Water, water everywhere

I woke up this morning to sun streaming through a gap in the curtains..at last! A breakfast of two bananas and a chunk of Camembert and I was off. Well not quite, I couldn’t leave without saying goodbye to Madame “tiré six” who had had me pulling my hair out when booking the room.

As I crossed from one valley to the next I left the Varenne..and followed another disused railway line towards Mayenne, stopping for coffee on the way. Mayenne looked interesting with an impressive chateau by the river so I descended, had a quick look round, and then climbed back up to the cycle route. Not really worth the effort.

As a result of a wrong turn I stumbled across a McDonald’s with wifi but for some reason WordPress wouldn’t let me load any photo’s.  I will try and do so later.

The rest of the day was spent pedalling along the towpath by the River Marenne. Very peaceful, lined with trees, with the occasional beautiful house discernible through the verdure. The river is navigable with each lock keeper in competition for the prettiest flowers.

The sight of the first approaching HLM blocks told me I was nearly at Laval. Apart from having a palindromic name it was hot, busy, and dusty. At this point disaster struck…