Woken by soothing harp music piped throughout the ferry at 06:20. I roll over and switch on the window, with its view of blue sky and blue sea.

Sit in the bar with the many other cyclists, as instructed. We land/dock at 08:45. Due to maintenance work disembarkation takes longer than usual as cars are kept waiting while foot passengers walk through the car deck. Next off, people with pets. Apparently there is a whole section of pet-friendly cabins full of muzzled dogs. Who knew? Actually the pet owners, they knew. Then cars, caravans, buses, lorries, milk floats, hearses, tractors and anything else you can think of until finally at 09:10 the cyclists are allowed to leave the bar and head down to deck 3 for their bikes. We ride off along our own lane which peters out into nothing by the passport office and we have to try to force our way into two lanes of vehicles. Passport Woman™️ leaves her booth to shout at us that we should interleave amongst the cars, one bike at a time. Sweet Jesus! This is going to take all day! Our fellow cyclists allow us to go straight to the front as we have to be at the train station just after 10:00 – what a lovely bunch they are.

We share a quick chocolate torsade outside the station, yum, first French pastry of the trip. On the platform we meet Stephen, an ex-marine from Ilminster who is taking the same train as us to Nantes, then cycling for 3 months until he gets to the Black Sea. We spend the journey talking about bike trips, marines, politics, and all sorts. Halfway we stop at Rennes for an hour and sit in glorious sunshine enjoying coffee and sugary brioche. First French coffee of the trip! At 2pm we arrive in Nantes. Stephen adds me to a WhatsApp group so I can follow his progress and then we part company. Jackie and I cycle into the town centre and stop for lunch. She has falafels and I have my first kebab of the trip, yum! We both have chips.

Then south towards our first night’s camping. After a mere mile or so we hit the first route barré and it feels like our ride to Montpellier all over again. Through Trentemoult where we have twice played in music festivals with The Ambling Band and a host of French fanfare bands. Eventually we leave the city and ride on through verdant countryside. Ah, this is the life. After 16 miles we stop to eat M&Ms in a field. Only another 12 miles to go. It’s fairly uneventful and more of the same green landscape.

Arrive at the campsite and order two pressions (small draught beers). We pitch the tent in a cosy spot near a river, but not too close so we don’t get midge-munched all night.

A very short ride into town brings us to the only foodery that’s open on a Monday: A La Frite. Hmm, we had chips already with lunch. Oh well, no choice. The owner, Chip Man™️, sits with us for a short chat and he is charming. We gorge on fried food and head back to camp exhausted. We’re in bed by 10pm. Then the rain starts…

Good things today:

• Kind cyclists in the passport queue.
• Stephen, our train companion.
• First pastry of the trip.
• First coffee.
• First kebab.
• Beers at the campsite.
• Seeing a grape picking tractor that has extending legs and long wavy arms, like a crazy robot on a rampage.