Portsmouth, UK to Nantes, France: Bikes on the Ferry and French Trains
16 - 18 July 2019
Portsmouth, England to Saint Malo, France (16 July 2019, 274 km by ferry, 2.5 km by bike)
Today we leave the British Isles, and head back to France. We’ve reserved a cabin on the ferry from Portsmouth, UK, to Saint Malo, France. And we’re eager to reach Nantes, where we will resume our bike tour on EuroVelo 6, heading east across Europe.
The only problem is… the ferry crosses the English Channel overnight, so it doesn’t leave Portsmouth until 8:30pm. That means we will remain here in Portsmouth one more day. But given all of the horror stories we have read about tourers having their bikes stolen at tourist spots, we are reluctant to leave our fully loaded bikes anywhere around town for long. So we decided to stay in our hotel room until we had to check out at noon, then head over to the ferry terminal and wait there until we could board the ferry. It does not promise to be a particularly stimulating day, but our stuff will be safely with us the whole time.
Loaded up and ready to roll. We spent the morning in our Portsmouth hotel room, then hit the road to the ferry port at noon. Portsmouth, England, UK. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
At noon, we biked straight over to the ferry terminal. But we were disappointed to find out that this port doesn’t allow people to bring their bikes into the terminal. Maybe we’ve just been lucky, but up until now we’ve always brought our bicycles with us into ferry and train stations. It just feels risky to leave them unattended outside. And the afternoon was really heating up, so we didn’t want to linger out in the sun with the bikes. We asked one of the security staff if they had a suggestion for where we could go to wait.
He recommended a nearby pub, the Ship & Castle, where we could have lunch on their shaded patio with our bikes. That sounded good, especially since the dining options in the ferry terminal were, shall we say, limited. It was just a short jaunt over to the pub, where we relaxed at their outdoor tables, and had a tasty, filling lunch. The pub was small, with an even tinier parking area. It seemed likely that most of their customers were walk-ins from the surrounding port businesses. The pub had only one or two available parking spaces for anyone who arrived by car. But there was plenty of room for our bikes.
After lunch, we headed back to the terminal, and waited.
It was a really long wait. We couldn’t check in to the ferry until 7pm. We decided not to park our bikes in the bicycle racks that were located away from the terminal entrance, where we wouldn’t be able to keep an eye on them. Instead, we locked them together next to a window where we could see them from the waiting room chairs. That started a trend. While we were waiting, five other bike tourers showed up. And after looking around, they also parked their bikes near ours. Not surprisingly, everyone wanted to be sure their bikes and gear would be safe. Too bad we couldn’t just wheel them into the terminal. There was plenty of room.
Keeping a watchful eye on our bikes at the Portsmouth Ferry Terminal. Portsmouth, England, UK. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
At 7pm we finally were able to check in. The process went very smoothly, and before long we were on the ferry and settled in our cabin. We went out onto the back deck of the ship to watch as the ferry sailed out of the harbor. It was a gorgeous evening. We had great views of of the city and the port, where we saw many of the places we had visited, such as the historic dockyard, the round and square towers, and Southsea Castle.
View of the city as our ferry sailed out of the harbor. Portsmouth, England, UK. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
Our room on this voyage was tiny - much smaller than the one we had on the ferry from Roscoff, France, to Plymouth, UK. The setup included bunk beds, with a narrow space between the beds and bathroom. There was barely enough room to turn around. We were able to fit a couple of the panniers under the bottom bunk, but many of them had to be stacked along the side of the entry way.
Our cabin on the ferry across the English Channel. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
After our walk around the decks, we had a lovely dinner in the ship’s restaurant. The fresh salads were a real treat. Then we headed back to our cabin for the night.
Saint Malo to Nantes (17 July 2019, 186 km by train, 3 km by bike)
The seas overnight were pretty calm, but for some reason we both had trouble sleeping. Maybe it was because the ferry cabin was a bit warm. Whatever the cause, we were eager to get back to our bikes, and on the road to Nantes. We were the first people down to the bike storage area, and we had our panniers all loaded up before anyone else arrived.
Bike storage area on the Brittany Ferries ship from Portsmouth to Saint Malo. We’ve loaded up our panniers and are ready to hit the road. We were intrigued to see how many people left some of their panniers on their bikes for the duration of the ferry trip. Saint Malo, France. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
Our arrival in Saint Malo was blissfully easy. Passing through the EU customs and immigration process was a breeze. The immigration officer didn’t ask us a single question. He just stamped our passports and let us through. What a nice change from the grilling we got when we entered the UK.
PedalingGuy did a great job navigating us directly to the Saint Malo train station. And before we knew it, we had our train tickets to Nantes in hand. The trip would require a train transfer in Rennes. But the second train would leave from the same station, making the transfer a lot simpler than the one we had to do in London. Our hopes started to rise that this would be a relatively painless trip.
