No car for us today. Unfortunately it’s our last day in Dinan and we intend to make every minute count. The Dinan weekly market was on, so we trekked back up the steep Rue de Jerzual and voila, there it was! The Dinan market is huge, with many stalls of fresh fruits and vegetables, meat of every description, hundreds of varieties of cheese, breads, pastries and cooked foods to tempt all appetites. It was a veritable feast for both the stomach and the eyes! However, as we are leaving tomorrow and staying in a hotel in Rennes for two nights, we weren’t in a position to buy anything. Pas de problème, we just soaked up the atmosphere instead! Later, we had coffee at a little cafe in ‘la place’ and got talking to a french couple at the next  table. They were travelling throughout Brittany in their campervan and were from Blois, in the Loire Valley. They were very friendly and we chatted for ages. Monsieur could speak a tiny bit of english and I can speak a little french, so between us we managed very well! He said that they have journied quite extensively throughout countries near to France (Italy, Switzerland, England etc) and rarely do they meet other french people. We’ve heard that before. The regions of France are so diverse that the french often don’t feel the need to travel elsewhere, since they can experience so much variety within their own country.  It makes sense. He also said that he had trouble negotiating the ‘rond points’ (roundabouts) in England, because they drive on the other side of the road. We agreed!! It is a bit intimidating the first few times, but it doesn’t take too long to become familiar. In any case, there are a lot of ‘rond points’ in France, we’ve noticed, so we get plenty of practice!

This afternoon, we planned to hire some bikes (des vélos) and take a ride along the path besides the River Rance. Unfortunately, the bike hire place in town wasn’t open  and we were told by a lady at the tourist information centre that it isn’t open on Wednesdays or Thursdays. Interestingly, that information was not on their website, nor on the sign outside the business?? Tant pis, (never  mind!) we’ll do something else instead. However, all was not lost!  ‘Nous avons eu le chance’ (we had luck) as our neighbours in the ground floor apartment had two and said we could borrow theirs! Happy days!! Off we rode, not exactly into the sunset, but with big smiles on our faces at least. We rode for approximately 3 hours and it was brilliant. It was very beautiful next to the river and so relaxing. I felt very french, pedaling along. All I needed to finish the picture was a baguette in my basket!! (if I’d had a basket…)

Peut-être nos derrières seront désolé demain (maybe our bottoms will be sorry tomorrow), but it was a wonderful way to end a wonderful week in Dinan

Alors, demain, il est ‘ Au revoir à Dinan, mais ‘Bonjour à Rennes’!!