Courtoisville

According to John Denver "some days are diamonds and some days are stones". If that is true then there is no doubt that today would be a diamond in anyone's language. It began the previous evening when we joined together for an unforgettable dinner at one of the finest restaurants in St Malo. The Brasserie Du Sillon is situated right on the spectacular waterfront of St Malo, with huge windows that frame an amazing view of the Atlantic Ocean.

By some fortunate fluke of planning we also managed to coordinate our evening meal with the exact time of high tide. This meant that our meal was punctuated by the regular crashing of the waves against the window panes. Each time this happened it was greeted with a big cheer from our group. With the setting sun highlighting the silhouette of the old citadel it would have been hard to imagine a more impressive setting to celebrate the successful completion of section three of our 2017 rides.

The restaurant itself specialises in seafood and the food was extraordinarily good. A glance at the wine list showed bottles up to an eye watering 6000 Euros per bottle. Needless to say, I decided to stick to the much more reasonably priced mineral water.

The following morning dawned completely clear and the early morning waterfront views from the breakfast room were enough to make everyone fall in love with this beautiful city. The wild high tide of the previous evening had now transformed into a low tide which had sent the waterline hundreds of metres from the seawall. Dotted across the shallow water were dozens of small islands which had risen dramatically as the water level had fallen. At such times the broad flat sands become the preferred location for walkers, joggers, lovers. It took me quite some time to cross the wide sand and reach the water's edge. From this point I could view St Malo from a completely different perspective.

The temperature soon rose with the sun and some of us set off on a short ride for a picnic by the harbour. Equipped with baguettes, ham, cheese, tomatoes, pate and drinks we happily feasted like kings and queens while we basked in the warm sunshine. At that time none of us could have thought of anywhere else on earth where we would rather be. It was a day we will never forget.

In the late afternoon we returned to our hotel and noticed that dozens of people had taken advantage of the warmth and sunshine to dine outdoors. In the distance I could hear the enchanting strains of someone singing so I decided to investigate. It turned out to be a blind black busker with an incredible voice that I could have listened to for hours. I felt that he thoroughly deserved the small amount of change I had left in my pockets. It was the perfect ending to a magic day.Read more