I wake up at 7:30 and look to the east at a beautiful sunrise. Then, I get out of the van and look west and see a huge black cloud with a rainbow: rain is on its way. So I have to dig out my waterproof jacket for the first time, and get everything ready under the shelter of the tailgate. But by 9:15 the rain is easing off and I can set off in the sunshine, but with very wet roads.
My route takes me back along the hideous D105 for a while, and while I try to leave it and follow back roads, I end up having to cycle for 2or 3 miles along it again, with heavy traffic heading into La Rochelle. Eventually, as I reach the outskirts of the city I find cycle route signs, and can follow a fairly peaceful route into the heart of the beautiful old place.
I pause for a while to look at the old fortress and the restaurants lining the harbour, before trying to find my way out of the city to the south. Eventually I find a sign for the Velodysee cycle route which lines the Atlantic coast for the next part of my journey.
Coffee in a small café in the village of Angoulin. The pattern of cyclists that I see is changing: whereas on the Vendee coast most cyclists were just out enjoying a day trip, now most of them are loaded with panniers, and are clearly serious cycle tourers. Although the Velodysee tries to keep to the coast, in places it ends up running alongside the motorway on back roads. I realise now that I am entering southern France, and it feels somewhat unbelievable, to have travelled all this way on my bike alone.
The hot wind is still coming from the south, and as I enter Rochefort the Velodysee takes me along the bank of the river Charente, all brown, muddy and tidal. Eventually I find a bench in the shade, and collapse, lying on my back to look at the sky through the oak leaves above me. Lunchtime. As the path follows the curve of the river around I suddenly see that to cross the river I will apparently have to cycle over the high level bridge carrying the D733 south. I study the maps that I have and am a bit puzzled because there does seem to be a bridge running alongside the motorway bridge, but as I approach it I realise that it is a transporter bridge. Oh joy.
Having once been a mechanical engineer I have always found these wonders of Victorian engineering fascinating, and once made a special trip to Middlesbrough just to go backwards and forwards on one of the few still operating transporter bridges in Britain. I don’t know the history of the Rochefort bridge, but this opportunity cannot be missed, so I buy a ticket and wait while the platform steadily moves backwards towards my side of the river. Over we go, with me clutching my new fridge magnet.
I find my way back onto the Velodysee and soon find that it takes me on a narrow track stretching out in a straight line across more marshes. This goes on for several miles, but then starts to deteriorate and eventually becomes almost unusable and I see a dead end sign head of me. This does not look good. However, I then notice that 5m to my right on the other side of a thick hedge is another track, probably the real Velodysee, so I push me and the bike through the hedge to join this altogether much more cyclable track and off we go again for another mile or so.
I now find myself on the side of the D23, and according to my GPS I need to follow this for about half a mile and then turn off to a side road which will take me to Marennes. Unfortunately, the road seems to have been upgraded, and I find myself on a dual carriageway with no exits for about 4 miles, so I pedal furiously hoping that everyone roaring by can see me. I survive and manage to pull off at another exit in order to take the back roads.
Marennes seems to be the oyster capital of France, with oyster beds surrounding it, and more oyster restaurants than you can shake your stick at. But I am getting to the end of my day, and I’m not keen on oysters anyway, so push on, struggle over another high level bridge and arrive at the northern end of the peninsula which has the Foret de Coubre, where we will be meeting for the night.
Helen sends me the W3W coordinates for a car park at the Pointe Espagnole, so I find the Velodysee cycle track which winds through the forest, and at about 5 o’clock pull up by the side of Rosie and Helen.
66 miles done today, very hot, but only 240’of ascending. And obviously no descending. That means that I have now done almost exactly 400 miles, almost halfway there now.
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