Day 16 - St Jean de Monts 66 kms - "Dead fish sighted at Passage du Gois"!

There's been some suggestions that our cycle tour of France has been pretty cruzy and is all about baguettes and cakes as most photos seem to include one or the other !

While I 'm eating a baguette let me categorically refute that ! In fact cycling at close quarters day after day is pretty damned difficult. A case in point was this mornings tiff between our main navigator Rick and our deputy back up navigator Noel, within a few hundred metres of leaving our hotel. I the tiff might have been over something serious like who didn't get the fluffy pillow the night before but the boys were actually arguing (Noel says debating) about which way we should be heading .. this could be serious indeed !

We'd left our pretty nice two star hotel late saying goodbye to our receptionist (remember the one who was not interested in turning our double beds into singles) who feigned interest in our journey with as much sincerity as Henley does when he praises non Bulldogs football players.

We were aiming to achieve a cruzy 60 km (With baguettes and cakes of course) cycling to St Jean du Monts by way of the famous Gois causeway at low tide !

What a delight our early morning ride was. The sun was out, our navigators had kissed and made up and our cross country riding on road and trails was just pure bliss ! Heading towards Beauvoir sur Mer for lunch and to kill some time to allow for low tide at Gois, we passed a series of wind turbines.  Noel was quick to retort on how quiet they were (unlike Australian ones) and how unlikely they would be to interfere with any bird species ... the fact they weren't even turning because of no wind may have influenced his opinion !

Henley trying to explain where we are !  

Despite yesterdays boulangerie success we actually had to ask for directions to Beauvoir's equivalent.  Here we stocked up on the usual then helped ourselves (read Henley and Harro) to numerous hanging pears while sitting out the back of the shop in what was ostensibly someones private garden !

While Harro was circumspect Henley walked away with a barrow full of fruit ! I reminded H of the outcome following the last time that he picked and ate fruit (Apples in Germany) where he didn't appear from the toilet for 3 days but he didn't seem too concerned !

Rick in medieval Beauvoir Church

From Beauvoir it was only 5 kms to the causeway which quickly turned into 10 when we went round the roundabout numerous times waiting for Rick to get his bearings back !

The Passage du Gois is an amazingly unique location and considered a national monument in France. Its 4km long causeway in use since the 18th century, is submerged under 13 feet of water for most of the day and is only open for 2 x 3 hour periods at low tide. It has been used in 2 TDF's and is also the venue of a yearly foot race that incredibly starts at the onset of high tide !

The PDG is potentially a very dangerous road and has a number of towers placed across the causeway to allow pedestrians or car drivers trapped to take refuge - small comfort if your nice new car floats out to sea !

We'd got to the causeway expecting to wait for the nominated low tide period but it was clear on our arrival that the road was passable. We'd jokingly discussed  plans in the event of a puncture and how we'd get up a tower with our bike ! If all else failed and it looked like we were going to be stuck up the tower all night we reckoned we'd just ring Dominos pizzas coz if you don't get it in 30 minutes you get it free !

We cycled on the partly cobbled and slippery surface stopping at one of the towers to take photos when our own very real emergency occurred. Henley having jarred his undercarriage cycling on the causeway desperately needed to pee, the only problem being was that the causeway tower we were standing on was prominent to all and sundry and many feet away from the receding water. That didn't stop H though  ("when you got to go you've got to go") although we do suspect that tomorrows newspaper headlines might have as a lead story "The mystery of dead fish found floating in the sea near the Gois causeway !)

The amazing Gois causeway !

Exiting the causeway we cycled briefly towards the Fromentine bridge (links the island back to the mainland) before debating whether to ride the main dual carriage road or an off road trail.The fact that we allowed poor Rick to cart his bike over a 6 foot ditch on to the road while we debated the merits of such riding and then decided against it causing Rick to clamber back over the same ditch should not be read as us having anything against him !

Our ride  over the bridge provided for great views before we reached our last section of the day a  beautiful meandering forest trail ride over 20kms directly into St Jean de Monts. What a great way to finish.

The Fromentine Bridge !

Magical forest Trail to St Jean

With our accommodation again not open till 6p.m. we overdosed on coffee before finally entering our rooms and then going out for a meal in the centre of town to an Irish pub where the owner much to Harros disgust had stopped selling Guiness because of poor sales (go figure !). The food though was good !

An Irish pub with no Guiness ! 

Tomorrow is a full 100 kms on the beautiful Atlantic coast as we move ever closer to the end of part 1 of our journey at La Rochelle where we bid adieu to our dear friends Viv & Linton !

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