Our eldest daughter’s birthday today and last night we
managed to facebook call her, very quietly, from our pitch black tent. Modern technology can be so useful when you
are away from your loved ones.
Campground for the night |
Woke about 7am when the normal stomping, blasting, singing,
beeping and every other adjective you can imagine comes into action here. The
day had dawned clear and the sun was already showing signs of creeping above
the trees to warm our tent. After washing some socks, we sat in the tent
discussing options for a small ferry which will take us from Royan, over the Gironde
estuary and plonk us on a long stretch of French coastline, famous for its
beaches, swimming and surf….yahoo. After a few days of head and cross winds, we
are looking forward to a few swims, even though the sea yesterday was around
fifteen degrees, when we took a dip in the late afternoon. The most awkward
part about this stretch of coast could be lack of campsites and that means
power and that means no blog. We’ll see what happens.
Why wouldn't you? |
Phil and Elizabeth were late to get up and when they did get
up, said they had been quite cold through the night. It had been very cold and when I checked my
phone about 8am it said 10C, but the sky was blue so things should warm
up. Luckily Pete and I have thicker
sleeping bags and I also chucked my merino on and we were nice and cosy and
slept well.
An impressive 12th century church in St Palais-sur-mer where our camp was. |
We breakfasted and packed the tent up, by which time the sun
was shining on the pool. It looked so
inviting that we had to jump in for a swim before setting off about
11.15am. Had a lovely ride along a quiet
road with it’s own cycle path along a very affluent area on the outskirts of
Royan. Cruisy riding along wide
promenades delivered us to the inner city.
Unlike most French towns, this didn’t seem to have an old part of town
(guess it all got bombed in the war), but the whole city had a lovely relaxed
seaside vibe.
Beautiful beaches all the way round to Royan and mostly cycle paths |
We found the Super U Express and went in for lunch supplies
and by this stage the sun was fierce and the wind was making it’s presence felt
again. So when we spotted a little
recess at the side of the supermarket, in the shade, out of the wind, with
somewhere to sit and a makeshift table in the form of a stack of wrapped timber,
we decided to lunch there. It was
perfect and we enjoyed a delicious lunch of sardines and tomatoes, followed by
a nectarine and a coffee and almond cake.
Pete here: Funny what kicks you get from something so simple
as a nice lunch on the road. You can keep your fancy meals in your riverside or
beachfront resorts (and I know some people think I’m just being a cheap bastard
right now) but it’s true and Julia will be the first to agree (even without her
arm being twisted up her back).
Who needs five star restaurants? Sardines and tomatoes never tasted so good! |
As we finished packing up, here come Elizabeth and Phil.
They went to find a food place as our supermarket had shut for lunch and we met
them a few minutes later down by the front. All cycled along to the Ferry
terminal and paid five euros each for our crossing across the bay. There were
about ten other cycle tourers waiting with us and I got talking to a girl from
London. Her and her boyfriend were cycling to Milan, then hopping a plane to
Cyprus for three months in a flat, before flying to South America, Colombia to
spend time there. There are people travelling constantly and that is half the
fun of this experience, you get to touch base with them.
On the ferry |
As we rolled onto the ferry, we got talking to an Aussie guy
called Shaun, same age as me….twenty nine…..ok ok , fifty nine, and it was his
birthday too. He had been a teacher and taken early retirement, then invested
his money. Since 2002, he’s been coming to Europe, cycling, every year, usually
for three weeks. He spent the short thirty minute trip talking to us and then
when Elizabeth and Phil went off to find a hat and sunglasses, he rode with Ju
and I for the next five kms, before taking off on his own. He mentioned running into a 75 year old Swiss
guy who was on his way back to Switzerland.
We said, “It wasn’t Hans-Peter was it?”
And he said yes it was – we had met Hans-Peter at the campground right
before we got to Nantes – small world.
We continued down the Euro Velo 1 route cycle track until we
reached Soulac, which had a beautiful beach, which we couldn’t pass up for a
swim. Headed into the water and it was cold, but refreshing on this hot day.
Spent some time in the water before probably a fifteen minute sunbathe. Whilst
here, we are not going to rush past these gorgeous beaches and if it means we
get behind, then so be it. Bet the people who know me never thought they’d hear
me say that…!
