La Vélomaritime long-distance cycle route: In Asterix's footsteps along the Breton coast

The French are quite proud of their Asterix, the smart and cunning hero of the world-famous comic strip. The Bretons, however, are even prouder of him and his fat mate Obelix, but the inhabitants of Erquy in Brittany are probably proudest of the pair. This is where Asterix's creators Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny are said to have located the village of the indomitable and invincible Gauls. As proof, the people of Erquy cite the picture under the magnifying glass on page three of the Asterix volumes. There they clearly recognise the three rocks off the coast of their town. Incidentally, small figurines of the two heroes are not only available in Erquy, but in many souvenir shops in Brittany. You don't have to understand why Asterix costs 9 euros and Obelix 10 euros. Maybe it's based on weight...?

Today, Erquy is a popular seaside resort. One of many on the Breton coast. We set out to explore France's largest peninsula on the La Vélomaritime long-distance cycle route, around 420 kilometres from Morlaix to the legendary Mont-Saint-Michel. The route doesn't always run directly along the Atlantic; completely impossible with this rugged coastline with its countless offshore islets, deeply indented bays and bizarrely shaped rocks.

>> From the Eiffel Tower to the Atlantic: the 450 kilometres of the "Veloscenic" long-distance cycle route wind elegantly through the hinterland to the seashore

Time and again, the Vélomaritime route branches off inland, through undulating farmland with sleepy villages and picturesque little towns. And regardless of whether you roll past the typical natural stone houses made of grey granite with blue shutters there or on the coast, they all have one thing in common. They are surrounded by a sea of flowers: Magnificent hydrangeas in bright shades of blue, pale and strong purple, light pink, dark pink, baby pink and various shades of white.

Thousands and thousands of blue jewellery lilies grow next to it. The Bretons have given names to all of their coastal stretches: Côte de Granit-Rose, the Côte d'Armor - which means "by the sea" in Breton - and finally along the Côte d'Emeraude, the Emerald Coast. However, the entire coastal region of Brittany could also have been named the "Côte des Fleurs". The mild climate makes it possible for even palm trees and bananas to thrive here alongside the most colourful flowers.

Steep cliffs and wide fields alternate

In the interior of the country, dark forests characterised the landscape in Asterix and Obelix's time, supposedly around 50 BC. The area was once called "Argoat, land of forests". But the forests fell victim to massive deforestation. Today, the inland is characterised by agriculture, criss-crossed by endless hedgerows, between which the Vèlomaritime cycle path runs. Buckwheat is once again grown here, the basic ingredient for galettes, the crêpe variation made from buckwheat flour that is so beloved by the Bretons. And you roll past huge fields of artichokes. These slightly bitter but extremely tasty thistle plants are also a speciality of Brittany. The sepals, the "heads" of the artichokes, look funny, almost like aliens, all little ETs.

Honestly, however, the best thing about the passages in the hinterland is that it always leads back to the coast. And it presents a different face every few kilometres. Low tide and high tide also ensure that the landscape in one and the same place changes every few hours. In the harbours and bays, countless boats simply lie in the mud at low tide. When the tide comes in, the yachts and fishing boats bob up and down on the water again. And the tide comes in quickly in Brittany. "À la vitesse d'un cheval au galop". That's how the French poet Victor Hugo once described it - "as fast as a galloping horse". "Dude, that's so cool," says Peter from Hamburg, who we met at Plougasnou. "I know it from the North Sea, but here it's really like someone has pulled the plug." The Breton coast has the biggest tidal range in Europe; only in the Bay of Fundy in Canada is it bigger. At Saint Malo it is usually 11 to 12 metres, at Le Mont-Saint-Michel even 14 metres.

You roll through an almost paradisiacal coastal landscape in a very special light and it couldn't be more relaxing. If it weren't for the many small, but damn poisonous climbs. They come around every third bend as surely as the next hydrangea. It never goes higher than 100 metres, but the so-called "Côtes" are damn steep with gradients of ten, twelve, 15 and sometimes 20 percent. And because I love eating as much as I love cycling, I'm slowly but surely getting closer to the figure of Obelix... That doesn't make climbing any easier. Unlike the fat Gaul, I didn't fall into the magic potion as a child, but getting off and pushing is out of the question, so sometimes it was quite a slog.

