Apologies, I finished Day 1 on a bit of an EastEnders moment. Anyway this is how the charger saga unfolded.

After getting to breakfast early, so I could maximise the charging, I met a walker who put my charger issue it’s place (and made me feel better, although bad for her) as she had lost her car keys while walking yesterday. There’s always someone worse off than yourself.

Anyway from discussions with the YH staff, I had it on good authority that  Intermarche may sell chargers and that there was a shop 2 miles back on my route which opened at 9am Sunday. Checking online they had a 50 Euro (!) one shown in stock but if they used the same stock scheduling system as Wickes then I feared I might be disappointed.

So without dragging this out, I got one …. a French Apple charger (known locally as a golden delicious)…. for 25 Euros which was actually much smaller than the plug / adapter combo (if I wanted to try to justify the expense). So, despite grey skies and fine drizzle (but not enough for the waterproof) life was good again.

At  9:15am I set off at -2 miles and headed up along the Pink Granite Coast to Tregastel to see ‘strange rock formations’, which weren’t really that impressive (maybe it was the weather). I then rejoined Eurovelo 4, where the route followed houses built around granite rocks which were slightly more impressive.

I then continued on the undulating EV4 route along sandy tracks and trails, but cut off to visit the Perros Guirec an upmarket, picturesque resort which is actually twinned with Teignmouth (which I passed through on the scenic train ride to Plymouth).

24 miles by 12 noon was slow going mainly due to too much sight-seeing and shopping but also off-road sections (Rando Naturelle).

After a Croque Monsieur and cake for lunch, I pushed on to Treguiet and then Paimpol on a mixture EV4 and more direct secondary roads (both undulating) as I hadn’t anticipated so much off road and being on a road bike didn’t want to risk any serious damage. The grey skies had now given way to sunshine.

Today was actually Part 1 of the French elections, but you wouldn’t have known it. It wasn’t until 3:30pm when leaving Paimpol that I saw a polling station and a few people voting. I note that the press claim that it’s been the highest turnout for 40 years which is relative of course.

Getting to the outskirts of St Brieuc, I had a choice of routes to the Youth Hostel; a short route following an unknown gravel track, or a longer one which sent me down into the depths of the valley for a 1.5 mile climb up the other side. I opted for the exhilarating descent.

At 6.30pm after 77 miles I arrived at the Youth Hostel a converted 16th century farmhouse. Not only was I the only person in my dorm, it seemed like I was the only person staying there. I optimistically asked if there was a TV, but there wasn’t (I think that probably showed my age…..) so after a good clean up I listened to the last 15 minutes of England’s last 16 match against Slovakia in the Euros, pleased that I endured the climb rather than the match. Dinner was tandorri chicken, chips and rice from an Afghan who came to France 10 years ago and set up his business. A heart warming story (and stomach filling meal) to end the day when the Far Right seem to have dominated the elections.