Paimboeuf

Cumul EV1: 420 km, Total 440 km

From Nort-sur-Erdre we reconnect easily with the EV1. The path takes us toward Sucé-sur-Erdre, the chic banlieue of Nantes, with its marina. The landscape is romantic along different canals that look almost private, the hamlets are charming, but a few unexpected hills bring us sweating to the harbor of Sucé where Catherine has already arrived. We enjoy a happy coffee on a terrasse, time flies when seeing old friends..
Nantes awaits us, which we must get across today to reach the next campground 55km away, for a total of 75km from our starting point.
The EV1 runs alongside a busy road to Nantes but the scenery stays green. We enter the City of the Dukes of Brittany through the university district and make our way down to the Capitainerie (harbor office) on the Erdre river, which is set in the japanese botanical garden. In these very exotic surroundings we decide to eat our sandwiches and watch the urban life unfold..
In Nantes the main cycling axes are integrated in the middle of the avenues, between the two lanes, which is quite challenging, especially when reaching a roundabout where the cyclists are driven to two concentric circles marked on the ground in the epicenter of the roundabout !
But it does function as we can’t but follow the flow of the energetic locals…
L’Ile de Nantes has an ambiance of its own, with hangars converted in alternative bars and restaurants. A mesmerizing installation from Buren consisting of circles of light punctuate the Quay des Antilles.
We don’t meet the animated elephant this time and connect directly with the South bank of the Loire where the end of the Loire à Vélo is commun to the Vélodyssée.
This is not the most scenic part of the trip but there are some highlights like the trendy fishing harbor of Trentemoult or the isolated village of “La Montagne”, reminiscent of l’Ile de Ré, but on a steep hill!
We smell the first flowers of Chalef (eleagnus ebbingei), a very boring perennial plant used widely on the Atlantic Coast for hedges. Its numerous tiny gray flowers bloom in September when the powerful fragrance, sweet and spicy, takes over every street.
The Canal de la Martinière starts in a bucolic setting but slowly brings us to a repetitive deserted worlds where the road ahead of us seems endless.
Amidst this emptiness the Camping du Migron has of course closed its restaurants (and didn’t answer the phone). We decide to cover the 11km to Paimboeuf, where the promise of frozen fish and chips and pizza gives us wings!
The beautiful -and expensive- camping is set in a majestic forest of pine trees facing the harbor of St Nazaire which lits up at night across the Loire like a mirage in the desert.Read more