Early starts

After a hot, sticky and noisy night with a lot of tossing and turning but not much sleeping, we were up at 6.00am and left the hotel in the pitch black to get the first ferry across the bay - leaving Charente Maritime and landing in the Girande. We were across the bay and on the road by 7.45am in an attempt to miss the worst of the heat. We cycled virtually the whole day on traffic free cycle paths with a smooth Tarmac surface, first following an old railway line, then through ancient woodland on properly surfaced tarmac trails and when we did have to follow a road there was a separated 2 lane cycle way along the side. We popped out in enough villages to get refreshment, but kept going to try and reach our destination before the worst of the heat - we have seen readings of 34 and 35 degrees over the last 2 days - but in fact today wasn't quite as bad, partly because we were in trees much of the time,  but also because the wind is slowly changing direction and was off he sea today.

It was supposed to be 51 miles today, but somehow ended up being 67, partly due to the fact that he hotel I booked is a bit outside town, so we had to return to eat this evening. Nothing much of interest happened today, so I though I could bring some of the oddities we have encountered to your attention.

First of all - hands up who knows what happens in an 'Animalerie' or a 'Herboristerie'? I can guess what goes on in a 'Sandwicherie' although not sure I could bring myself to use something of that name.

We have seen a lot of signs for 'Pedicure / Podologue' - any ideas on a podologue? I put the word into my electronic translator, but the I- pad gave a Gallic shrug and refused to provide an answer. Also wondering about 'Californian Medelage' or in fact any other form of Medelage and why would anyone want to eat caramel flavoured potato crisps? These intriguing international issues tend to keep us occupied over our daily dose of domestos blended with paint stripper ( or house white wine as they tend to refer to it as over here).  I had to keep Chris away from the tattoo and body piercing boutique today - he seemed quite keen until he saw the proprietors. I was a little concerned about the advertised 'accessories' - tassles for your nipple ring perhaps?

We are staying in a posh establishment with air con tonight, although the bright orange bathroom is a bit weird, but marginally better than the pinky peach last night - we reckon the latter is the French equivalent of avocado in the UK.

It looks a bit as if the heat wave might be on its way out and I can't say I'll be sorry, although might change my tune if we get days of uninterrupted rain. We have seen literally hundreds of cyclists today carrying everything from surf boards to tents to shopping to picnic tables - nothing too big or too unwieldy to be strapped on somewhere to endanger anyone else on the path ( fishing rods are a particular hazard.

Mad dogs and British cyclists!

So that would be us then! After a good night's sleep in an air conditioned room we got up at 6.00am to make sure we got as far as possible before the heat got too bad. The route was billed as 75 miles following this bike route I mentioned, but we reckoned a lot of it was on rough track and hence slow, so we decided to plot our own route by quiet road - which in the end we were relieved to find was only  63 miles, so we were nearly here before it got seriously hot.  Having had so many problems finding our way into La Rochelle, we were pleasantly surprised to sail out the other side with no problem. In fact most of the morning was incident free apart from our encounter with a tree chopping machine - see picture below. We didn't even have any major navigation problems and with some masterly navigation ( she said immodestly) we slid round the side of the only large town on route (Rochefort). I was a little surprised at how quiet the road was until we discovered that the only bridge across the river had been declared unsafe for motorised vehicles so only bikes and pedestrians could use it. It was a rather attractive suspension bridge (see below), but not the safest I have ever come across.

We passed field after field of sunflowers and did find some that were still in full flower, again shown in the pictures. I had a bit of a scary moment as we cycled past an enormous field of dying plants, the strong wind meant that they were rustling loudly and appeared to be whispering to each other. All I could think of was 'Day of the Triffids' one of my all-time favourite books ( the film is spectacularly bad, but the book is great) and how the plants communicated with each other, before trying to exterminate the human race.  Certainly made me turn the pedals a bit faster.......

We got to the next village along the coast from the town of Royan ( our final destination) for a late lunch, having already done about 57 miles. We expected to find our hotel just around the corner, but it was another 6 miles in the baking heat before we tracked it down. As it is called the (not very) 'Grand Hotel de Plage' we thought it was safe to assume it would be on the beach. What we hadn't reckoned on was how many beaches there are in Royan. Anyway we finally made it here safely, with time to rinse out some sweaty gear, which is fluttering attractively on our first floor balcony.

