Camping Municipal Le Rayonnement (day 3)

Today would probably be our last chance to get out and cycle a reasonable distance. We hadn't slept well though. Too hot, unbelievably too quiet and Angela was worried about us being able to board the fast TGV train with bikes and bags in the two minutes allowed. Tomorrow she is going to go through her bags and see if she can off load anything to lighten the load. Tonight will be our last night in the tent this trip, tomorrow morning we will move into the eco lodge opposite which will mean we do not need to deflate sleeping mats and pack up a wet tent in the dark early Thursday morning. Around twelve we pedalled off, stopping at the nearby supermarket to buy lunch before heading to the transborder (transporter) bridge to cross the estuary. There was a fifty minute wait until the service resumed after lunch, so we decided to pedal down further and take the passenger ferry across. Mistake. Ferry ceased running October 1st. So we cycled back to the transborder bridge just in time for the 2 pm crossing.

Before leaving the area we wanted to visit the nearby Atlantic coast. Even though we were here earlier in the year it just had to be done. After all we had cycled most of the 'between to seas' cycle route. The Mediterranean to the Atlantic.

Our destination was Port-des-Barque. Almost everywhere was closed, but Angela discovered a little supermarket in a back street and bought ice creams, cold cans of orangina and a large bar of mint chocolate to power us up for the return trip. The afternoon was once again warm. Just before six 30c. The last crossing on the transborder bridge was just before five, so we had little choice we had to take the cycle lane over the road bridge.

After six weeks of touring we have bodies of athlete's. Starting slowly our legs powered us up to the top.

The view was fantastic. It made us sad to think we'd have to leave soon. This evening as we sat in 'le bungalow', the communal room with television, seating and a kitchen, which we like to think is exclusively ours we thought what's to stop us returning in Marge in November? Our travel fund has taken a hammering, but hopefully saga insurance will pick up most of the bill. Life in France always seems simpler. The weather (at the moment is nicer), the quality and choice of food in the supermarket exceptional. We will be glad to return home and see our family, and of course there are always appointments and commitments to attend to, but besides that, what's really stopping us from just taking off again?

Camping Municipal Le Rayonnement (day 2)

Whilst breakfasting we talked with the lady we met from New Zealand yesterday evening, offering advice and information on her forward journey. That's two days running we've done this and each time have been held in high esteem for our knowledge and cycling.

After moving pitches to the pitch we refer to as ours (three times now) we washed some clothes and after Angela walked to the supermarket spent the afternoon sorting out our travel arrangements to come home. How long would that take? Hours! We appear to have found ourselves a little too far from Cherbourg. Rather than cycle further we have decided to stay here at Rochefort until Thursday. The weather forecast is not good with rain due all over France from Friday and with the difficulty to book us and the bikes on trains we're sadly returning home three days early. But hey, who wants to be stuck in a small wet tent? We can't complain, most of the time we've enjoyed good weather. Unlike last night there seems to be no cycle campers other than us.

We will stay in our tent here again tomorrow night and have booked an eco lodge for Wednesday night as we are booked on a train just after 6am to La Rochelle then transferring onto a TGV to Paris to pick up the train to Cherbourg to catch the 6.15pm ferry to Poole. We should be home around 10.30 pm (that's 11.30 pm to us being on French time). It's going to be a Long and stressful day! Over the next two days we will go out and cycle two circular routes.

We are eating to excess, tonight a bbq, so must keep moving.

(Our neighbours, luckily no Cockerell, don't worry girls it's burgers on the bbq tonight!) 

Camping Municipal Le Rayonnement, Rochefort

As expected music from the party on the campsite and another venue nearby disturbed us until the small hours. Annoying as it is we've learnt to sleep through it if not peacefully. Around eight this morning the grinding of suitcase wheels on tarmac woke us. During our stay at Bordeaux we learnt that these youngest were here with regard to the university. Probably an open day. Around eight last night a swedish cyclist arrived. This morning with no rush as our train wasn't until three forty seven, we spent quite a while talking to him. He's fit for sixty mentioned John. Angela had already noticed. In fact he was fifty eight, but let's not split hairs. He was on his first ever long distance cycling trip to southern Portugal where his brother lived. He'd actually arrived by train from Paris the night before. We informed him about the closure of campsites which he didn't realize about. At midday we all shook hands and wished each other a safe journey. We cycled back down to the waterfront.

A fallen tree lay across the cycle path. We hoped a cyclist hadn't been passing underneath when it fell. As always there were people everywhere. Bordeaux is really cosmopolitan, and we just love it. Thankfully the cruise ships were gone opening up the view down the river. A stop to buy lunch and food for this evening, and then we sat in the shade of the trees until it was time to head to the station. After our terrible trip on the train to Toulouse last Sunday we vowed not to take the train again at the weekend.

