L’ABBAYE DU MONT
FRANCE
Avranches
Genêts
LE GROUIN DU SUD
LE MONT SAINT-MICHEL
Saint-Malo
W
Ducey- les-Chéris
Dinan The 275km route is split into nine stages of between 19 and 42 kilometres, but we did it in five days without any problem. This allowed us enough time to spend a day and night in Nantes at the end of the route, on top of the five days cycling; as well as a bonus night in Saint-Malo on the way back home. And we travelled out from the UK and back by ferry, all of which fitted neatly into a half term holiday. Much of La Régalante is along greenways, and the first few We’re cycling La Régalante, a new route, which opened just a couple of weeks before we got there and stretches from Mont-Saint-Michel across Brittany to Nantes, in the heart of Loire-Atlantique. stages mostly follow a former railway line, making it a fantastic route for families. It takes in great swathes of countryside across Brittany and Loire-Atlantique; visits the UNESCO World Heritage site of Mont-Saint-Michel, and Nantes with its bonkers Les Machines de l’île; along with quiet villages where half-timbered houses rub shoulders with rambling castles; all accompanied by plenty of delicious food, making it a very worthwhile alternative to other better-known and longer-established routes nearby, such as the Vélodyssée or La Loire à Vélo. And if you get in quick, you’ll still have La Régalante mostly to yourself.
ROCHE TORIN
Baie du Mont Saint-Michel
i
Pontaubault
OSSUAIRE ALLEMAND
Polders
Huisnes-sur-Mer
a
l
Beauvoir
MOULIN DE MOIDREY
Saint-Hilaire- du-Harcouët
Pontorson
CIMETIÈRE AMÉRICAIN
Marais de Sougeal
Saint-James
CHÂTEAU D’EAU FERROVIAIRE
Sougeal
Louvigné- du-Désert
Marais de la folie
Forêt de Villecartier
La Fontenelle
MAEN ROCH ÉTAPE
:
Val-Couesnon
Antrain
Tourbière de Landemarais
TUNNELS FERROVIAIRES
Bazouges-la-Pérouse
Parigné
St-Brice-en- Coglès
Tremblay
Bois de la Motte
Saint-Germain- en-Coglès
Forêt de Fougères
Lécousse
FOUGÈRES ÉTAPE
TUNNEL FERROVIAIRE
Beaucé
Montreuil-sur-Ille
La Selle-en-Luitré
CHÂTEAU DE FOUGÈRES
V D
Billé
Luitré
Parcé
Luitré-Dompierre *Dompierre-du-Chemin*
Landes de Jaunouse
JARDIN DE LA BELLE AUDE
Roches du Saut-Roland
Lac de Châtillon
Châtillon-en-Vendelais
Taillis
Val-d'Izé
Lac de Haute- Vilaine
Balazé
CHÂTEAU DE VITRÉ
Montreuil- sous-Pérouse
Champeaux
Forêt de la Corbière
Lac de la
Cantache
VITRÉ ÉTAPE
Pocé- les-Bois
L a
Rennes
Lac de la Valière
Châteaubourg
Forêt du Pertre *privée*
Étrelles
Torcé
“GET IN QUICK AND YOU’LL STILL HAVE LA RÉGALANTE MOSTLY TO YOURSELF ”
Argentré-du-Plessis
6 :
a
LA GUERCHE-DE-BRETAGNE ÉTAPE
Saint-Germain- du-Pinel
Moutiers
Marcillé- Robert
Essé
Janzé
Selle-Guerchaise
Arbrissel
CAMPING MUNICIPAL
Rannée
La Roche aux Fées
Drouges
Retiers
L castles, Fougères is a place that might just have slipped off your radar. But the castle here is neck-craningly huge, its mighty curtain walls bristling with 13 towers; while beside the main gate a series of old wooden water wheels still spin in the rushing Nançon stream. In the evening we walk down Rue de la Pinterie, for a dinner of sublimely good galettes at La Broustal, including the best flambéed galette aux pommes this side of anywhere, awash with Calvados. r e After checking into the Hôtel des Voyageurs in Fougères, we go through the brief essentials of our cycling routine: park the bikes in the hotel’s covered car park; take the panniers and batteries up to our room; plug the batteries in to charge. Then we head out into the cobbled streets and squares of the upper town, working our way across to the Jardin Public, where the terraces have fabulous views out over the castle. In a part of France with no shortage of jaw-dropping Redon traffic-free. Much of it is overhung by trees, and we pass fragments of its former heritage in the form of abandoned stations, signal-boxes and the occasional section of track, left embedded in asphalt. South of Pontorson, we get onto the first greenway. More specifically, it’s the former Vitré to Pontorson Railway: a standard-gauge line, the first section of which opened in 1867. The northern part closed to passengers in 1938, the southern part in 1972, and it opened as a greenway in 2018. We cruise along this green artery for the best part of two days. It’s a lovely stretch of the route to cycle: smooth, level and entirely As to why Fougères has such a whopping great castle, the answer lies in its medieval neighbours. Fougères occupies a strategic position on the edge of the former Duchy of Brittany, which was bounded in the east by Normandy - ruled at the time by the English - and Anjou, ruled by the kings of
MARTIGNÉ-FERCHAUD ÉTAPE
Forêt de la Guerche *privée*
Thourie
Chelun
Étang de la forge
Eancé
MINES DE LA BRUTZ
Teillay
CHÂTEAU DE CHÂTEAUBRIANT
TOMBE À LA FILLE
Rougé
Ru gnè
e t t e
a
L
Saint-Aubin- des-Châteaux
CHÂTEAUBRIANT ÉTAPE
Étang de la Courbetière
Louisfert
Saint-Vincent-des-Landes
Moisdon- la-Rivière
Issé
Étang de la Forge Neuve
Étang de Beaumont
Terril d'Abbaretz
LA MEILLERAYE-DE-BRETAGNE ÉTAPE ABBAYE DE MELLERAY
Abbaretz
Forêt et lac de Vioreau
Forêt domaniale du Gâvre
Joué-sur-Erdre
MINOTERIE
Bois Lucinière
LES ARCADES
Blain
él
Vault
CHÂTEAU DE LA GROULAIS
Le Gué
A 11
NORT-SUR-ERDRE ÉTAPE
Plaine de la Poupinière
ÉCLUSE DE QUIHEIX
Ancenis- Saint-Géréon
PLAINE DE MAZEROLLES
Sucé-sur-Erdre
LA PERLE DE L’ERDRE
La Chapelle-sur-Erdre
LE CHÂTEAU DES DUCS DE BRETAGNE
Couëron
NANTES
Jardin Extraordinaire
LES MACHINES DE L’ Î LE
Vertou
a
75
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