I am wondering when the Mechanic is going to spot that we have only had one cycling day, out of 10 to date, that has been less than 60 miles, despite the fact that I assured him the average distance per day was only just over 60 miles. I am keeping quiet for now, although at least tomorrow is shorter as we are taking a ferry first to avoid having to negotiate our way round Bordeaux.

Observation on the many French cycling enthusiasts we have seen (as opposed to normal people doing their shopping etc on 'sit up and beg bikes'. The groups we have seen are all exclusively male and all appear to have to wear identical kit - I am guessing that it is fashion crime not to all wear matching shorts and jerseys. There also seem to be a lot of these groups out cycling at all hours every day of the week, so perhaps the whole of France really does go on holiday in August.

Long and hot...

This about sums up the day! We set off at 8.00am and got a good start, although we had to add 3 miles to the route just to cross from one side of the harbour to the other. There was an excellent separated bike route along the coast, although the runners using it could have done with being a bit more aware of the fact that they were on a cycle path! Anyway we made good time down to La Tranche sur Mer, which was a seething mass of humanity and almost impossible to cycle through. Some of the cyclists were moving so slowly that it was a miracle they didn't fall off their bikes and don't get me started on the pedestrians....

We stopped there (after 32 miles) for a drink and some food. I eventually forced my way through the crowds to a boulangerie where I got 2 cold drinks and 2 squillion calorie custard slices to keep us going - as well as a baguette for lunch. We then fought our way out and continued down the coast until the route disappeared down a rough track saying 11km to a town that I could see from the map was only about 3 miles away. As the day was already shaping up to be both long and hot we headed up the road and rejoined the route inland in the flatlands, strangely reminiscent of the Somerset levels. Some more rough track followed, but we barely noticed as we had our eyes glued to the endless fields of sunflowers - sadly past their best as most of the heads had turned down.

We made our big mistake by deciding to follow the signed route to La Rochelle, rather than the on- road route I had marked back in England. We seemed to be going in circles and eventually found ourselves riding on a rough dirt track by a canal. After a few miles of this we abandoned and got off on the next road we came to, eventually getting back to about half a Mile of where we had been 1.5 hours earlier. After that all was fine until we hit the outskirts of La Rochelle, traffic everywhere and no road names that we could see. We asked directions a couple of times, but I suspect something got lost in translation. We eventually made it to the hotel after 80 miles, not sure how we did it and a bit worried about ever finding our way out again.....

We then had to try and fathom out yet another type of shower ( how many ways can there be for mixing hot and cold water and ejecting it through a shower-head?). I think I am about ready to write a thesis on the subject. We were able to eat outside and watch the (whole?) world go by in La Rochelle - it was still stiflingly hot at 9.00 pm and the forecast is for it to get hotter over the next couple of days. At least this hotel is air conditioned. 

We have now completed 600 miles, my thighs are monstrous and we have eaten our body weight in French bread and bananas. We have missed the giant tombola (whatever that might involve), the magic show and more circuses than you could shake a stick at. Perhaps our luck will change tomorrow! Pictures include the sunflowers, signs we were following and a stray cyclists

It's a jungle out there!

I am referring not to cycling in France, but rather to the delights of a trip to a French supermarket - of which more later. As reported yesterday today was a 'rest' day - which inevitably seems to end up being more tiring than a day on the road.  The best bit is the night before when you don't have to pack your panniers ready for an early start, then being able to turn over and go back to sleep when, by force of habit, you wake up early. It is very quiet here, at least until mid-morning so we slept late and then had a very leisurely breakfast before getting started on the 'chores'. First up was a trip to the supermarket to top up food supplies and get some cloths for cleaning the bikes. We had a choice of small, medium and large establishments, so chose the small one as it was nearest and we didn't need much.

We cycled down as it was a 3 mile round trip and found it really easy to ride without the loads - good news for the mountains to come at least. Anyway, if this was a small supermarket may I never have to visit a large one! The car park was jammed with a marshal out to stop people coming to blows over spaces. The Mechanic sensibly stayed withe bikes while I ventured into the maelstrom. Think a cross between the first day of the Harrod's sale and Tesco on Christmas Eve when there are rumours of food shortages  It was HIDEOUS!!!!  I queued for as long to weigh 2 bananas, 4 tomatoes and 2 nectarines as I did at the checkout. Things were not improved when the woman in front of me at the fruit and veg (British I'm afraid to say) decided this was a good time to let her small son weigh and price her fruit and veg. I was at screaming point, so much so that I was afraid I had actually called him a moron out loud - honestly how can you not identify a banana from a picture! For most of the items it turned out that he didn't even know what they were in English, never mind French, and couldn't identify the pictures.

