Day 9 - Our second rest day

What a lazy day we had. Semi lie in with no cycling to chase us, it promised to be glorious and it was. Swimming, reading and general relaxing today made me wary of tomorrow's next stage down to Biscarosse.  It is going to be another hot day with 28C predicted with a lot of humidity. So more like 32C.

Mr B said there's a big hill around 40 miles to conquer - great. Just when it's really hot and you feel like melting.

So at the moment we are trying to even the balance between cycling and holiday.  Holiday very much on our minds so I need to break it gently to you my lovely readers that Chasing the Sun to Santander might need as name change to Chasing the Sun to Hendaye. Hendaye being the last French town on the Atlantic coast before you hit the Spanish border. We are seriously investigating trains to take us from Irun to Santander. I won't consider that a fail as we cycled France north to south by then and it must count for something! More about our evolving plans  later.

No photos as I left my phone in the tent before I went swimming!

Day 8 - And we thought it would be easy...

A day which we thought would be easy turned out to be quite a challenge despite it being 'just' 44 miles.

It started innocent enough with a long flat which took us through the pine forests with a cool morning breeze.

The road was tedious but totally off road.  Long straights with a bend here and there. It soon changed after 20 miles when we hit a forest with so many hills Brittany was looking like a preamble. On and on it went. The day grew hotter and hotter despite us setting off early trying to avoid it.

We had  brief stop for toilet paper (campsites in France don't supply toilet paper nor toiletseats!) before we hit the pedals again. The last 5 miles were relentless- why is it always the last bit?

We arrived just after 2pm - in time for a cooling shower. Here for another 2 nights (whoopppee!) before we tackle the next section.

Another rest day...

Checking the cycling map in one of the Pine Forests

Lovely bike paths (and me!)

Day 7 - Blissful beach day

Ok so no cycling today but instead a semi lie in and a fab beach day. It was cloudy most of the time but looking at our tan results you wouldn't say so.

Lunch overshot by two hours as we left all phones and watches back at the tent.

Chilled evening with a cheap bottle of white chardonnay (lovely by the way!), Camembert and a Baguette. Had to factor in Sunday tomorrow as France shut down at 12.30pm. A fellow camper lent us a table and two chairs - what bliss. 

We are booked in at a campsite 50mi from here so plan to leave early to get there over lunch time. Weather prediction is 32C !

Day 6 - Two bridges and a ferry

Waking up in the hotel room was fantastic. I slept like a log and felt less body ached than when we were tenting.

The route took us out of Rochefort and onto a good cycle path. A bit of a detour happened as we were faced with an enormous bridge and couldn't believe that we could cycle over it - but we did after finding the right way to go. The bridge looks like an upside down V and very steep. Not good if you are pedalling with a massive load on the bike.

More cycle paths followed and then we were faced with a second upside down V bridge. Again lowest gear to the top and a whizz down. We went through La Palmyre where we camped with my parents about 10 years ago - sweet memories!

The ferry cross the Gironde from Royan was good too as it provided respite from cycling. Arriving at the Port we saw the ferry leaving thinking we just missed it and that a wait will happen. Luckily they were running a double service so our ferry came pretty much 10 min after we arrived but it took another 10 min to offload.

Cycling down after we disembarked was a breeze through pine forests and all along the off road cycle path. Arrived at the campsite after 69.95 miles. Nearly 70 for the day. Tomorrow is our first rest day and I will be diving into the sea after my lie in.
Sitting outside the tent tonight we calculated our distances. An average of 59 miles per day with 6 days done. Not bad. We've also caught up with our deficit and is back on track with time.

Oh forgot to mention my huge accident...we bought dinner and Coke in Soulac.  Arriving at the campsite I discovered that one Coke that I carried developed a very very small puncture hole inside my bar bag soaking everything including my passport...what expensive Coke damage! Hope they let me back into the country with a Coke soaked and stained passport...! It looks aged...

It is a cycling holiday after all - too much cycling and not enough holiday - let's get the balance right.

Love the way the French decorate their roundabouts - wish it will take off in the UK

Ferry over the Gironde

And out comes a big tractor or harvester

On the Ferry across the Gironde

Me and Mr B

First bridge

Cycling through the pine forest

My hayfever escalated so much that I woke up with puffy eyes every morning - this photo shows some extent of it

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

Day 4 - Behind schedule

We think we are about 35 to 40 miles behind schedule. Oh well we will make it up somewhere.  My cycling legs only kicked in at 15 miles today. Takes a while to warm up.

A camping pitch was harder to find tonight. I guess Brittany isn't as attractive as the Vendee - sun, sea and beaches probably the main reason. We are in a municipal campsite tonight. It's more expensive than our 'posh camp last eve. Talking about last night, the screaming children on the trampoline only stopped at 11. I guess that's when the adults stopped their Bingo night.

I had the best Hamburger and chips last night ever! No real expectations but whoa when it arrived it was a bacon and cheese burger with homestyle patty and the best chips. Soft inside - crunchy outside. Absolutely fabulous.

I sleep with earplugs and even I could hear the screams from the trampoline.

Today was a fabulous cycling day. It started misty and before we knew it we had 30 miles done. We marked a place to sleep but decided to ride on when we got there. We had a brief spell when we were looking for a B&B at the local French Tourism office but everywhere were booked up so the search for another campsite continued.

Dinner was pot noodle, Caesar salad and a Sub loaded with everything. Yum.

We should hopefully see La Rochelle tomorrow. May we have the wind in our backs.

Miles done  56 miles
807 ft climbing (getting easier!)

Chateau De Talmont

Our little burner with a little (yes really!) kettle. Shows how small the burner is.

Another successful pitch

Day 3 - Who plotted 71 miles on a flippen hot day?

We pitched yesterday on a slight slope so I kept waking up feeling my feet at the bottom of the tent.

I've developed an attitude of hills? Ok - just autopilot. It was more gentle slopes today than big hills. The day was exceptionally hot and that tapped the energy out of us.

We cut the day short to stop at a campsite north of Challans.  We don't consider this a fail but rather the start of a proper summer holiday. We need some relaxing time too!

Tent pitched with the solar charger seeking the sun to charge the phones and Garmins

Best Hamburger in the world and I am NOT joking!

Results for the day