What were we doing? As expected the train was packed. As always the other passengers didn't welcome us with our bicycles. And as always the bike space was full of suitcases. Here we go again! By the time we reached our stop at Rochefort it became a free for all to leave the train despite John telling the passengers around the doors we would need to be able to get off. In the scrum Angela's bike caught her injured knee which had been healing nicely taking off an area of new skin. There was blood everywhere! Upon our arrival at the campsite, where the young security man couldn't understand English or Angela's French and basically said, no reservation, no camping. Behave man. Fortunately a young French woman came to our rescue and translated for us. We have stayed here twice before, once earlier this year and we know you can come on with a bicycle without booking. We're not happy with our allocated pitch, but it will do for now. Tomorrow we will request to move nearer the indoor room and kitchen. Visiting the Ile de Re is off. To cycle forty miles for a couple of days just to turn round and come back to catch another train from La Rochelle doesn't seem worth it. We just want to stay in the warmth for as long as we can, and it's plenty warm enough here, so we'll stay two nights. Tomorrow we will plan the next five days. We will book a ferry from Cherbourg to Poole for Sunday. Meanwhile Angela is worried about her knee. She has cleaned it with the iodine scrub prescribed by the hospital and will continue to do so for a few days. We feel sad we only have a few days of this trip left. This morning our swedish companion spoke some wise words. ' Not exploring the world, is like opening a book and only reading the first page'. We had to agree.

Yelloh! Village Camping, Bordeaux day 2

Oh what a night. From around four yesterday afternoon lots of young people began to arrive. We were a little concerned some of them may be placed in the lodges behind us. Fortunately not. All through the night until after two we could hear voices and the annoying dragging of suitcases on wheels passing near to our tent. To add to this motorbikes and cars could be heard racing along the roads outside the campsite. We have stayed here before at a weekend and never experienced the like. Security is in place here at the entrance all night which means it doesn't matter if you arrive late. We think the suitcase brigade were here for a exhibition or conference, possibly on tourism. But that's just a guess.

There is also a party on tonight in the Margaux suite. And somewhere in the area, as last Saturday we can hear loud bassy music. We expect another disturbed night.

We sound like a couple of right old moaners don't we? We spent the day washing and planning the next week. Trains are difficult to book and although we wanted to take one to La Rochelle tomorrow the tickets all sold out whilst we ate lunch. We are now booked on a mid afternoon train to Rochefort where we will stay overnight and then the next day cycle onto the Ile de Re after which we must take some trains to Cherbourg. The night sky is a clear inky black. We expect it to be cold. Today's temperature 28c, so cold nights are a small price to pay for beautiful days.

We're looking around for a smaller replacement for Marge, maybe something like this which we saw on the site, but an original older Land Rover Defender. 

Yelloh! Village Camping, Bordeaux

Angela slept for ten hours. Surprisingly we didn't ache from yesterday's exertion. We were just over twenty miles from Bordeaux. After a relaxed start, coffee and breakfast scratched together from the food we had available, it was nearly midday before we left. First stop Aldi to buy as much food as we could carry. Food shopping in Bordeaux is expensive. Apart from a slight gradient it was all downhill, thank goodness.

We had no need to rush and stopped along the way. John felt really sick, but after a drink of Agrumes, a fizzy tropical drink and some salted snacks he felt much better. Our approach to Bordeaux took us through an out of town shopping area where luckily there was a decathlon store. One of John's SPD clip in pedals was damaged and if not attended too could cause him to have an accident. Pedals bought we cycled into central Bordeaux.

The waterfront was busy. Two German cruise ships were berthed. They looked too big and totally out of place.

We sat by them to eat our salads. A German couple from one of the ships wanted to know all about our trip and were impressed we had no electric motor, just electric legs as Angela always says. We never tire of Bordeaux, this is our second visit this year. The campsite is quieter this time. We are the only cyclists. As the smell of cooking pizza wafted across our pitch the temptation was just too much. Our fried egg sandwiches could wait for another night. We've lost count how much pizza we've eaten. It must be doing us good, some how we survived yesterday's awful cycle. For now though we can relax. A couple of nights at Bordeaux before setting off on our final week. It's just after nine and France are playing Italy in the rugby world cup. The match is audible across the campsite. We are looking forward to a relaxed day tomorrow, no doubt it will involve clothes washing.

Camping Bel Air, Sadirac

Today was going to be a long, very long day. A cycle of sixty miles. Doesn't sound too bad does it? Well we can tell you it was! As usual a quiet pleasant morning cycle along the canal. The light of the sun on the water turning it a milky green. The trees that line the canal always provide interest.

