Day 63: La Rochelle to L'Aiguillon-sur- Mer

April 9, 2024

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We crossed over a passerelle (small bridge) from the hotel to start the day's adventure. Although it looks quite modern, the passerelle is dated at 1550 by a plaque at the entrance.

We took a look over at the Nicholas tower, this time with a jaundiced eye, since we had read that it is a leaning tower. I set the camera to be dead level, and yes, the photo shows the tower leaning to the left (north east).

The tower was built on oak stakes driven into the mud - not quite good enough.

This tower at the back of the inner harbour is the gateway to downtown.

Inside the gate, there are the rows of elegant buildings.

This castle like building is the city hall. The idea behind such an extravagant design is to establish the prestige of the city. This original construction is from 1490. There was a fire in 2013 and a subsequent renovation in 2019.

It was in the early and mid 17th century that there was an intense relationship between La Rochelle and Canada (New France). Settlers and also troops came from here, and many in Quebec can still trace their roots to La Rochelle and the rest of the French Atlantic coast, including further north, in Brittany, as far as St. Malo. Our sister-in-law, Francine, can trace some of her ancestry to this region.

One famous example of the link to Canada is in the "Filles du Roi", approximately 800 women recruited at the behest of Louis XIV to go to New France, get married, and start families. This was not a "free love" or prostitution operation, as the women took time (up to two years) to find husbands, and have church weddings.

This colourful figure is standing on the roofline.

I took the picture of this lady because I thought it was a tennis player. Now I see her "racquet" is just a mirror. Actually, with a racquet that size, it would have needed to be pickleball.

This square near city hall illustrates the formal style of buildings in La Rochelle. No Soulac here!

For Keith Klein: see the PTT on this building.

As we set about leaving the downtown area, we encountered a gratifying number of cyclists coming in. They had all sorts of bikes, including the readily noticeable cargo bikes with kids seated in front.

The path soon deteriorated to gravel, but it had a rainbow over it. Dodie was not falling for the rainbow as a magical sign of nature's cooperation, but rather as a sign of moisture in the air. She was right, and nature was gearing up to give us a hard time today. In fact, this evolved as one of the toughest days of the trip. A couple of more photos, and we'll be right into it!

Before we could worry about Nature, we were commenting on how the cycle route designers often like to put the thing away from any services and outside the towns. Dodie remembered this particularly with Dompierre-sur-Mer, where the town has a modern version of a wall around it, and EV1 dutifully skirts the outside.

Frequently, the track went to gravel. In this photo, we see gravel you can push up.

Eventually the track settled down to following a canal, one which runs from La Rochelle to Marans. (Marans is famous with us former chicken farmers as the place of origin of a breed of chickens that makes very dark brown eggs.)

The track, by the canal, paved here, but don't count on it.

The canal and marsh area produced some bird sightings. Among these was a Mallard, too common to be exciting, except for the show this one put on.

We also both observed a Ring Necked Pheasant flying off. It is very recognizable for its long tail.

24181 Ring Necked Pheasant (from allaboutbirds.org)

The day had started out cold, at 9 degrees, and with enough scattered showers that we put on (and off, and on) our rain pants. But the cold and rain were really amplified by a strong headwind. It was strong in a way that rivalled headwind we had faced in Spain - that is, gusts over 50 kph. When we got near Marans we saw that the track avoided going in to the town. But we were already feeling the effects of the cold, rain, and wind and thought about going to look for some hot soup. We must not have been quite weak enough just yet, because we turned from Marans and followed the track onto the Marans to the Sea canal path.

After a time, the track took to just seemingly random wandering through marsh, and farm fields. This area is part of the Marais Poitevin (Poitevin marsh) regional park. I have put lots of stickers on my bike and bags over the years, from all over Europe. Most eventually fall off, but one has hung in there, and it says Marais Poitevin. I have no idea when or exactly where I got it, but I wonder why I did, because this time out it was, honestly, hell.

The land here is wide open, so we could watch dark clouds and the grey rain falling from them approaching. Even worse, we could not avoid having to cycle right under one of the darn things.

On this wide open land, there was no shelter from the wind, driving the cold rain, and in fact at a couple of points there was some hail in there as well. All I could do was to bend my head down, so that the DaBrim would give more protection, and poor Dodie wearing glasses could barely see.

