Day Sixty Two: Marenne to Rochfort

May 28, 2017

Yesterday had been a near miss. To begin, we mis-estimated the distance to our reserved hotel room in Rochfort. We had it at 80 kms, already a stretch in the heat. But the truth, we see today, was more like 105 - impossible in the available time and strength.

The only way we could have maybe tried it would have been to shortcut onto highways, plus a big bridge. But reading our favourite experts - the Grampies (who were here in 2013) - we see that those roads would have been highly dangerous. The Grampies are clear about that.

The next thing that has us thanking our lucky stars is the evidence that in 40 degree heat, even 40 kms is a chore. We know that because we took all day today to reach ...Rochfort.

Getting to Marenne. Yesterday's trip was up the side of this map. Does it look wild? It was.

The church in Marenne. We found this useful for spotting the town as the veloroute diddled around it. The church actually has a history as a useful lighthouse type marker.

Gardens are finally coming into their own. This vegetable garden seemed very beautiful to us.

Our typical road today - until it got worse.

Once again we were looking at the map and saying "Oh, we only need to put some ice cream in our engines and we can make La Rochelle, or perhaps a little less". But I looked down at my thermometer and watched it click up - like click..click..click each time with the temperature rising .2 degrees up to 43.6. Just then we saw a sign for an air conditioned Ibis Budget hotel. We dove right in. So it had taken all of today to achieve yesterday's objective.

This is not to say there was no fun or that nothing happened today. On the contrary. Staying at our B&B was also a Dutch couple. We didn't actually see them there, but we could tell from the size and design of their bikes in the shed. although we got up and ate breakfast early, it didn't take long for them to catch us on the trail. They were Paul and Herma Clant, from Bemmel (about 100 km south east of Amsterdam). They had driven to Saumur, along the Loire, and were cycling partly la Loire a Velo and partly the Velodysee.

Of course, as always, it was great fun comparing notes about routes travelled now and in the past, about bike equipment, politics, grand kids, and etc. Herma was using an ebike, of the ubiquitous style in Europe with the crank drive. she said that here five year old battery could still do 100 km n the "eco" setting, which is all she was using, if anything. She did mention that the Bosch drive, and original model, had failed twice and been replaced on warranty. Herma now recommends Panasonic.

As we pedalled along, Paul and Herma politely doodling along at our speed, we came across four cyclists standing under what turned out to a cherry tree, picking the fruit that was in reach. We stopped to give them a hand! These four, two couples, were from Sables dOlonnes, further north, and were bound for Sete. So now we had eight distance cyclists under the tree. More discussion of routes, and kids. It seemed that each of the four couples, while retired, felt a need to get home because of planned activities with grandkids.

This stop gave Paul and Herma an opportunity to leave us and continue north at greater speed. So we doddered on alone, that is until Jack and Vi came booting up from behind again on their tandem. They had stopped as planned near Marenne, but said they were thinking about us. Vi had pegged Dodie as gutsy, but they did not feel we could have made it to Rochfort. They were really hoping we had stopped somewhere.

We finally waved Vi and jack on, so they too could zoom north at their preferred speed. Their goal was La Rochelle.

Paul, from Netherlands. Paul and Herma are cycling in part exactly our route.

Herma, with her ebike. It has seerved to equalize her with Paul and make their cycling more enjoyable.

Clusters of touring bikes like this are common, as cycle touring is very popular on this route, and the bike owners like to stand around and chat.

Four cyclists from Sables d'Olonnes. They are on their way to Sete.

This is where we started get hungry, but we both felt that only a giant ice cream sundae would it the spot. We looked the map. Cabariot had little indicators for restaurant, groceries, even bike shop. Surely "ice cream sundae" would also pop up.

Actually, we saw nothing in Cabariot. This is probably because the route is so careful to avoid things. No matter, the next place - Tonnay-Charente also had lots of little services icons on the map. Nothing. Just a typical barren white town. Ok, to be fair there were a couple of bars. And we did spy a street at a distance that might have held ice cream. And yes, it did have a interesting old church.

Next stop was .. Rochfort! Now Rochfort will have ice cream. Nope, not in our neighbourhood of Rochfort, anyway. They did have a nice train station, though..

Now how about those Grampies - can't find an ice cream in France! How did they survive all those kilometres travelled?

We are resting up from this ice cream ordeal in our Ibis Budget. There is a Mcdonalds across the street. I bet I could find a "sundae" there. But of course it would not be a real one. Instead we are going to walk over to a restaurant called La Pataterie. If I can not find some potato products there, I should turn in my travel adventure license. Stay tuned for a report.

