So we are sorry about our silence of recent date – we have been enjoying some amazing weather in Brittany and have been too busy cycling to blog.  Unfortunately this all came to an end about a week ago when the heavens opened and we (with the exception of Amaya) were significantly drenched.

Since the mechanical elephant of Nantes we followed a stunning canal deep into Brittany.  We passed castles built into cliff faces with witches hat turrets, enjoyed coffee in ancient town squares, camped in a forest where legends of King Arthur are told, scoffed crepes, wound our way along the flat tow path of the canal, passing river barges going up the locks, and cherishing the car free environment with the birds providing the soundtrack.

Impossibly beautiful cycling

An amazing castle in a city called Joselyn along the Nantes-Brest canal.

Amaya continued her passion for graffiti along the canal

We had both been anticipating this section of our journey and it didn’t disappoint – this is France at its best.  It has been one of those experiences where we wished we could somehow take away more than just our memories and a few photos.  If only there was some way of capturing those moments in a more substantial way and transporting them with us…

She is really burying her nose into that flower!

This was a cool campground in an old guys backyard – total cost of 3.80 Euros!

Meanwhile there have been a few causes for celebration: Amaya’s second two-year-old molar finally poked through, her age caught up to her teeth on the 15th, it has been two months on the road, we made it to Roscoff which marked the end of our 1300km cycle path that we had been following since entering France, and we passed 2000km!

Sometimes we even find it hard to believe that we have managed all of this through simple pedal power!  That we have actually transported ourselves from Barcelona to Brittany on bicycles!?!?!

Excited to have made it all the way to Roscoff on our 1300km cycle path.

Cycling through a beautiful forest on bike paths

We are now in St Malo where we are catching a ferry to Portsmouth and then visiting Jonny (Shoshanna’s brother) and Helen and their new baby, Henry in London.  We then make our way back onto the continent and meet up with my parents  and ride through Belgium and Holland for a few weeks and then up into Germany and the Baltic Sea and down to Berlin.  Fortunately there is a lot of cycling ahead of us.

Cycling up from the small ferry into St Malo

We played for hours on the beach with the fortified city of St Malo all around us.