At some point in this we came upon a sign for a "refuge cyclo". Wow, the idea of a refuge really resonated. In a refuge we might be able to eat our sandwiches. In a refuge we might be able to count the number of teeth on our rear sprockets - something our friend Michel had asked for today, so that he can order us replacements. In a refuge, I would be able to get my rain pants back on! The "refuge cyclo" sign just had an arrow, going our way, and we imagined it was just around the corner, something the Departement had dreamed up, because we would probably need it. But as the kms ground by, no refuge appeared, though there were more signs.

Finally we came to the one shown below. This at least gave a distance - 7 km - off route! This was not a gift from the Departement, but just an ad for some kind of BnB! At the time we came to this sign, the wind and rain were so hard that there was no way I should be able to get a photo. But I was ticked, and got one anyway, just to remember. (You can see "Champagne les Marais" easily on our track map above. It's nowhere near the track!)

We turned our attention to trying to survive the path you see below. Don't confuse the water filled single tracks with the water filled channel!

But as the "refuge cyclo" faded from mind, a new shining goal arose to keep me going. This was the dwindling distance to Saint Michel en l'Herm. Visions of hot soup steamed up around that name. Or, in a more delusional state, that would be a tagine, with hot Moroccan spices.

When we got to the point where we would have to turn off to enter Saint Michel, the perceptive Dodie put forth the possibility that restaurants would not be open. I desperately poo pooed this. So in we went, and to the first of the two restaurants in town. We carefully parked the bikes so they would not be blown over in the wind, and in we went. I was first, glad to see that the door opened. Inside, a lady looked at me quizzically, and I looked at her quizzically. "This is a restaurant, do you serve meals?" was the question I put to her. "Yes, but, we close at 13:30", she replied. "What time is it?" "14:00" Drat! But the lady suggested the other restaurant could be open.

We unlocked the bikes and dragged them across to the other restaurant, the "Daim Gris". Daim is suede, so it was the Grey Suede? I repeated the inquiry process, and this time my victim was a "boy", looked about 14 to me, serving behind the bar. " Can you make a "plat du jour" was my foolish introduction. No, they were closed, only the bar functioning, said the boy. Dodie, behind me, hearing this, said "Fine, we'll just go to L'Aiguillon-sur- Mer". By this she meant we'd forget food and go to find our hotel. But a customer at the bar heard this and smugly chipped in "It will be the same there too!"

"Ouvert" is a bit of an exaggeration. France is generally not ouvert in the afternoon, on Sunday, in August, at Pentecot, or dozens of other excuses.

We had no option but to take to the road again. But we had had it with muddy track. Instead Dodie found the D746. A "D" road that begins with a high number, like 7, is generally not a good idea. And in fact, several signs directed us to a bike path. You can see the bike path and the D road below:

The D746 was suitably hairy, and with the forceful wind, it was hard to ride a straight line, away from the traffic. We put on our flashers and went for it. Oh, we're we happy when we made it to a Super U, basically at L'Aiguillon. Super U had covered tables, a heated interior, washrooms, and tiramisu and so much more for sale. It was the long awaited refuge!

Also at Super U, there was a miniature car for rent (14 euros per day). Not that we need a miniature car just now, but was it ever cute. A peek inside revealed a well appointed and fully featured interior. Only thing, it is only a gtwo seater. Four seats really are more practical. I mean, if the Grampies come to visit you, then two seats is not going to cut it. Also, this thing was diesel. Gotta be electric!

How did I have time to be looking at an inappropriate rental car? Dodie was loading up all the goodies that came from Super U onto the bikes!

A Ligier JS50 like this can be had for 15,000 euros new. They are made in France.

We were happy on arriving at our Booking, the "Maison Sallee" chambre d'hotes, where we got a nice welcome from the owner, Vincent. Our room is that favourite configuration - ground floor, facing an enclosed patio. The bikes got stashed quickly and easily by Vincent in another ground floor room. He says he receives lots of cyclists. And when Dodie asked if he thought a plastic bag with Super U stuff to be kept cool would be ok on the patio, he simply brought a fridge and installed it in our room, asking if we would also like a micro.

Tomorrow's forecast still calls for a chilly 9 degree start, but with no rain and low wind. We are able to handle one of cold, rain, wind, quite well. It's only when all three ramp up that we start to squeak!

Today's ride: 60 km (37 miles)
Total: 3,048 km (1,893 miles)

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