Our bikes, eagerly awaiting their free train ride to Rennes from the Saint Malo station. France. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
The trains for both legs of of the trip were on the TER (Transports Express Régionaux) network, also known as the local trains. They’re not as fast as the TGV, high-speed trains, but we preferred the fact that they did not require advance reservations for our bikes or us. The TGV trains are also more expensive, including having an extra charge for the bikes. Bikes ride for free on the TER network.
Boarding the train to Rennes, we didn’t have any trouble locating a car that could accommodate our bikes. The train cars were clearly marked with a bicycle symbol near the door. We rolled our bikes onto a car that had plenty of room for both of them. We didn’t even have to remove the panniers. It was almost too easy. We noticed that there were other people with bicycles boarding the train, and that there were multiple cars that had room for bikes. There seemed to be quite a bit more capacity for people traveling with bikes on these trains, than on the ones we took in the UK.
Our bikes just rolled onto the train from Saint Malo to Rennes. We didn’t even have to remove the panniers. Saint Malo, France. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
We arrived in Rennes on time, giving us about an hour to wait before boarding the train to Nantes. We found the layout of the Rennes station a little bit confusing. PedalingGuy ended up waiting on the train platform with the bikes, while I went to scout out the situation. After locating a place where we could sit while waiting, and figuring out how the platforms were arranged in the station, I went back to get PedalingGuy and our bikes. We settled in at a table next to a small convenience store (where we bought some rather unappealing sandwiches for lunch), and waited for our next train.
Boarding the train to Nantes was similar to the one we had ridden in the morning. We were able to just roll on our bikes without removing the panniers. So far so good. But one thing we didn’t count on was that this train was an express, with no stops between Rennes and Nantes. Right out of the station, it quickly picked up speed.
As we rounded the first bend in the tracks, our bikes swayed ominously. Then, when we hit the next curve, our bikes started to topple over into the aisle of the train. Yikes! We were sitting next to the bikes, and were able to grab them before stuff went flying. But after that, PedalingGuy got out the bungee cords, and figured out how to strap the bikes to the train. That wasn’t as straightforward as it sounds. The bike storage area wasn’t really designed to make it possible to tie in the bikes. They were just supposed to rest against the wall of the train. It was a close call, and we weren’t able to relax again until the train had rounded a few more turns without incident. Whew.
We arrived in Nantes around 2:30pm, and checked into a hotel right next to the train station. It was a good thing that it was early in the day, because we had some trouble getting a decent hotel room. The first one we were offered faced the train tracks and was noisy. In the second one, the air conditioning didn’t work and the room was hot. We finally settled into the third room. Overall it was comfortable, but the wifi didn’t quite reach this room, so the internet was nearly useless for the whole time we were there. I guess you can’t have everything.
Nantes (18 July 2019)
The last time we were in Nantes, in early April, we had been unable to visit any of the sights in town. We couldn’t find a suitable hotel in the heart of the city, and ended up staying on the far northern edge of the metropolitan area. On top of that, we weren’t inclined to make the journey back into the city because it was rainy. So this time we planned to get out and see some of Nantes.
As we rode into the city on our bikes last April, we were astonished to see the giant, mechanical elephant of the Machines de l’Île sauntering down the street. There wasn’t any doubt that we would go to visit the workshop, and see what other mechanical wonders they had created.
As far as we know, visiting Machines de l’Île is a totally unique experience. The elephant wanders around among the buildings on the island, carrying a load of passengers. Outside, there is a mind-bending carousel with a menagerie of fantastical creatures to ride.
A larger carousel, which we didn’t visit, re-creates a marine world with multiple layers of sea creatures. More animals (a heron, a sloth, a hummingbird, ants, spiders and more) are works in progress - being designed, prototyped and built in the workshop. They will populate a huge, whimsical, “heron tree” experience that is scheduled to open in 2022. We bought tickets to the workshop, which provides a “behind the scenes” look at the prototypes of the creatures being built for the heron tree.
The huge, mechanical spider lifts out of its nest in the Machines de l’Île workshop. A few tourists are given the chance to ride, and help control the creatures’ movements. Nantes, France. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
After visiting the Machines, we walked back through the city and wandered around the Chateau of the Dukes of Brittany. By then it was drizzling and the afternoon had turned colder, so we headed back to our hotel room.
Some fun bicycle art, outside a business in Nantes, France. We’re always tickled to see how people incorporate bikes into their art projects. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
Back at the hotel, the internet was down. Bummer. We decided to go out for dinner, and hope things improved by the time we would return. But even after the internet was repaired, it was still unusable in our room. We finally went down to the lobby and used the wifi there until bedtime.
