Maps and territory by Arnaud Benureau

Lecture en 3 minutes

Maps and territory

by arnaud benureau, editor

Arnaud is a very good friend of mine, a founding member of the excellent creative collective Yodel in Nantes, an experienced writer and a cycling enthusiast. A good part of his life and his writing revolve around cycling. Last year, he gave us a rainy memory of a trip on his two wheels, and today he's taking us on board the Océane company, bound for Belle-Île.

A winter's evening. A text message: "Go and get some fresh air..." OK. But where to? There, we know by heart. Over there, we'll see later. Not too far away either for lack of time... That same winter evening. Another text message: "belle ile". No capital letters. No hyphens. No circumflex. No punctuation. OK. TER, then Compagnie Océane to finally arrive at the gates of the Palais.

"Your feet are almost in the water, and you have the pleasant sensation of being alone in the world. "

So alone in the world that for three days and two nights, we met almost no-one. With the exception of a few islanders leaning against the bar at La Godaille, slightly wary of our presence on their rock. The largest in Brittany. We didn't linger. It's an informal meeting of the Belle-île tennis club. And then, the next day, we want to see Belle-Île wake up.

The show is astonishing. Here at the Palais, you don't just see a city rise out of bed. It's an entire territory, a landscape, being brought to life. But nothing here is set in stone. And everything is constantly moving and changing: the light, the horizon, the scenery, the atmosphere...

"Under our wheels, the paths, the cycle lanes, the ridge that tears apart the island from Locmaria to Sauzon and the narrow streets pass by peacefully. "

Up close, no one. In the distance, still no one. In the vicinity, two walkers. We roam around Belle-Île in a completely anarchic fashion. We turn left whenever we feel like it. The same goes for turning right. We don't even know if we're supposed to discover the rock in a clockwise direction. North to south. East to West or vice versa.

According to our Garmin, we'll cover almost 200 kilometres on this solo breakaway. It felt like a lifetime. Every nook and cranny of the island collided with our front tyre.

We thought we were discovering Belle-Île out of season. We discovered it in high season.

Arnaud Benureau

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