Riders on a voie verte

I happened to be reading David Byrne’s Bicycle Diaries while travelling in Brittany on a bike and riverboat tour. In his book, the former Talking Heads singer describes the inner-city cycling mentality as “every man for himself”.

Bike-riding in Brittany provides a pleasing antidote: many of the tracks intersect rolling green countryside or run alongside narrow canals. Indeed, the only traffic we encounter over four days is fellow cyclists.

Among the most popular cycle tracks in France are voies vertes (greenways). There are 800km of VVs in Brittany, with a further 1,200km planned for completion by the end of 2014. Put simply, VVs are car-free greenways that have been converted from old railways or adapted from waterside towpaths. They are mostly flat and made from compacted gravel, which makes them suitable for both cyclists and walkers.

To try out some of the trails, we left the walled city of Saint Malo and took a boat across the Rance estuary to Dinard. Here, the British influence can still be seen in the city’s architecture: there are houses with bow windows made popular during the 18th century, parks and gardens decorated with extravagant floral displays.

With its mansions along the seaside, brightly painted bathing huts and yacht clubs, Dinard preserves old world charm. Pablo Picasso, who was a regular visitor with his first wife, the Russian ballet dancer Olga Khokhlova, has a promenade named after him on Ecluse beach, which is deserted in the autumn, except for our party of five. The town is also where he, in 1928, produced the “Dinard Sketchbooks”, inspired by the 19-year-old Marie-Thérèse Walter, with whom he was having an affair.

The VV begins a mile away from the town centre. We follow the old railway line and travel along narrow paths sheltered by overhanging trees. In the countryside, open fields alternate with farms and stretches of woodland. The track also passes defunct train stations, some of which have been converted into overnight accommodation.

At the railway junction of Saint-Samson the 16km stretch of cycle path ends. We followed a quiet track that crossed an ancient Gallo-Roman routeway before entering the pretty stone-built village of Taden. A short descent takes us down to the banks of the Rance, where we pick up signposts to the next VV. This was along spectacular stretch of water that meandered between rocky bluffs. Its towpath skirts beside romantic wild gardens until the medieval city of Dinan comes within view after 10km.

Both sections of VVs had been flat – making them ideal for family outings. But the narrow street from Dinan’s harbour, up among the overhanging eaves of timbered houses and through the city gates, was incredibly steep. As we pushed our bicycles uphill, we were put to shame as an elderly Frenchman wearing full racing gear pedalled past on his way to the top.

Dinan is surely one of Brittany’s most picturesque towns and it made a fitting end to our first day on the VVs. Its labyrinth of cobbled streets is filled with delicatessens and bars that serve locally brewed cider. Restaurants, too, are committed to serving locally sourced meats and vegetables.

The food and drink we consumed had probably come from the fields we had cycled past.

I put it to our guide that the tracks seemed well used. “The French [people] love them,” she says. “In the summer they are even busier. But the autumn is always a good time to visit – it’s peaceful and not too hot to cycle.” Although the bars, restaurants and trails were busy, they are certainly quieter than in the summer months.

We take a break from bicycles and drive to Redon, where we hire a canal-boat that takes us to La Gacilly via the Nantes-Brest canal, which interweaves natural rivers with purpose-built stretches of canal. Towpaths run parallel for our entire journey. I found myself longing to join them on two wheels.

After arriving at La Gacilly, we visit the megaliths near the village of Saint-Just. The small windswept Cojoux moor is rich in the ancient stone remains that date back 8,000 years. Some stand more than 3m high, and look like large-scale versions of Richard Long’s land art.

The single-standing stones are of the kind carted about by Obélix, the strong-man friend of cartoon hero Astérix, and are called menhirs, from the Breton for “long stone”. Like Stonehenge, in England, no one knows who erected the megaliths, but they remain a defining feature of the Breton landscape. Further south at Carnac, I am told, they are even more impressive.

Respite from the cycling comes at a new eco-hotel and spa, La Grée des Landes, which sits high on a ridge in La Gacilly. The hotel is almost entirely on one floor, and blends into the surrounding woodland thanks to its wood and glass façade. Inside, the aesthetic is modern and that of a serious spa. While the restaurant is popular with non-residents, we decide that the best thing about the hotel is the stunning views it affords from each of its 29 rooms.

Despite this splendour, we resolved to go out for an early cycle on our final day. We were now a part of the undulating countryside we had been admiring from the hotel.

John Sunyer was a guest of the Brittany Tourist Board, www.brittanytourism.com
www.brittany-best-breaks.com