At last I got to the front of the queue and all went well with the bananas and nectarines - then came the tomatoes. I hit 'Veg' and nothing came up for toms, so remembering from some pub quiz that toms are actually fruit, I decided to try that - again nothing. I was starting to get a bit flustered as the queue got restive behind me, so I mustered sufficient French to appeal for help. All hell broke loose - none of the French customers could locate tomatoes either (and they nearly all had some) - this led to much voluble discussion at high speed until help was summoned and tomatoes were manually typed in. I skulked off and forgot to buy the batteries - but survived to tell the tale. I simply can't believe how bust it was at 11.30 on Monday morning. We aren't in Kansas any more Toto!

After all this the laundry and bike maintenance seemed like a rest cure and all got done in time for a late lunch.

This afternoon we finally got to go exploring, nearly got queue jumped by a 6 ft plastic alligator and witnessed the amusing sight of hundreds of sun worshippers on the beach having to pack closer and loser together as the tide came in. There are bicycles everywhere in France and I was pleased to see that the road along the seafront had one lane for cars (one way system of course) and a wider lane for bikes to travel in both directions. The traffic is so clogged that people use them to get everywhere - the supermarket even had 2 bike parks.  

So we are now clean, the sun is shining again and we have had our day off - time to get back on the road. Pictures do not include my experience in the supermarket, but other parts of the day off

IL PLEUT!

Just so you know, yesterday's post appears below this one!

If you are one of the Irish contingent reading this you will know what I mean when I say that it was a soft day (talking about the weather not the cycling). It sort of drizzled with varying degrees of intensity for most of the day, however unlike a soft Irish day it was very windy - a headwind of course!  We left Pornic on the Velodyssey route but abandoned when it started to disappear down a rough farm track. We also noticed that one of the roads it uses is only possible at low tide - if you got there and couldn't cross the causeway it would be a monstrous diversion, so we bailed out early and slid round the potential obstacle. Navigation was even worse than previous days, not helped by heavy traffic and bad weather.  In fact I have to ( reluctantly) admit that if the Mechanic didn't have a compass on his handlebars we would probably still be circling St Jean de Mont! 

We did our longest day so far - 76 miles- and even then had cut a few corners. If anyone can come up with a good reason why the French don't use road signs pointing to places that the road actually goes to, please let me know. We did manage a few quiet roads, but navigation issues and distance meant that we did more than we would have liked on busy routes. One thing that took us by surprise was the Sunday opening hours here. If supermarkets are open at all on Sunday it is morning only. We sat outside a (closed) hypermarket at 1.30pm having lunch and sheltering from the rain in the entrance, while hordes of people cruised slowly past in their cars checking to see if it was open. We rode through a couple of big sea-side resorts straight after lunch and can report that on a wet, windy Sunday afternoon a French sea-side resort looks much the same s a UK one, with fewer anoraks on display!

We have noticed that in the main French drivers are really considerate when it comes to cyclists - but it appears that on a Sunday afternoon all bets are off!! We are now comfortably settled in our accommodation for the next two night, as tomorrow is a non cycling day. We have a small holiday apartment on the coast at Les Sables d'Olonne and don't have o pack the panniers tonight, which is a big deal on a holiday like this.

I said I would tell you about the fat and sugar hits here - the only word is rubbish! Where are Zingers when you need them???  Fussy little 'pastries' are no substitute for zingers / twinkies / Mississipi mud pies and Grandmas cookies. As well as the strange tale of the eclairs I can exclusively reveal that we bought fresh milk (allegedly) with a sell by date in mid September, only to discover that it had already gone off.........

Pictures today include proof positive that French farmers are an odd lot and some pictures of previous days in better weather

Ferries, flat tyres and ferocious wind

Wi-fi does not appear to be working so am writing this and will post tomorrow (hopefully). Got off to a reasonably early start (it isn't really light enough to ride until well after 7.00am so no really early mornings). Started sunny and then got really misty, to he extent we needed lights and reflective jackets. This was fortunately short lived as the sun soon burnt the mist off. Our 50 mile day became a 72 mile day due to a last minute wobble about riding over he St Nazaire road bridge - a notoriously dodgy exercise if people are to be believed. Our most sensible alternative was to head south east to hit the Loire estuary further inland and then take the free ferry across to the south bank. 