Sea of flowers and pink rocks

On the first day, we arrive in Ploumanac'h on the pink granite coast after around 80 kilometres and around 1000 metres in altitude. A small bay with shimmering turquoise water welcomes us, garnished with the most peculiar rock formations. No, these are not menhirs discarded by Obelix. These stony colossi were formed around 350 million years ago when liquid magma rose up from the earth's interior. The high proportion of feldspars ensures that the rocks glow pink in the sun. Worldwide, this rock can only be found in Corsica and faraway China. There are no limits to the imagination; you can read almost anything out of this chaos that has become stone: Napoleon's hat, turtles, skulls, witches or sharks. After dinner, we hiked along the customs officers' path to chill out on the Côte de Granit Rose in the best light and with a flat cider. We wanted to go swimming the very next morning. Good plan, we thought, and didn't reckon with our own stupidity. Because the tide was out in the morning and the water was gone. To paraphrase our holiday acquaintance Peter: it was as if someone had pulled the plug.

Never mind, we thought, there are still plenty of beaches to come. The journey continues, first to the peninsula near Plougrescant, where one of the most photographed motifs in Brittany can be found. A small house wedged between mighty rocks. An old, indomitable lady has been successfully resisting the sale of her home to the state for years - Asterix & Co. send their regards. The Pointe de l'Arcouest with the Ile de Bréhat off the coast is no less beautiful. And because of its colourful splendour, the Bretons call it the "flower island"; after all. Via Paimpol and the lively holiday resorts of Saint Quay-Portrieux and Binic, we roll on to Saint Brieuc with its mighty Gothic cathedral, before finally reaching Erquy. Once again, we don't get a chance to go for a swim. We decide against buying an Asterix key ring and instead ask ourselves whether the brave Gauls took a trip to Cap Fréhel from time to time. They weren't into tourism back then; hunting wild boar and beating up Romans clearly took priority. For Fabien Leduc from Abicyclette, Cap Fréhel with its historic lighthouse the highlight par excellence in his home country; and he becomes downright poetic and a little pathetic. "Every time I see the cliffs and this lighthouse facing the elements, a shiver runs through my body, as if I had entered the radius of an electromagnetic field with this lighthouse at its centre. In short: it's a real goosebump landscape. And we are lucky to be here in July. The heather above the cliffs shines in a softly glowing purple, the yellow flowering gorse provides the contrast. Looking from the cliffs over the emerald green water into the distance, it's easy to imagine why the Romans once thought this was the end of the world, the "Finis Terrae".

We cycle slowly but surely towards the end of our tour, to Saint-Malo, Cancale and Le Mont-Saint-Michel. In Asterix, the pirates are known to have been pretty stupid. Either their ship was sunk by the Gauls or they sank it themselves to escape the beatings of Obelix & Co. The pirates of Saint Malo, or more precisely the corsairs, were once highly successful in capturing foreign ships and making themselves rich. A letter of marque, the so-called "lettre de course", allowed them to pursue their morally dubious but highly lucrative trade on behalf of the king. They secured their splendid city with a massive wall. But it wasn't just the defence wall, almost the entire old town was destroyed in 1944 when the Allies stormed the German occupiers - and was faithfully rebuilt after the Second World War.

Crowning finale: oysters and Mont-Saint-Michel

This is probably why Saint Malo never made it onto the UNESCO World Heritage List - unlike Cancale. Although, strictly speaking, it wasn't the small fishing village that made it, but the oysters that are cultivated off the coast there. They have been a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Site since 2019. Everything here revolves around the noble shellfish; the cheapest and freshest way to get them is at the stalls of the small oyster market. A dozen cost around six to ten euros here. In high-end German restaurants, you might only get two or three for the same price. But things are by no means as refined here. You sit at rustic wooden tables by the sea, slurp up the slippery delicacy and simply tip the shells onto the beach. Only the lemon served with the oyster should be carefully disposed of in a specially designed lemon bin. As we slurp our oysters, we can recognise Mont-Saint-Michel in the distance. According to legend, Bishop Aubert of Avranches built the first chapel on the rock in the sea at the beginning of the 8th century after the archangel Michael is said to have appeared to him three times. The chapel became the world-famous abbey - France's most visited tourist attraction after Paris.

