Day 5 - Do the French get subsidies to buy their own brand of cars?

If I got a penny for every Peugeot, Renault and Citroen I've seen then I'd be a billionaire. I saw my first Ford Fiesta and VW Beetle today in France. They stood out as being the anomaly rather than the frequency we have in the UK which begs the question why do the French stick with the French brands. Mr B thinks it is pure nationalism. I agree.

My route plotting is generally ok but today was a partial fail. We were on some hideous parts of the EV1 which were just tracks here and there with poor signage. I might mention this to ECF in a casual conversation...I plead guilty to the plotting but Mr B was supposed to look them over.  Need I say more! 

I got my first view of the sea as well and wasn't it glorious! We were so close last night in Jard-du-Mer and then this morning in La Tranche sur Mer but no view and not even a sniff of that fine salty air that tells you where you are. I was so happy seeing the sea finally!

Looking at the French map tonight I think we might be halfway down France. If it isn't achieved today it must be tomorrow when we go through Royan. There is a large Ferry involved which will take us over the Gironde. The crossing is about 3 miles and takes about 25min.

We passed through some good agricultural areas today with sunflower crops ready for harvest and maize on the other side. At one point it reminded me of a particular area in South Africa called the Free State.

Stopping north La Rochelle to look at the map, a car pulled in next to us and a man got out to ask if we were ok and needed any help. He claimed to have seen my Cape Town cycling top so we think he must be a rugby player. He even asked if we were ok with lunch and Mr B pointed to his bulging rack bag.

We ran out of electrical juice last night and just managed to charge my Garmin to get us here today. Mr B was riding on electrical vapour via his Garmin and my phone was dead - no battery. So strapping the solar panel to my bike (as Mr B was carrying lunch and needed access to his rack bag) we connected the power bank to get it going. Not sure how much it helped today but I was very conscious about the expensive equipment behind me on the bike.

67.7 miles done
1267 ft climbed

Silly bike paths with small and infrequent signs - not good!

Another municipal campsite