We needed 2 bananas for lunch (otherwise we had only some day old baguette) and I made the mistake of venturing in to a hypermarket on Sat morning. I only did this because it was the only shop we passed, but starvation soon seemed to be the lesser of 2 evils. Suffice it to say that if you have ever been frustrated with self service checkouts in the UK, try one in France when your French is basic and you have forgotten to weigh the fruit ( or in my case were not aware you were supposed to). After this delay the Mechanic found his rear tyre was a bit soft - a slow puncture was diagnosed - so we did a 'pump and run' to get us across on the ferry before changing the tube. Just about made it OK, but by the time we had put a new tube in and had some lunch the winds had gathered force and we were riding straight into the teeth of a gale for the afternoon.

Talking of lunch - I bought 2 coffee eclairs as a treat for lunch, but then discovered that breaking into the packaging required a small charge of dynamite or a sharp knife, neither of which I had to hand. While trying to force entry to the multiple layers of pre-formed plastic I noticed the sell- by date was 2 weeks from now, which seemed quite a long time for fresh cream - at which point we discovered that our definition of a fresh cream eclair would appear to be slightly different to that in France!  While engaged in this intellectual challenge we were able to observe the indecision of 2 Italian cyclists. The crossed the Loire from south to north on he boat that we then boarded from north to south. At he last minute they came back on behind us. The chap asked what side of the estuary the Velodyssey route into Nantes was on, to which I replied that it was on the south side. We all got off and there was the sign, so off they pedalled. We were half was through changing the tube when they reappeared and got back on a boat going south to north.....!!!!!

We have very posh accommodation tonight (also rather pricey like everything else round here). To compensate we had 'dinner' in the local chippy serving (I quote) Belgian specialities. Burger and chips????  Salmon lasagne????   The chips were certainly good!  For some reason the portrait shots are now working, so a better shot of the flower filled gendarmerie, Anyone for golf?, two bods and a chateau, plus someone caught caught posing on a ferry

B

How can we get lost? Let me count the ways.....

Culture is alive and well in the land of baguettes and bikes!  We managed to find an open pizza place last night and had a superb meal, complete with a carafe of house wine which would have put most high-class British eateries to shame ( although as the Mechanic has just pointed out we have never knowingly been to a high-class anything). We had a bit of a surprise this morning when the raisin bran cereal we selected turned out to contain not raisins as we had assumed, but lumps of dark chocolate. While a cut above cocoa pops it still wouldn't have been my breakfast of choice.

Today we left the very rural part of Brittany we had been in and although we were hardly in an industrial landscape, we certainly went through more towns with more business parks than previously. We decided to stop trying to be clever with the navigation and use some more obvious roads, although still avoiding the equivalent of 'A' roads. This meant the road surfaces were better, so we travelled faster, giving us more time to get lost - which we did several times. I find it hard to follow a map when only a seemingly random selection  of roads and places are included on it. This led to a 70 mile day and slightly frayed tempers, although as we were going faster we still arrived in Redon by 3.30pm.

The place we are staying is fantastic and one of our cheapest nights. Effectively it is a B&B, but we have a huge room with a living area (including rocking chairs) and a big patio area with table and chairs. Pity it is miles to walk to get anything to eat!  Anyway I said I would explain French road arrows, which initially added to our navigation issues. Those of you familiar with British OS maps will be aware that when a hill is marked with black arrows to show how steep it is, the arrow head points downhill - not so in France, where they point uphill - which led to some early confusion in the holiday. In addition one black arrow at home means >14%, here it means 4-9%. Two black arrows at home means 20-25%, here it is 9-13%. Three arrows at homes means forget it, get off the bike and push! Over here it means >13%, so quite a difference.

Thing I love most about France at the moment - they let you open your hotel window as wide as you like! Basically if you want to throw yourself from the 10th floor, on your own head be it (probably quite literally).  I do rather resent having to pay the equivalent of the national debt of a small African country for 2 cans of diet coke - but I suppose you can't have everything. 

Warm and humid today but cloudy, sun on previous days - first showers forecast for Sunday, but their forecasts are probably no more reliable than ours. Photos at the start are of the Chateau in Josselin and the Mechanic relaxing at our accommodation. The last is at our lunch stop in Maelestroit. The I-pad is refusing to accept any pictures in portrait format, so selection limited today.