In a week in Brittany, we visited famous abbeys and cathedrals, climbed a lighthouse, tried to learn a few words of Breton, ate galettes and oysters and went on a guided tour of St Malo. But we didn't swim once on our tour along this fantastic coast. That alone is a reason to come back. And then we'll be sure to download a tide app and know exactly where the best time to swim is.

General information and cycle tour tips for the La Vélomaritime cycle route

Brittany is France's largest peninsula and is located in the far west of the country. The Gauls once called the region "Aremorica", which translates as "land by the sea". Our destination on Mont-Saint-Michel lies at roughly the same latitude as Paris. The climate, which is influenced by the Gulf Stream, is considered mild, with palm trees and bananas growing in Brittany, although it is often quite windy and rainy on the coast - apart from in midsummer. The tides are absolutely characteristic of the coastal region; in the bay of Saint Malo the tidal range is around eleven metres, at Mont-Saint-Michel up to 14 metres, more than anywhere else in Europe. French is spoken in Brittany, of course, but also Breton, which belongs to the Celtic language group. Almost all signs in Breizh, the Breton name, are bilingual. Around 3.3 million people live in an area of around 27,000 square kilometres. The capital of Brittany is Rennes.

Tour character

The signposting of the route is okay; mostly a simple bicycle symbol indicates the direction; however, the Vélomaritime symbol is usually so small that you can hardly recognise it. The route often leads directly along the Atlantic, mostly on small, low-traffic paths and roads, rarely on gravel tracks. Brittany has no mountains, but Brittany has many small hills that need to be climbed. The climbs are almost always short, but often damn steep, both on the coast and on the inland sections. Gradients of 10 to 15 per cent are normal, occasionally even higher. In this respect, only well-trained and ambitious cyclists should get on a trekking bike; an e-bike is recommended for everyone else.

GPX data

The GPS data for the MYBIKE tour on the La Vélomaritime long-distance cycle route can be downloaded from the DK tour portal:

Tour itinerary

Morlaix - Plougasnou - Plestin-les Grèves - Lannion - Perron-Guirec - Tréguier - Paimpol - Saint-Quay-Portrieux - Saint-Brieuc - Erquy - Matignon - Saint-Malo - Cancale - Le Vivier-sur-Mer - Le Mont-Saint-Michel

Arrival

Railway: In times of climate change, we decided against the supposedly faster plane and travelled by train. Once again, all routes lead via Paris, where you have to change stations - you can usually buy your metro ticket on the TGV. From Gare de Montparnasse (approx. one hour by metro including the walk from Gare de l'Est), the TGV then takes a good three hours to Morlaix. Travelling with your own bikes is rather difficult. The Thalys trains from Cologne to Paris only transport packed bikes, while there are now parking spaces on the TGV trains, but only a few. So be sure to book your bike in advance! Info: bahn.de and sncf.com/en

Bus: An alternative for travelling at least to Paris is the FlixBus. Bikes must be booked in advance as there is only room for five bikes per bus (e-bikes are excluded from transport). flixbus.com

Car: It is almost 1,500 kilometres from Hamburg to the north-west of Brittany. The route leads via Cologne north past Paris and via Le Havre to the destination. In addition to the petrol costs, this route incurs tolls of around €40 each way. If you are travelling from the south of Germany, the toll costs are almost twice as high due to the longer distance on the toll motorways in France.

aeroplane: There are only a few direct flights from Germany to Brittany, Brest or Rennes. Only from Frankfurt is it possible to fly to Rennes without a stopover. As a rule, you can fly to your destination via Paris, although there is now no need to change planes from Charles de Gaulle Airport to Orly Airport. Alternatively, you can also fly to Nantes (direct flights from Munich, Hamburg, Düsseldorf and Berlin); from there it is a three to four hour train journey to your destination.

