After a sophisticated French breakfast in the drawing room, complete with cups and saucers, we left Montfort sur Meu at 9:10am. The D79 main road could have been busy but wasn’t given that it was Bastille Day and that most people were probably spending their bank holiday recovering from the night before.

The first stop of the day was for a coffee in Becherel where there were far more bookshops open than cafes. Not surprising as we learnt that it calls itself the ‘city of books’, which would have been more interesting for us if they were not all in French. It’s probably the equivalent of Hay-on-Wye and was a very relaxing and peaceful place, slowly waking up. It also had a Carrefour to allow us to stock up on lunch supplies.

After Becherel, Google directed us on quieter, but rolling roads (anything other than flat roads is always much harder on a tandem). Thankfully it was cooler today at 24 degrees. After a stopping for self-made sardines and humus baguettes in Mesnil-Roc’h the wind increased and sunny intervals gave way to grey skies. Rain was in the air and duly arrived 2pm, necessitating a brief stop in a suitably sized bus shelter.

A 3pm check-in to our hotel allowed us to watch Simon Yates win Stage 10 and Ben Healey from Ireland to take the yellow jersey in the TdF – he’ll never have to buy a Guinness again. Paying less for the ‘privilege’ of staying out of town had the benefit of a relaxing 1.5 mile walk into St Malo to look for food which we thankfully found in the Old Town, at a very reasonable price compared with the UK. We also found some street art on our return.

It had been a great short break, with so much to see and do. Although hard on the tandem, mainly because it wasn’t as flat as we’re used to, the heat and a lingering lurghi, it was really nice to still be able to complete 173 miles. My overriding feeling was that, on the surface, France to seems to be far more relaxed, pleasant and easy-going than the UK, something that was reinforced disembarking the ferry and driving home afterwards.