A change in plans. Two days in a row. Weather related.
Yesterday the plan was to ride an approximately 35- to 40-mile loop that would include the three most famous cathedral “parish closes” of Brittany. I’ll explain what a close is soon (I didn’t know until yesterday), but first …
It rained all morning yesterday (Friday) and so we waited and waited and waited in our hotel. Finally, it stopped a little before 1PM (two hours later than my app said it would stop raining) and we … took the train west to the town of Landivisiau to save some time. Form here, we rode east to the three cathedral parish closes. The first was Lampaul-Guimiliau. A parish close contains a wall that surrounds the church and its other amenities, such as the cemetery, side buildings, ornate crosses and sculptures. There was a lot of ornate sculptures at these three closes.
Here’s a look at Lampaul-Guimiliau …
The roads between the parish closes were quiet and rural and hilly.
Our second close was Guililiau and here’s a video of it …
So, I wondered, how the heck could they afford to have these huge, ornate parish closes that are not exactly in the middle of nowhere, but are also not exactly in the middle of largely populated areas? There just weren’t and aren’t many people living in or near these towns, all three of which are surrounded by farmland. How many people came to Sunday services? It couldn’t have been that many. Then again, maybe all the farming couples had 20 or more children.
Anyway … more great rural roads and we arrived at number three: St-Thegonnec Loc-Eguiner. It had the most ornate and interesting sculptures. I’m not sure what these guys did, but they may have been in a heap of trouble …
I’m not a religious person and am of a different religion from these three parish closes. But I can still appreciate the magnificence of the art and architecture. And get a sense of how people a couple hundred years ago would be awestruck and impressed by these cathedrals. It’s enough to make you a believer. We went inside all three churches and I do like to sit and take a few minutes to soak it all in and even do a little meditation. The inside of these churches are quite peaceful. And beautiful.
From St-Thegonnec Loc-Eguiner we headed home. It was nice and somewhat religious but not very rigorous 18.38-mile ride.
Today … fierce winds. I’m talking 40- to 45-mile gusts all day in very way and multi directions. You don’t want to mess around with the coastal winds of Brittany. But damn, we really wanted to ride north to Roscoff today. And so … we took the bus to Roscoff (without our bikes), a nice town on the northern coast. I know … a bus on a bike trip. It’s not something I’d have done in the past, but I’m older, wiser and know better than to mess with 40-mile coastal gales/squalls/gusts. We walked through town, walked along and on the windy beaches, collected some seashells, climbed some rocks, had lunch, explored the town. Don bought a refrigerator magnet with the Brittany flag on it, and then … we took the bus home. It was a nice day and perhaps, what with us being older cyclists, we needed a day off the bikes.
Here’s a view of the Roscoff coast, you can hear how windy it was …
As for tomorrow, the weather looks good.
The Biking France Blog 