The day had finally come to split our group of 6 into 4. By way of saying goodbye to Viv and Linton we indulged in a group hug fest, wished them luck with their bike box packing and then rode off in great pelotonic order past the hotel as a way of final salute.
Within 30 seconds we'd returned riding the opposite direction after being told by "Navman" Rick that we were in fact heading the wrong way.
Another 30 seconds later and we'd returned once again now told that our original direction was in fact correct ! By this time Viv and Linton and a Swedish guest were rolling about laughing while i wondered out loud whether there was enough room on a nearby flagpole to fly the French Flag along with Rick and his bicycle
With Rick now on song we took the designated Eurovello route out of La Rochelle covering 40 kms to Rochefort by way of a mixture of sandy sea front paths, bitumen bike trails and minor roads thankfully avoiding the high speed dual carriage way that was sharing our direction.
We popped into Rochefort for a quick look and were lucky enough to find ourselves dock side by the beautiful French tall ship the L'Hermione a 3 masted ship used for seamanship training.
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| L'Hermione ! |
Moving on we came to a temporary dead end by the river exiting Rochefort having to wait for the ferry punt captain to finish his lunch which in France can take anywhere from 1-3 hours . Still we were glad to take a break in the shade under nearby trees trying hard to stay awake (in Noel's case impossible) before jumping back into action 40 minutes later !
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| Kev remembering his days of cycling glory ! |
Once our ferry captain returned it was full steam ahead as we cycled on "quietish" French roads - i say quietish as we'd begun to notice that drivers were becoming more agressive. One in particular blasted Rick for doing a turn without signalling (i dont know why!) while another on a motorcycle neatly split Noel and Rick in two as they put out their hands to signal an intended turn at an intersection.
We took a break at a supermarket 14kms out of Royan. I guarded the bikes while the boys went inside Henley finally emerging 25 minutes later with a single can of coke - "the cold section was hard to find" he said !
On the outskirts of Royan we faced an interesting navigational challenge either go down a signposted one way country road the wrong way or take a rough cross paddock trail for 800 metres !
Rick was up for a bit of "daredevil" by voting for the one way road to keep his impressive tally alive but the group decided it might be safer to put up with some bouncy terrain than to face a high speed combine harvester coming the other way !
Once again Rick took over guiding us home to our accommodation right opposite the huge sea front. Our hosts welcomed us warmly and we were finally able to relax !
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| The Royan Seafront ! |
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