Recovery can be boring

June 13, 2018

I seem to have survived my ride yesterday just fine. No middle of the night problems, just sleep. So today I'm going to try to go a bit further. On the map that they hand out at the tourist office there is a bike trail marked that goes from Langon to Bazas. It connects directly to the trail I rode on to get here, so the idea was that I would just retrace my steps to Langon and I would be in Bazas in no time. From there I could continue on bike trails all the way to the Atlantic, not that I think I should do it all at once, but as a possibility for the next couple of days. So with this plan in mind I set off.

The trail was beautifully paved and aside from one intersection that was being worked on there were no difficulties moving along. The only problem was that the tourist map was wrong and the trail ended on a small country road somewhere south of Langon and not in Bazas as advertised. Mr. Michelin wasn't much help here as he doesn't include all the small country roads on the maps I use, and local custom doesn't have the roads department markers that are on the bigger roads. Navigating by the sun though I was able to find a village, but once again Michelin failed me because this one was not on the map. Ah, but here's a road sign with a number! Now I think I know where I am so I can go forward more confidently. Oh, no! Michelin is out of date and the road connection I was looking for has been changed. That means a brief spell on the route nationale and then a slight backtrack before I am once again on a clear path to my goal. At last I reach Bazas just before noon.

The Gironde is swollen and muddy as I cross.

An avenue of pines leading to a wine chateau. I have no idea where this is!

In Bazas I stop at the tourist office to see what the attractions might be. The cathedral seems to be the pride of the city, but as gothic cathedrals go it's somehow lacking something. The stained glass is uninteresting nineteenth and twentieth century work, and the architecture relatively sober. Only the tympanum catches my eye, and it has elements that appear much older than the rest of the church.

I wander around Bazas looking for interesting buildings, but most of the old city is lost. On the cathedral square there are a few nice structures.

I was getting hungry but I thought I would go for a light lunch and eat a bigger meal for supper. One thing Sue and I learned on our first trips to France was not to try to eat two big meals in a single day especially French meals, which can be copious. So I looked in vain for a bakery where I could get a sandwich and after several orbits of the town I settled on a salad in a hole-in-the-wall restaurant.

In Bazas I could get on a paved rail trail that runs all the way to the coast. I called ahead to a hotel in Villandrault and rode the 18 kilometers that separated it from Bazas without much exciting to

The main attraction in Villandrault. It was closed.

I rode around Villandrault for a while waiting for the hotel to open and when it did I was installed in this:

Rather spacious for one, it would be cosy for two and crowded for three.

I ate dinner at the hotel, but it was not splendid. Not horrible, either.

Today's ride: 55 km (34 miles)
Total: 509 km (316 miles)

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