Day 9 - Vannes to Angers

Two hours east of Vannes saw us arriving at Angers, in the Pays de la Loire region (where they make most of the wine). 

Pays de la Loire (in red) 

The Campsite du Port Caroline is our home for a couple of nights. It's a lovely campsite; a bit smaller than the last two, but it's got a pool and a bar, so we're happy! It also had a pop up food truck this evening, serving crèpes and galettes (savoury pancakes), so we both had a Nutella pancake for dessert 😊

We arrived just after midday, but they hadn't quite closed the reception, so they booked us in. If we'd been any later we would've been waiting until 2:30pm (mustn't mess with the French lunch break!).

After a snack and a bit of research from Lee, we headed out on the bikes for a ride around the local area. Lee uses an app called Komoot and it's great for finding local rides, wherever you are. You can choose what level of ride you want (easy, intermediate, etc.), and how long you want to be out for and it finds routes that match. 

Todays ride has been my favourite so far; along quiet country lanes, a bit of country park and past rivers. The hedgerows are in full bloom here and don't get cut back, like they do at home. They're full of buttercups, oxeye daisies, cornflowers, plus a few I haven't seen before.  I have to resist the urge to stop every 20 seconds and take a photo - we'd never get anywhere!

However,  I couldn't resist taking a photo of this fella when I saw him in one of the lanes: 

It was pretty big (at least the length of you middle finger) and it could run faster than me! I guessed it was some sort of moth caterpillar, as they're usually much bigger and much more striking than butterfly caterpillars. And I was right; this is the caterpillar of the goat moth (Cossus cossus). It will eventually turn into the moth below:

Goat moth (Cossus cossus)

A few more from today's ride:


We're hoping to cycle into Angers tomorrow, but there's rain forecast, so we'll see. 

For now, I'm sat outside the van listening to a cuckoo and a green woodpecker calling in the nearby trees. 

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