25th September (sunny, windy, cool) 63 km

Woke this morning at just after 7am, to a very cool start to the day. Neither of us had slept particularly well, for me it was the noise from outside the camp, cars, trains, people and suchlike. Took what we needed over to the common room to have a cuppa before breakfast, to begin the day well. We’d gone over early for another reason as well. Julia had received a phone call from Dad at 6am, which sent warning signals straight away, but when we thought about it, he’d been having trouble with his phone set up and we think that this was just one of those things.

Began breakfast and in walks the kiwi guy we met last night. He was telling us about his stove and why he loves it so much. It’s funny cause you do get different purchases that are favourites in the way they perform day in day out. Had a bit of a laugh with him, then I took the dishes to wash whilst Ju carried on blogging.  Back at the tent I began packing up. Wandered back to get Ju and she was chatting to Brody on the phone.

All packed up, we hit the road on our way to Royan, further down the coast. We had a couple of options. First was continue following Euro Velo 1 cycle path in a very circuitous route through all the neighbouring villages – with the blustery wind continuing today, we pretty much ruled this option out as it would mean heading straight into it.  Another option was to use a ferry to cross the river but we had already missed the last morning sailing and it wouldn’t operate next until 2pm, so that ruled that out.  The third option was to cross a very busy bridge on a dual carriageway.  Having first ensured there was a bike lane in the form of a painted bit on the side of the road, we chose the third option. Have to say, with the wind once again gusting and the heavy traffic, it was not a pleasant experience, but at least it was only a km long, rather than the 4 km bridge to the island the other day.

Next challenge

Julia here:  After that we chose some minor roads through to Saint Agnant which should link us back up with EuroVelo 1.  Sure enough, we spied a cycle path under the bridge we were crossing and that was EuroVelo 1, but before we joined it again, we suddenly realised it was midday and we didn’t have any food.  So many villages have no shops open in the early afternoon and we didn’t know what sort of places we’d be cycling through, so when we spied a boulangerie just up the road, we sprinted up there to get in the doors before she closed for her siesta….or whatever they do when they close for three hours in the afternoon.

Pete and Elizabeth on the old railway line.

Once we had some pastry delights in hand, we were happy to join the cycle path which appeared to be an old railway line through the trees.  It was very scenic, flat and direct and the surface, although not sealed, was reasonably good.  It was here that our two English 70 year olds from yesterday caught up with us and we all had a cruisy chat up this path.  Roger is definitely the more talkative of the two but both he and Dave seem like really nice guys – and they cycle at a good pace!

We had about half a kilometre of rough surface after this before it lead onto meandering sealed roads through marshland, canals and little fishing lakes.  Quite scenic in a bleak sort of way, but absolutely no protection from the wind, which was luckily more with us than against us today.  It was pretty cold today due to the wind and I only swapped my trackpants for shorts about 1pm.

We were on the lookout for a sheltered place to eat our bounty, but there was nothing until we got to the next town of Marennes.  We spied an Intermarche supermarket and went in there for more supplies and they had a couple of seats under a false palm tree in their foyer area, so we sat on these and finally devoured the goods from the boulangerie that we’d bought over an hour beforehand.  It was here that we lost Roger and David and we didn’t see them for the rest of the day.

I think this figure was supposed to entice you to the beach

Pete here: The afternoon consisted of steady cycling on road, often with a cycle path to the side, rather than the EuroVelo 1, as it had you going all around the world and with the wind again today, we didn’t fancy that. At about 4pm, we found ourselves down at a gorgeous beach, with golden sand. Just the opportunity for a swim. Changed in the bushes and wandered down to the beach, where we had a choice. To the left, there was a swimsuit area and to the right, was the nudists. Why is it that all nudists seem to be older, single gentlemen who have let themselves go, who like to strut up and down the sand, gradually invading others space. I’m sure Julia and Elizabeth wouldn’t have minded a nice bit of Greek Adonis, strolling up and down, but alas it was not to be. I wouldn’t have objected to some nice eye candy myself, but I can’t recall even seeing a female there.

Dried off and pushed on for Royan, firstly on a track, then on a road. At one point we lost Phil and Liz as they shot ahead and Julia and I turned off for St. Palais sur Mer. We sent them a message saying we had found a Super U supermarket so I lubed my chain, whilst Ju shopped for dinner. She heard from Elizabeth that they were in a four star camp just down the road, so we cruised down and joined them at Deux Plages, which was 15 euro per couple.

Elizabeth on the lovely cycle path over the sand dunes to finish the day.

Got the tents up and then Ju and Elizabeth jumped in the pool for a swim while I blogged.  By the time Ju finished swimming it was 7pm and going quite cold, so I just went straight for a shower while she blogged.  Dinner was mackerel in a delicious mustard sauce with a can of green beans thrown in and a baguette.

A good day of cycling today making good ground without the terrain being too demand