Day 30 – Esnandes to La Rochelle

Thursday June 2, 2011, 18 km (11 miles) – Total so far: 1,046 km (650 miles)

We just did a short cycle ride today and stopped the night in La Rochelle. It was a hot day.

We went to one of the waterfront restaurants which reminded me of the tavernas in Greece when we did our sailing holiday.

Mike chose a big bowl of moules for starters. Moules are mussells but these were smaller than pipis! I had no idea what I ordered, but it was an assortment of seafood in a creamy sauce. I should have chosen Moules.

For mains, Mike had sardines and I had steak. Then for desert I had creme brulee and Mike had ice cream.

That was our day in La Rochelle!

Today is Sunday, so yesterday we stocked up on food as the shops are shut here on Sundays.

Where in New Zealand can you get all of the following for only NZD $10?

12 cans of beer
bacon
10 eggs
bag of pasta
large bar of chocolate

We made use of our day off to do some washing. Do you like our clothesline?

Day 25 – Notre Dame de Monts to Givrand click link for route

Saturday May 28, 2011

Today was mostly flat riding along the beach. We cycled passed a few hideous Surfers Paradise style towns with semi-high rises right on the beach. We are very glad to be here in the off-season – these places would be heaving in the summer time.

There also seems to be a sudden saturation of camping grounds – a lot of them with English pubs advertising Stella on tap!
“That’s probably the only way the woman can get her bloke out here is if there is an English pub selling stella!” I commented to mike while sipping on my stella in a pub in the camping ground. Well, we didn’t have much choice, and the camping is only 10 euros. Seriously though – we wouldn’t be drinking Stella at the bar, that would be way too expensive for us. We much prefer drinking our 22c lidl beer around our campsite.

Our camping site is a nice grassy pitch rather than the sandy ones we have had recently. The sand campsites seem to be full of little red spiders which were starting to creep me out.

Day 22 – Pornic to Le Frandiere

Wednesday May 25, 2011

Yet another stunning day. We continued to head south down the coast towards an island which can be reach via a submerged road only when the tide is out.

We arrived at the submerged road with no idea when time the low tide was. There was a sign with a digital display of 18:15 (6.30pm) . We took this to be the low tide. Darn – it’s only 16:30 (4.30pm) now.

We managed to decipher the small print which said you can cross 1.5 hours before low tide and 1.5 hours after high tide. Perfect! We couldn’t have timed it better. We had 15 minutes to wait but we decided to start cycling across anyway to beat all the motorhomes.

If you look really hard you can see Mike ahead, desperate to get across the road before the tide comes in!

We stopped at the first campground we came to and spent an hour trying to decide where to put our tent.

Day 21 – Pornic

Tuesday May 24, 2011

After yesterdays struggle to get here we couldn’t face the idea of packing up and getting on the bikes again – so we checked in to the campground for another night.

We cycled into Pornic for a look around. It’s a picturesque town with many cafes overlooking an estuary and chateau. We refrained from having our lunch in one of the cafes. Instead we bought a fresh baguette which we filled with salami and sat on the edge of the estuary.

We then cycled back to camp via the beaches. We stopped and read our kindles for a bit – but despite the hot weather we weren’t tempted into the cold atlantic water.

Day 20 – carquefou to Pornic

Monday May 23, 2011

We didn’t leave our comfy hotel until midday (check out time). It was another glorious day of sunshine. We cycled into Nantes and had a look around. Just another European city – seen one, seen them all.

It was a bland and industrial ride out of Nantes. I had been hoping for a scenic river cycle but this was not to be.

It was at 7pm we spotted the first camping ground for the day. It was a free campsite at the edge of a village. No showers but a toilet. We knew there was another campground in 20 kms so we decided to push on. It was a very hilly 20 kms and it was hard work pushing to make it to camp before the daylight ended. We made it to the camp by 8.30pm. We were so tired we didnt even bother cooking – just put up the tent and crawled inside.

Day 19 – Blain to Carquefou

Sunday May 22, 2011, 56 km (35 miles) – Total so far: 664 km (413 miles)

We continued along the unpaved path along the canal. We were both starting to get a bit bored with it now. The gravelled path is pretty hard on the bum, and the scenery doesnt change very much.

A couple of times the track ended and we had to backtrack and cross over the to the track on the other side of the canal. The French don’t signpost things very well.

There were no campgrounds on the path so we checked into a nice hotel beside a lake just outside Nantes. It was such a beautiful day and it seemed such a waste checking into a hotel. We much prefer sitting outside cooking our meal in the evenings. But – we took advantage of the free internet, the bath, and the half price Sunday rate!

<a href="http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=RrzKj&page_id=189335&v=17" target=_blankDay 17 – Rieux to Blain(click to open route in new window)

Friday May 20, 2011, 45 km (28 miles) – Total so far: 608 km (378 miles)

Today seemed a difficult ride despite there being no hills. The heavy gravel path made it hard going and although we only did 45km – it was all gravel.

We saw a creepy frog.

We were knackered at the end of the day we were glad to find a campground at Blain, strong cowshit smell and all!

We camped next the the chateux.

We were so tired and our muscles so sore – we decided to stay here for two days.