Bicycle service

Abicyclette Voyages rents out trekking bikes and e-bikes, among other things. The minimum hire period for one person is five days, for two people three days. The trekking bike costs 69 euros for a rental period of three days, the longer you rent, the cheaper it becomes. To hire an e-bike for three days, you pay 126 euros. The price includes delivery of the bikes to the starting point and collection at the destination of the cycle tour. Also included are a helmet, pump, lock, bike computer (highly recommended) and a repair kit. Abicyclette Voyages also offers guided tours and luggage transport between the stage destinations.

Abicyclette Voyages Travel Agency81 mail François Mitterrand, 35000 Rennes, Tel. +33 230 964954, abicyclette-voyages.com

Recommended accommodation

Ploumanac'h: Logis Hôtel Saint-Guirec et de la Plage, logishotels.com/fr/

Paimpol: Terrasses de Bréhat, terrasses-brehat.fr/

Saint-Brieuc: Hôtel Edgar, saint-brieuc-hotel.fr

Erquy: Hotel Beauséjour, beausejour-erquy.com

Saint-Malo: Maison des Armateurs, maisondesarmateurs.com

Food and drink

Anyone who Mussels, oysters and other seafood will really feel "like God in France" in Brittany. Cancale calls itself the oyster capital of the country and the shellfish from there have even been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2019. If the mere mention of oysters makes you shiver, you don't have to worry about starving. Lobster, prawns, periwinkles and whelks (bulot and bigorneau), scallops, "moule frites" and various fish dishes are on the menu all along the coast. If you don't like that either, meat is of course also available, and by French standards, the restaurants often offer vegetarian and sometimes even vegan dishes.

Brittany is famous for its Artichokes and of course for the crêpes and galettes (crêpes made from buckwheat flour), which are filled with all kinds of delicacies, from sweet, apple sauce, sugar, Nutella etc. to savoury: goat's cheese, andouille (sausage made from offal) and fish. Even the kebab comes in the form of a galette kebab. The "national drink" of the Bretons is the Ciderthe slightly sparkling cider with an alcohol content of around 3 to 5 per cent by volume. If you like cola and/or need a little sugar kick on the go: the Bretons have come up with the Breizh Cola has even launched its own delicious variant on the market. The Breton butter biscuits are ideal for on the go; the caramel au beurre salé (salted butter caramel sweets) are nasty seal pullers, but sensationally delicious.

MYBIKE tip:

Ty Prince in Erquy: This usually doesn't work well when a restaurant offers too many different specialities. The Ty Prince successfully proves the opposite: There are fresh delicacies from the sea, delicious pizza and dishes from the wok. The place is buzzing and the service is incredibly fast and friendly. 1, Rue de la Saline, Tel: +33 296723173.

Excursion tips and places of interest along the cycle route

Morlaix with its impressive viaduct and pretty half-timbered houses is a kind of total work of art, just like Tréguier in the centre of the country. The Pink granite coast is already a real eye-catcher, a walk in the evening atmosphere over the Publicans' path is not something you are likely to forget in a hurry. One of the most popular photo motifs in Brittany can be found on the rugged rocky coast near Plougrescant; the House at the Pointe de Château. If you want to take a whole day out, take a trip to the magical Ile de Bréhat. Saint Malothe old and thoroughly impressive corsair town, suffers acutely from "overtourism" in the high season - but you should still see it. The same applies to the absolute highlight at the end of the tour: the Mont Saint-MichelThe inselberg with the abbey is known as "La Merveille" (The Miracle) in the middle of the Wadden Sea - officially in the Normandy department, however. Not only a visit to the walls, but also a guided mudflat hike is recommended.

Maps and literature

• Travel guide to Brittany, Michael-Müller-Verlag, 24.90 euros
• ADAC, holiday map of Brittany, scale 1:200,000, 9.95 euros (only makes sense as an overview map).
• Abicyclette provides a small tourist map free of charge.

Info

• lavelomaritime.com
• tourismebretagne.com
• Atout France - French National Tourist Board, P.O. Box 100128
  D-60001 Frankfurt am Main, en.france.fr/en
• bretagne-reisen.de