and was at breakfast by 8:15 (this is not a bath you want to linger in…).

The breakfast was not anywhere near as good as the one in Nantes, but acceptable. What I did not like was that they poured the coffee into your cup and then brought the hot milk a few minutes later. Minus points!

I had already decided to take it easy today and not do any big rides, so after breakfast I went back up to the room and washed out some shirts and lazed around. At close to 12 I decided it was time to finally get going, so I got my stuff together and went for a little ride around the neighborhood.

My arrival at the Pointe de Merquel, the breakwater at the end of this little peninsula, coincided with the return of the fishing boats from their morning run. I was feeling a bit hungry, so I ate my emergency apple while enjoying the scenery although it was still very cloudy.

The next stop was the village of Mesquer (pronounced “Mes-ker”) where I explored the sights of the town (that took about 30 seconds) and then sat at the café/bar and munched a croque-monsieur (grilled ham sandwich with cheese broiled on top). Yum – I have to have one on each trip to France.

I was still feeling none too peppy (a bit of that probably had to do with the cloudy skies) so I headed the short way back to Quimiac, where I made a stop at the grocery store and magazine store gathering supplies (a box and packing tape) for sending a package to myself. (I have to carry everything with me on my bike on Saturday, so less is more.)

Back at the hotel I hung out some more and napped a bit. Finally the sun came out and my energy came back (imagine that) and I set out for Piriac, that charming seaside resort I’d visited yesterday.
I spent a glorious two hours just hanging out. Somewhere along the way my bike passed the 3000Km mark!

First I had to visit the ice cream place from yesterday – today I had caramel with pecans and chocolate-orange. Oh my goodness… I ate my ice cream sitting on the harbor wall and when I was finished walked out to the end of the breakwater and spent a goodly amount of time sitting out there soaking in the sun and salt air.

Part of the reason I ended up sitting out there so long was that I was watching 3 young boys fishing for sardines. They were such typical 10-year-olds – one was the ring leader (he was the largest, perhaps the oldest, of the three), one was the clown, and one was the quiet one. They noticed that I took a picture of them and then they insisted on posing for me – and then of course they wanted to see the pictures, which thanks to the marvels of modern photography, I was able to show them.

At around 6:30 I headed back to Quimiac, stopping along the way to once more enjoy the view.

I ate dinner, not at the hotel, but at the town’s other restaurant, 2 blocks away from the hotel. It was un-stuffy, reasonably-priced and delicious.

The first course was a salad topped by a rolled up warm crepe, filled with melted cheese. Wow, was that tasty!

The main course was a grilled shark (!) steak served on a bed of ratatouille surrounded by little cubes of zucchini. The pain Bulot that accompanied it was excellent for soaking up the very tasty sauce.

After dinner I took a walk down to the beach and watched the sunset over the Atlantic. What a wonderful luxury.