June 7, 2018
The third day is always the hardest.
To La Rochelle
The skies were not promising this morning as I sat eating my breakfast. Rain was hitting the windows of the restaurant. As I packed up though the rain began to slacken off to a fine mist. I got on the bike and went to the railway station but there would be no trains today due to the on-again off-again strike. I didn't have a map of the Vendée which was vital if I were to ride today as I don't have a gps . I left the hotel at about 8:30 and went off to look for the missing map. No luck at the first newsstand I tried and the tourist office wouldn't open until ten. Way down the street I spied another newsstand and yes! The lady inside had a Michelin number 316 that was exactly what I needed. No longer lost I set out for La Rochelle.
Leaving Nesmes I tried to take back roads but I soon got lost. Without the sun to show you it's not easy to consistently pick out south on unmarked roads. Maybe I should get a gps, but then again where is the adventure in that?
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After Le Givre, I was beginning to get hungry and started my search for a restaurant. But I had no luck. Several villages went by without a restaurant among them, but it was still early for lunch. Finally as the church bells were striking the noon angelus, I came upon a bakery in Grues, where I got a sandwich, an apple tart and a Coke. Another bike tourer was in the shop, but he looked the type that travelled from necessity, not because he liked it. You will know the type with a big-store bike festooned with backpacks and bags of various origins and not the slick well matched panniers on a specially conceived frame that we dilettante cyclists use. After I finished eating my sandwich in the park by the mairie, the sun started to peek through the clouds, so I ditched my jacket for sunscreen.
I was now into the marais vendéen, a drained swamp formed from the silt of the Sevres rivers (there are two of them).
Mr. Michelin said I would find a bike trail just outside St. Michel en l'Herm, but either it doesn't really exist or the signs are missing and I didn't see it. I continued on into Champagne Les Marais and took a side road. The presence of other touring cyclists reassured me that I had found the right route.
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At the end of the dike one can continue on the path to Mallezais, or take a very busy road towards La Rochelle. I waited for a gap in the traffic to dash onto the busy road and over a bridge on the canal and turned off into Charron at the first crossroad. Then it was just a matter of following back roads into La Rochelle. I tried a hotel where I had stayed on a previous visit, but they were full. Lucky for me the Hotel St.Nicolas down the street had a room which I took.
Today's ride: 111 km (69 miles)
Total: 196 km (122 miles)
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6 years ago
Thanks for reading. He short answer is no, I don’t have a route map. I don’t use a GPS , being an unrepentant Luddite, and my paper map has long since given up the struggle against my constant folding and unfolding. There is hope, however. My route roughly follows EuroVelo 1 most of the way and there are maps galore available, both paper and on line. Going south from La Roche sur Yon, I was mostly on small D-roads with their general idea of reaching the coast. And I was mostly lost, but made it to my goal eventually.
Cheers,
Keith
5 years ago
5 years ago