CHAPTER X.
ON THE ROAD IN BRITTANY—MAYENNE, FOUGÈRES, LAVAL, AND VITRÉ
IN general aspect a Breton country-side differs widely from those of Normandy. Here one comes upon hedgerows and an occasional bit of stone wall, quite as one sees them in England.
The towns and communities of Brittany are less numerous and less populous, too, than those of Normandy, and paving is uncommon in the towns, and were it not for the steep ascents and descents, by which one leaves such places as Mayenne, Fougères, Josselin, Auray, or Quimperlé, this would prove quite a blessing to the automobilist. As it is, while they give variety to one’s journey by road, they do not by any means permit of “plain sailing” at all times.
The great national road from Paris to Brest crosses mid-Brittany, after leaving Normandy, at Pré-en-Pail just beyond Alençon. It passes through the great towns of Mayenne, Fougères, and Rennes, where it joins the highway from Paris by way of Chartres, Le Mans, Laval, and Vitré.
From Rennes this road, No. 24, runs straight, almost as the crow flies, to the tip of Finistère, by Montfort-sur-Meu, Loudéac, Carhaix, Huelgoat, and Landerneau to Brest.
This takes one through the very heart of Brittany, though by no means is it the most interesting or the most prosperous. Mayenne, Fougères, Vitré, and Laval form a quartette of Breton towns which, taken as a whole, have characteristics quite similar, and yet different from those in other parts. Virtually, they are all hill-towns, and therein lies their resemblance, though their careers have been varied indeed.
The run down into the valley of the river Mayenne, as one comes into the town of the same name, is a wonderfully delightful and gentle descent of perhaps a dozen kilometres. There is nothing very terrific about it, nor is it of the frankly mountainous order, still the eminence to the eastward is sufficiently elevated to give a singularly spacious appearance to the landscape above the river valley itself; indeed, next to that magnificent run down into Rouen—from the height of Bon Secours—it is one of the most splendidly scenic roads in all North France.