One in particular caught our eye. Full of holes from woodpeckers. It was hot and despite the heat we made good progress until we left La Reole. The flat cycling we'd become used to was no more. Uphill and uphill. Would it never ends? Apparently not. We were in Bordeaux country.

Mile after mile of grapevines. The sun beat down on us and the vines. The vines loved it. We didn't. The unrelenting hills challenged us too much and we had to result in walking up pushing our heavily laden bikes. At five o'clock we arrived at a very nice large town, but we couldn't stop we still had just over twenty miles to cycle. From here though it should be easy we joined a lovely smooth cycleway that was once a railway line. We'd be flying now. Or perhaps not. The gradients were long and our legs tired. Angela was at breaking point. She's had a bad cold and was flagging. Tired and emotional she dug deep. The campsite was likely to close at seven and sometimes there is a security gate to enter. At a few minutes after seven we arrived. The reception was just closing. We handed in John's passport for I.D. to ensure we'd pay in the morning. We were a two mile round trip from the town. John unloaded his bags and set off in search of pizza, which he returned with half an hour later. How on earth we'd managed the journey against sweltering heat and relentless hills, who knows. But as always we'd had. Not bad for a couple of oldies. Pizza eaten we went straight to bed.

Halte Nautique de Lagruere, Lagruere

We are now far enough north to notice a change in the weather. Lovely warm days, but cool damp nights. This morning a chill in the air. The first of the trip. Our stay on the free village campsite for cyclists was one to remember. We'd been welcomed by Serge, who had no bicycle but appeared to live on the site in a beach shelter. As a welcoming gift he gave us an apple each which we presume he scrumped from the nearby commercial orchard. We were first up this morning. Caravan man arose just as we were leaving, wishing us a good trip. Despite everyone being friendly the stay had felt a little odd.Not knowing how easy it would be to buy lunch food along the canal Angela bought a bread, cheese and a tomato from the village shops.

The ride along the canal was peaceful. A few dog walkers, joggers and day cyclists. Along one bank a large variety of mushrooms grew.

Satan's or Devil's Bolete, don't be tempted to eat one of these or you will become very acquainted with your bathroom! 

Campsites are scarce now, so just after two we stopped at a small site with fourteen pitches adjacent to a restaurant beside the canal. We stayed here many years ago, paid five euros s we think and remember having to clear dried leaves out of the sinks and shower tray before using the facilities. Fortunately the sanitary arrangements have improved since then. And we also had free use of a washing machine. Our clothes are in shock, they've not been inside a washing machine since we left home. We are in the middle of nowhere, so late afternoon, still warm enough to wear shorts and t-shirts we set off on the four mile round trip to the next town for supplies. At the town John asked two elderly ladies where the grocery store was.One gave directions in French which Angela understood. Then the other lady gave the same set of instructions. It made us smile. On the return cycle we could hear a musical sound. Near to us were hundreds of goats in a field, the bells they wore around their necks chiming gently.

Goats cheese and milk is very popular here. Once again we've been allowed to borrow chairs from the bar area. John asked if we can also have a table. Angela had told him how to ask in French. She's not sure how her request was interpreted. The lady pulled her top forward and looked at her breasts. Anyway, he returned with a table, if somewhat baffled.

Aire Naturelle Cyclotourist Comunale, Serignac-sur-Garrone

Last night was so warm. It's hard to believe it's October. For once we all had dry tents this morning and could pack up quickly. But rain threatened. Our first stop at a nearby town to buy paracetamol from the pharmacy and lunch from the bakers next door. Then a steady cycle along the canal. Rain clouds gathering we stopped at a picnic area under some trees for lunch.

Within minutes rain was falling, hence we ate quickly. This wasn't rain as we've known it. The last time we got wet the rain fell in torrents. A little shower wasn't going to bother us, we found a bus shelter nearby to sit it out in.

The canal path was quiet, very few cyclists around today. The branches of the large trees overhung to form a canopy. Another stop just before Agen where a man stopped to talk to John about our trip. 'No electric motor', he exclaimed! Upon Angela's return she found John holding a bag containing six mandarin oranges. An act of kindness? Or did the man feel sorry for us because he thought we couldn't afford an electric bike? As we cycled through Agen we passed a homeless man sat by the canal. John gave him two of the mandarins. The gesture was welcomed. What a strange day this was.

And then we saw a man towing a homemade caravan with an electric bike. We now know the electric motor on the bike is 'kaput', as he is here with us tonight on a free camping area for cyclists just off the canal. The weather is due to settle tomorrow, and temperatures will rise up into the thirties. So an early start to beat the heat.