Reader Q&A: Cycle barriers on the Roscoff to Concarneau bike route

Published by Andrew on 21 April 2017

We received the following enquiry via our Facebook page about the cycle barriers on the Roscoff to Concarneau route. Are they OK for bike trailers?

Roscoff to Concarneau is the red No.7 route.

Hel asked:

Hi,

I wonder if anyone could advise me please. We're thinking of cycling from Roscoff to Concarneau at the end of August. Our daughter will be in a trailer. Would just like to know if the barriers are wide enough on the path for a cycle trailer? It's mentioned they're narrow in a guidebook. Would also be grateful for any other tips for this route. Many thanks.

Our answer was:

We threw this one out to Harold, who runs Red Dog Books, which specialises in cycling guides for Brittany. You can find more about cycling in Brittany in the 3rd edition of Brittany's Greenways.

Harold writes:

"Hello Lyn,

Here's a few thoughts for your enquirer.

The short answer is don't worry about it - you won't be the first cyclist with a trailer from Roscoff to Concarneau. Just dismount if it looks difficult.

I think the 'narrow' warning referred to one of those barriers made up of two half-barriers where you had to weave between them. They were set a bit too close together. Usually barriers are only a bar across the track and most trailers would pass underneath them, but go slowly or dismount just to be sure.

Where there's a single barrier right across the track, cyclists will have made a path to the side of the barrier and this can be narrow and uneven, but again the trailer will pass under the barrier. Worst case scenario, you may have to temporarily detach the trailer from the bike.

As the V7 between Morlaix and Rosporden was one of the first green ways, the priority was to stop motor traffic using it. The most difficult barriers for cyclists will have been modified over the years. Later green ways tend to be better designed from the start."