Taden

Just did the route in reverse order. Starting from Rennes and ending in St Malo. It's a wonderful trail. We used bikes and did it in three stages. First stop in the Gîte de Courgalais, which is shown on the map. A great place to spend the night in an old lockkeeper's house. Great breakfast too! It's somewhat difficult to find accomodation along the route using something like Google Maps. Maybe because the small establishments don't pay Google what they want to show their places. There are actually more little B&Bs along the canal than you may find with a quick search which cater exactly for the hikers and bikers doing the trail. Our second overnight was in DInan. We had overestimated the last stage from DInan to Dinard. It's just around 20 kms and mostly very comfortably over a disused railway line, ie very flat and straight. One of the disused stations along that stretch also offers accomodation. Most of the trail is hard gravel or sand. Easy to cycle on but definitely slower than on tarmac. I'd say less than 10% of the total distance is on tarmac. The way we did it we had a fairly long second day, with around 45 kms for that day, while the last one was just over 20. A better second overnight stop would be before reaching Dinan. Or after DInan, if you start in St Malo or Dinard. The signposting along the route is generally quite good. But there are some spots where you have to use your imagination or instinct. For example, from Léhon to Dinan you can go on either side of the river. But one side, the right bank, is a very easy, flat tarmac path, while the left bank is a pretty uneven and narrow boneshaker of a path through the woods.