June 19, 2018
Damvix to Champdeniers St Denis.
Wind in The Willows country ending in Paradis
June 19 Tuesday 65kms
Damvix to Champdeniers St Denis.
Wind in The Willows country ending in Paradis
Slow getaway- we chat to English and Australian women who are travelling in a campervan with cycles. They tell us that there are many paths for a day’s cycling. We get a map from reception which has all the waterways marked - a blue grid with hundreds of connections. Our departure is on what looks to be a scorcher of a day, though the relief of the leafy green mitigates against this quite effectively.
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Just when you think you know the regions of France reasonably well, you discover the Marais Poitevin. They describe the area as being where ‘ Terre et l’eau have a marriage.’ Very French. But the marriage seems quite sympa. Until relatively recent years in terms of history, the area was simply a collection of islands surrounded by water. Dutch engineers were hired to design a plan for draining the waterways in order to create productive land.
The route is ‘barre’ at La Venneau-Irleau and so we take to the road.
All day we cycle beside water, over water, between water and even through water. The green river with its overhanging willows and tall poplars creates a world of reflections and suffused light.
Human habitation takes the form of cream walled cottages with either marine blue or muted green shutters. Is this a rule? These are the holiday homes at present being made ready for the summer as evidenced by busy DIYers. Fishing is the other predominant activity, and the 3, even 4, rods per man ( and it is mainly men) show how serious they are about the activity. Ancient churches in both Gothic and Romanesque styles are still the centre point of many villages along with the bar televising World Cup matches.
At Magné we stop for lunch in the shade around the Gothic church. This church and town was once an island in the 800s and was defended against the Normans. It was on the pilgrim route from St Nazaire and had a miraculous fountain. Ordinary water does for us but we appreciate the beautiful building with its Renaissance door.
Niort, a town with a somewhat gutsy, glottalised name, to Anglais ears anyway, has some amazingly dramatic buildings- an enormous dungeon dominating the town as we enter. Room for plenty of guests- one wonders what grim deeds went on in there. Many of the fortifications around villages were built in an attempt to keep out the invading Normans- ultimately unsuccessful of course.
The Niort tourism office has no solid information on camping at Champdeniers St Denis but we head there hoping something will turn up. An ambiguous sign for Francette coming out of Niort (beware at the bridge!) has us cycling through foret- obviously wrong but coming out of the woods we find the D12 directly pointing to Champdeniers St Denis so we take it , or rather it takes us along for a very uphill and downhill ride. Champdeniers-Saint-Denis looks deserted apart from the bar and nearest camping is 12 kms away- beyond our endurance. Rescue turns up next to the bar in the form of a delightful chambre d’hote: ‘Paradis’.
Behind its walls is hidden a beautiful garden and above, a cool, comfortable room with a wall unit displaying books about the region. France, the owner, encourages us to make use of the garden and so we have our dejeuner there and enjoy reading under the trees until dusk descends. Paradise indeed.
Today's ride: 65 km (40 miles)
Total: 1,378 km (856 miles)
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