It might still be another day till Viv and Linton leave us but the cracks are already showing in our close knit group , "How am I going to ask for beetroot on my baguette when Viv is gone" said Henley! " Who's going to look after me when I make a navigation error" said Rick and even Noel was in on the act when he asked "Can I have Linton's daily Flan (cake) allocation when he's gone" !
With our good friends imminent departure on our minds and a 100km day ahead, we were in a sombre mood when we departed our "niceish" Le Atlantique Hotel even if gave the misleading impression it was on the beach when the beach was in fact 5 kms away !
With Henley just about recovered from the shock of removing his eye shades in the morning to see me standing over him with lips pouted (how else was I going to get him out of his comatose sleep !) we worked our way out of St Jean du Mont after first finding the seafront part of the town.
When we did it reminded us somewhat of the Gold Coast with its high rise holiday apartments and its large beachfront - the only difference here being was that there was barely a person to be seen !This theme stayed with us for the 40 kms it took to get us to Bretignioiles sur Mer for our morning coffee.One could only imagine that this area would be an incredibly crowded place in season with camping grounds, hotels, amusement activities and restaurants littering our morning path along the Atlantic coast !
When we did it reminded us somewhat of the Gold Coast with its high rise holiday apartments and its large beachfront - the only difference here being was that there was barely a person to be seen !This theme stayed with us for the 40 kms it took to get us to Bretignioiles sur Mer for our morning coffee.One could only imagine that this area would be an incredibly crowded place in season with camping grounds, hotels, amusement activities and restaurants littering our morning path along the Atlantic coast !
 |
| Harro on a mission !~ |
Having refreshed, we took the circuitous signposted Eurovelo 1 route that saw us cycle on just about every known surface to mankind, bitumen, sand, rocks, forest trails and occasionally even a small section of smooth road. On one section they had even started unsigned repair work forcing us to stand in the brambles to avoid oncoming Bob Cats and trucks !
For all the faith I have in Ricks navigational ability I was a little non plussed when we entered Les Sables D'One. Our route was clearly taking us down the wrong one side of the towns Harbour. With no bridge imminent I asked Rick if we were going the right way. "Yes he replied, the map clearly shows a road crossing the water"! Mystified and expecting Henley to soon hand out snorkels and floaties, our problem was soon solved when we spied another cyclist descending a ramp to await a solar powered electric Ferry ! Relieved we quickly descended the ramp following the cyclist horrifying the ferry operator who wondered how 6 fully laden bikes were going to fit on his tiny ferry.!
Somehow we all did Chinese puzzle style and undertook our shortest ferry ride on tour covering about 100 metres over to the other side of the harbour entrance.
 |
| Our tiny Ferry ! |
With so much stress on this beautiful day we decided to call lunch finding another of our favourite boulangeries. We sat out on the main street watching the world go by until Noel yelling his customary " come on " reminded us that we still had over 45 kms to go !
Leaving Les Sables was a delight riding along the towns expansive waterfront ( the town is apparently a stage in next years TDF) passing a section where even the French "boardies" were giving it a go in the good surf conditions.
 |
| Les Sables |
The route took us out along the rocky coast before cutting inland across numerous salt marshes where the brine colour of the water was clearly evident (.. no H had not polluted it !)
At St Vincent sur Jard we pulled in for our 2nd coffee of the day with just 15 kms to go partly because of the frustration of the local cycle signs which one moment said one distance to La Trenche and then a few hundred metres on mysteriously added another 3-4 kms !
 |
| H causing his usual on road havoc ! |
Rick guided us in to La Trenche and to our not so great and tiny apartments adding another one way "the wrong way" street to his impressive tally on tour
Sadly for Noel we were too late to take advantage of the apartments swimming pool where "budgie smugglers" were amazingly the swimming costume of choice !
 |
| Our apartments ! |
 |
| Budgies rule ! |
Tomorrow takes us into La Rochelle to sadly say goodbye to our dear friends !
Sent from Samsung tablet
No comments:
Post a Comment