Tonnay-Charente - a typical white town, but where's the ice cream?

The St Etienne church in Tonnay, but where's the ice cream?

The rose window of the St Etienne church

We spotted this street in Tonnay at a distance. But zooming on the photo reveals tobacco stores, driving schools, but where's the ice cream?

This thermometer is controlling our tour the last days. Oh goody, rain is forecast for tomorrow!

Special Supplement - Grampies Go to a Family Restaurant

We must be near some kind of autoroute, because we are in an Ibis, with McDonalds and Burger King beside it. But there is also a family restaurant, the Pataterie. This seemed interesting because of a great potato specialty restaurant we once found in Nantes.

At 6 p.m. I went to the Ibis desk just to have them point me towards the restaurant. Only casually I asked if they knew when dinner was served there. The answer was 1900, which as usual I had to translate mentally, and to fully understand that there would be no dinner for another hour. Oh well, that was a bit better than Spain anyway.

At 6:54 p.m. we reported to the front door of the restaurant, to find it locked and the place apparently abandoned. I decided they were probably closed for Mothers' Day, but Dodie spied some slight movement within. Only at 7:00:00 did someone appear from inside to unlock the door. OK, so we were in, but really to be locked tight and most lights off in early evening is so unusual for a restaurant, at least where we are from.

Our next problem was with the menu, though it had pictures and was much simpler than is often seen when written in chalk in front of a real French restaurant. The problem was the liberal sprinkling of stuff we don't like through the offerings. This time, unusually, it was Dodie that was struggling with the olives, chevre, lardons, gesiers (gizzards), and such. The waitress was very patient, returning several times until Dodie could settle on a choice - it was kind of the Burger Provencal but hold most of the Provencal.

While we waited for our orders to arrive we noticed that our paper place mats had the kids' menu plus puzzles to amuse the kids. Ok, so what could a kid order? Well, that part of the menu had some technical terms that baffled me -bout'chou, pepites de cabillaud panees, and savoyarde. Next there were the kids' amusements. Some I was ok with, but what to do with others seemed elusive. I am not sure if this was because of some subtle cultural difference, because French kids are just smarter than me, or because on the road your mental powers may dull in some areas - like Mommy brain. Dodie was having the same problem with her sheet, which had a little different puzzles that mine. When the photos go in, you will be able to see and try one of the puzzles I am talking about.

Our meals came. Again the photos will help, but this is what we saw: Dodie's burger was not in a bun, but rather enclosed in potato patties - ok. But the burger itself was raw, or raw except for a semblance of cooking on the surface. We thought about finding the server to ask for some cooking activity, but kind of lapsed into waiting for her to come by with the North American standard "How's it tastin'". This never happened and Dodie just left it.

In my case, the chicken skewer was ok, but was made with very fatty chicken thighs. The side order of green beans did use the famous ultra thin beans, but as in all cases we have seen so far, were over cooked.

After all her indecision, Dodie had gone with a safe "burger", but had forgotten to specify that it be cooked. Rookie error for France veterans. When the server did come, Dodie pointed out the raw burger. The lady said the equivalent of "What's your problem? It's cooked "au point"", "and anyway, why didn't you tell us?". Dodie's reply that no one was to be seen did not impress the lady much.

I changed the subject, but cememted our status as crazy tourists by asking the lady to explain the kids' menu to me. It seems a bout'chou is a little kid. A savoyarde is a baked potato, and cabillaud is a species of fish. Of course.

As for the puzzle, the top line is coq, lit, K, l'eau (chicken, bed, K, water) making the word in French for a kind of poppy. The second line is pas, rat, so (step, rat, and the musical note), which equals parasol. Got it? You qualify as a French 8 year old!

We realized that any problems we were having in this restaurant were unique to us, and actual French people would find everything totally normal. Maybe it was just a random restaurant flunk out for the Grampies, or maybe we should generally be over at the McDonald's where we sort of understand what is going on?

Dodie's burger is underneath the potato patty. So far so good.

My chicken skewer uses fatty thigh meat - sure, ok. Beans are nice, but overcooked.

Can you find the two words they are leading you towards?

Well, we did at last find ice cream, anyway.

To help us feel better about flunking "family restaurant" they gave us these marshmallows to take home!

Today's ride: 48 km (30 miles)
Total: 2,816 km (1,749 miles)

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