Charente-Maritime

7am and the attendant arrives to check us out. Ok ,we would have loved the fridge but ....

As we go back through town on our way north the market stalls are being set up again.

   Even at this hour the bike trail is busy

Yes , it's the Statue of Liberty ,made from the same moulds as the big one in New York was based on. This town ,Selac,has a connection.(which I've forgotten)

Close to the Cape de Grave now ,this was a very strategic bit of coast for the Germans in WW2 and there's lots of huge gun emplacements. I think the camaflage colours might have been their undoing

  The old railway which we followed out of Bordeaux is still used at this end for a tourist train

The bike trail runs right up to the ferry . It's a half hour crossing to Royan and the 'Department'  Charante-Maritime

This Dutch couple had just come off it and were on their way to the Pyrenese .

Royan. I just liked the clouds

  Its a very nice city, ( with Cowboys and Indians on the beach?)

If we go another 10kms we'll have done 50 for the day which keeps our average up ( pause for the snide remarks )

  This coast is stunning with lots of cute beaches. 'Check out the fishing huts'

This little All Blacks fan reminded us that we must watch the Super rugby final tonight

We've made it to Saint-Palais-sur-Mur and booked in to a Chambre d'Hote.

 Very close to the beach and a delightful town square

 Go the Highlanders !

 

Lazybones

I'm getting the hang of this camp life. Again it was heavy thunder about 6am with a few downpours then nothing all day. Hot though.

Maintenance day today. I fixed Christine's gears and went and got 2 new tubes, a new tyre and a new bike pump at the local bike shop. We even washed the mud off them !

It was then off to the market. We love these markets and could just imagine Katikati being a market town every Saturday 

But I reckon this guy had the hardest job. 

It's 32 degrees by now!

For the rest of the day it was reading, rest   And relaxation. Oh ,and drinking lots...    Tomorrow ,We'll start early for the ferry at Point-de-Grave and find a hotel in Royan that has a sports channel so we can watch the rugby finals.

Montalivet-les-Bains

The cat watches us leave from Sabines boudoir. She wasn't going to get up earlier than 8.30 so we asked that breakfast be deducted from the tarrif . Prefer our own anyway.

This was Lacamau lake we stayed at and now we're going 13kms to the coast to Lacanau plage (beach). A few big raindrops threaten so we put on coats.

We meet mr turtle hurrying for cover

Phew, that's the closest we've come to getting rained on since we started.

  Here's Lacanau Beach. This coast is one huge long beach , several hundred kms long with massive sand dunes.

We breakfast here then follow the bike trail North. We are now on Eurovelo one  which runs from Lisbon Portugal , up to Norway. We'll try and stay on it through France

The washing wasn't dry so I'm the clothes line. 

 At Hourtin Plage we have lunch. Our table looks over the street . Typical beach town but tell me , when does it become ok to wear your undies down the Main Street. Would he do the same in Bordeaux on his way into work at the bank?

You may have gathered by now that this bike route is all forest and sand dunes!

 We'll stop at Montalivet-les-Bains for the night

What a great place and we've found the bungalows we were looking for at this motor camp

Love these things! Fully equiped, 2 bedrooms,kitchen . Ash and Lee shared one with us on the Loire once , and still only €22 / night. We're staying 2 nights so I can lie around on the beach for a change

PLUS, I get to cook bacon and eggs for tea

Lacanau. End of a line

 Yesterday we booked into our hotel at 3pm and it was 31degrees. After doing the blog and having a nap

thank you Christine, we stepped outside at 8pm for dinner in a place next door.

 Holy Crap ! It was 42 degrees! Strange how it gets hotter in the late afternoon here

We've been to Bordeaux before but always got lost in its horrible traffic . Quite liked it today. Very bike friendly and big open spaces

The trams look like something out of StarWars

The centre city is on the Garonne.

 The lake is also inside the city limits. 

We're going to follow the bike route from centre city to Lacanau on the coast

Through parks and beside a motorway then it follows an old railway line for the next 55 kms

A lot of it passes through a pine forest, the biggest in France, but the timber is apparently not suitable for building like ours, so is used for pallets and pulp

It's not as hot today but we check into a Chambre d'Hote, the 'tea salon' at 3pm again.

Our hostesses, Sabine and Juanita