Soulac has a mini Statue of Liberty. I know the French gave the Americans their big one - why this little one is in this town, I have no idea! |
Soulac was a funny town.
You would think perched on this amazing expanse of golden sand that it
would be a thriving little community, and maybe it is in summer. But in autumn it has a sad, neglected feel
and it looks very rundown in places. We
spied two big apartment blocks (and they seemed to be the only apartment blocks
in town), that had graffiti all over them and their windows smashed in. There was nobody living in them and we
suspect maybe the sand had subsided underneath them and made them unliveable.
Dilapidated apartments |
Now that's what I call a beach!! |
Amazing cycle paths laid on for us here |
Ever since we got off the ferry, the cycling had been
amazing. Flat cycle paths with good
surfaces through pine forest past beautiful beaches was the order of the
day. Luckily the forest kept the wind
from being too much of an issue as it was a very strong crosswind (offshore)
when we were out from the trees. There
looks to be quite strong swells and currents on this coast as the water seems
quite churned up with the golden sand.
We heard from Philip and Elizabeth that they had checked
into a municipal campground in Montaivert where we arrived about 6pm. Looks a
bit rundown, but will do us just fine.
There’s a surf/yoga camp across the road so we feel right at home. Put
the tent up and Shaun was there too, along with several other bike
tourers. They were all going into town
for a drink and invited us along.
However, going out for a drink in France can be an expensive business, whereas
buying your own and bringing it back to the tent, is unbelievably cheap. Less than half what you would pay in NZ, so
the four of us were happy to stay in the now empty camp and have dinner at the
picnic table and a few drinks.
Elizabeth had found a free washing machine (which is like
gold in cycle touring), so we put a load of washing on and hung it up to see
how well it fares overnight. One of the
other cycle tourers plugged into the camp power socket with his adaptor and
offered us the use of the power, which we all gratefully accepted. Have to say, we are doing really well keeping
everything charged and the big powerbank we brought with us has been awesome.
The other thing that has been awesome, has been the
discovery of 8.6, a Dutch lager, varying in strength from, 8.6 – 11 per cent.
Tonight, I decided that two would be the right quantity to offload over a blog
and dinner. That was incorrect. By the time I had my shower, toward 9pm, I was
literally leaning into the shower walls, just to keep myself upright and the slightest
thought that I found amusing, suddenly
turned out to be hilarious and I caught
myself laughing hysterically. My bed was a welcome relief.
Good to hear from you guys again at last. BTW, who was it keeping themselves upright in the shower after drinking 2 x 8.6s? I can imagine Ju doing it, except I thought she'd be more of a wine drinker. The thought of you like that Pete, is even funnier!
ReplyDeleteYes it was Pete.
DeleteThe ironic thing about commenting on your blog is that every time I do, I get asked to tick a box to prove I'm not a robot. And every time, I go ahead and tick said box, just like a robot.
ReplyDeleteHahaha, hilarious!!
DeleteAs per comments in last post , good to hear you are still alive and been people trafficked by the French mafia. Your travel writing royalties will be reinstated in the Swiss bank account. Sounds like that coast is lovely for cycling and Pete sounds like 2 of those beers is def your limit. Hey they are Dutch , get drunk by only having to buy and consume two whereas here you would need to buy 4 bottles of anything to get same result. If you consume 3 then you’re off into town looking for a fight.
ReplyDeleteAnd Irena you MUST be a robot as I don’t get the same request when I post a comment
Man, I gotten proof read my comments before hitting send but you get what I’m trying to say despite missing words!
ReplyDeleteYes you realise I have to decipher what Pete's written when he has a rant don't you. So yours is easy!
DeleteDaylight saving – NZ clocks go forward this weekend. I did a quick google and there's no time change in France, Spain and Portugal as their clocks don’t go back until the end of October. I was surprised to learn that Portugal is in the same time zone as the UK, so is one hour behind France and Spain. You two bright sparks probably knew this already!
ReplyDeleteYou're joking aren't you - we don't even know where we're gonna sleep each night! Good to know Anne, esp when it comes to supermarket opening times!
DeleteLove reading your blogs. Sounds like you are having a fantastic time and meeting some great people . Irena, I have to keep proving I'm not a robot
ReplyDelete