Alternative road route from Roscoff to Carhaix-Plouger

[Kernowboy]

I am looking for a suitable road route as an alternative to the vioe verte from Morlaix to Carhaix-Plouger as I find old railway lines somewhat boring over long distances. The D769 seems to take you most of the way, has anyone had any experience of this road? Is it busy by French standards?

[Gearoidmuar]

I've done most of those roads in my time. Go through Huelgoat. Well worth a look, fab near the river etc. I haven't done the railway route, strangely. Carhaix is a bit of a one-horse town. The horse is actually dead!

[ChrisF]

Yes, D769 is great. Nice quiet but wide road, gently climbing up towards Heulgoat. Divert to the D14 at Berrien to go to Heulgoat (nice little town, good cafes for lunch). Then down along the river to join the D769 again. Done it several times.
I've also done the D9 / D54 way but it wasn't as interesting. Still quiet roads though.

[Kernowboy]

Thanks Chris very helpful

[Swallow]

[quote="quilkin"]Yes, D769 is great. Nice quiet but wide road, gently climbing up towards Heulgoat. Divert to the D14 at Berrien to go to Heulgoat (nice little town, good cafes for lunch). Then down along the river to join the D769 again. Done it several times.
I've also done the D9 / D54 way but it wasn't as interesting. Still quiet roads though.[/
This is the route a friend and I used when cycling from Morlaix to Carhaix-Plouger. I think it used to be the main road but was superseded by a new road so is little used. By the way, there's a bar in Carhaix run by an expat Cornishman that makes great pasties

[Kernowboy]

Thanks Swallow, I will check it out and compare with a Philps

[al_yrpal]

The 'rock garden' or huuuge boulder garden at Huelgoat is a diversion well worth gawping at. IMO most of the Voies Vertes are pretty boring routes often hemmed in by trees so you cant see and enjoy the nice countryside and villages. I now avoid them. Brittany's roads are generally very quiet and I cannot think of any occasion when I found the traffic there unpleasant. I would say any route will be fine.

Al

[bretonbikes]

The V6 cyclepath is lovely but I wouldn't recommend it for pure road tourers - the surface is poor/muddy in places and 32mm tyres would be a minimum, ideal for an expedition tourer - if that sounds interesting then it is much more interesting than your average cyclepath.

On the other hand the road route is excellent and yes go into Huelgoat as a small deviation if you can. The D769 is very beautiful and as quite as some country lanes with a good surface and will take you via Berrien and D14 to Huelgoat (if you do want to stop there) and thence the D769 all the way to Carhaix. You don't say if you are camping or not - if so the campsite at Carhaix is excellent - the town 'OK' it's too big really to have the character of Huelgoat.

You'll get an idea of the route we use here - http://www.bretonbikes.com/hotel-based- ... based-tour

If you are staying at a hotel then the Hotel du Port at Morlaix http://www.hotelduport-morlaix.com/en/ is the one we use and excellent and at Huelgoat the Hotel du lac ditto - http://en.hoteldulac-huelgoat.com/

Carhaix isn't blessed with brilliant hotels like this - but this one is Ok if a bit soulless - http://www.nozvad.bzh/

[Kernowboy]

[

The V6 cyclepath is lovely but I wouldn't recommend it for pure road tourers - the surface is poor/muddy in places and 32mm tyres would be a minimum, ideal for an expedition tourer ...
/

My wife and I will both be on 35c + tourers (mine's a Thorn Raven) so the surface of the V6 would not present any problems, its just that we thought we would pass through small villages on route when using the D769, and it would be quicker.

.... You don't say if you are camping or not - if so the campsite at Carhaix is excellent - the town 'OK' it's too big really to have the character of Huelgoat.

We are camping and having looked at your very informative internet pages many times I am now going to camp on my first night at Huelgoat and will spend the second night at Gourec (your site) with the possibility of basing ourselves there to do some of your day rides from your site, although we would like to make it to Pontivy and Josselin. We arrive in Roscoff on Sat 14 May and return from there a week later. The problem we have is that many campsites are not open in May and we need to breakdown the return to Roscoff into no more than 50k stages. Do you think this is possible and find campsites?. Alternatively we could use the odd hotel but would want to keep that to a minimum.

[bretonbikes]

[

The V6 cyclepath is lovely but I wouldn't recommend it for pure road tourers - the surface is poor/muddy in places and 32mm tyres would be a minimum, ideal for an expedition tourer ...
/

My wife and I will both be on 35c + tourers (mine's a Thorn Raven) so the surface of the V6 would not present any problems, its just that we thought we would pass through small villages on route when using the D769, and it would be quicker.

.... You don't say if you are camping or not - if so the campsite at Carhaix is excellent - the town 'OK' it's too big really to have the character of Huelgoat.

We are camping and having looked at your very informative internet pages many times I am now going to camp on my first night at Huelgoat and will spend the second night at Gourec (your site) with the possibility of basing ourselves there to do some of your day rides from your site, although we would like to make it to Pontivy and Josselin. We arrive in Roscoff on Sat 14 May and return from there a week later. The problem we have is that many campsites are not open in May and we need to breakdown the return to Roscoff into no more than 50k stages. Do you think this is possible and find campsites?. Alternatively we could use the odd hotel but would want to keep that to a minimum.

I think that being realistic Pontivy and Josselin will be out of reach at 50 km a day. You need to make Gouarec the turning point and as you've found the dearth of open campsites leaves a hole that you may have to fill with a B&B (ask if you want contacts) - Callac can be persuaded to open sometimes in May then I'd go to Locquirec on the north coast where the campsite is on the beach and lovely then once at the coast the campsite problems evaporate.

Let me know if you need more help

[Kernowboy]

[quote"]I think that being realistic Pontivy and Josselin will be out of reach at 50 km a day. [/quote]

Thanks for your advice, I will make Gourec our turning point. As I have followed part of your suggested camping route from Roscoff to Louqueric (and enjoyed it), and given the dearth of campsites open in May, I will return to Carhaix for one night and then to the camping at La Ferme de Croas Men following the D54/ D9.

In Summary campsites will be Huelgoat, Gourac (3 nights), Carhaix-Plouger, Croas Men and St Pol de Leon. Looking forward to meeting you on 15th May

[bretonbikes]

[quote"]I think that being realistic Pontivy and Josselin will be out of reach at 50 km a day.

Thanks for your advice, I will make Gourec our turning point. As I have followed part of your suggested camping route from Roscoff to Louqueric (and enjoyed it), and given the dearth of campsites open in May, I will return to Carhaix for one night and then to the camping at La Ferme de Croas Men following the D54/ D9.

In Summary campsites will be Huelgoat, Gourac (3 nights), Carhaix-Plouger, Croas Men and St Pol de Leon. Looking forward to meeting you on 15th May[/quote]

I love Carhaix )the campsite) - great showers;-)
See you in a few weeks...