Day 65: Les Sables d'Olonne to Fromentine

April 11, 2024

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It seems that many of the beach areas along this Atlantic coast feature both a Ferris wheel and one or more carousels. When we saw the first carousel, with its hint that it is from 1900, we took it at face value. But now we are thinking they all say that. It means we do not have to puzzle about how a biplane got into the lineup. On the other hand, that biplane (below) says "Le Petit Prince" and maybe BS100. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of Le Petit Prince, was an aviator, beginning flying around the year 1920 (born 1900). So maybe it fits in. In there a plane in the actual Le Petit Prince story?

Out along the water, there were some iconic oceanic scenes -lighthouses and boats, good for photos:

The red and green denote a harbour entrance, I think.

Chateau Saint Clair, at the harbour entrance.

We skirted along the harbour, looking at attractive buildings on the other side of the inlet. Had we hung a right, we would have probably come to the central square and had other sights, but we kept left and headed north, out of town.

Decorated grain silos. We also saw these from our hotel window.

As usual, the nicer old bits of town are soon left behind. These apartment buildings a little out of town are ok, but nothing special.

Our next stage in leaving town was these sort of suburbs. I was scandalized that they lacked shutters, let alone blue ones.

Now at last we were out along the ocean.

And an Egret, admiring his lovely reflection, no doubt.

What followed next for us, over quite a long day, was a very pleasing succession of cycling environments. We passed through marsh a lot, back out by the ocean, through forest paths, and past towns. One again, although the surfaces varied, we were never dumped onto highway, except when we chose that right at the end.

Here now is a house with "proper" blue shutters.

Near Brem sur Mer, we left the marshes and popped back out to the ocean.

The typical scene of path over the dunes, to the water.

All along the coast now, we would have these typical white (ish) houses with orange (ish) roofs and blue shutters.

Except look, some radicals here are playing with shades of green shutters.

Now we came to a bizarre thing that we have yet to figure out. A line or lines of people were wading out inside the sandbar, clumped quite together, all in wetsuits, and most quite mature looking. We have seen an exercise class at out local pool, in which old folks kind of wade in the water. Is that what this is? Or is it pre-surfing training?

Sorry for all the shots, it just struck us as very strange.

A nice coast to play on, no matter what your water sport?

Back to cycling, a pizza joint had attracted some cycle tourists.

Now at St Gilles Croix de Vie, the harbour looks exactly like a bathtub where someone has puled the plug. The inlet is the estuary of the river Vie, and the next shot shows where the river enters the ocean.

Beyond the place where the Vie exits, there is shoreline with lots of elegant houses, some with rather Soulac style. These thin out, and then we get an open beach front, with really open, wide beach. Then there is kind of carnival boardwalk area, with yet another Ferris wheel, and various beach front apartment complexes. All this continued for us for about 15 km, until we turned inland at Saint Jean de Monts.

Here is a really great house. Look at the fancy tile up high.

Around these apartments, we turned inland.

Our bike computers were showing above 60 km travelled already today, and we seemed to be nowhere. So although the Velodysee signage was clear and the trail not bad, we grew impatient with it. Consequently we jumped onto the smooth, but no shoulder D38, and just blasted the remaining 10-15 km into Fromentine.

Our spot in Fromentine, the Hotel Cap D'Ambre, was quite expensive at 95 euros with no breakfast. But the room was ground floor, with the bikes just there. There was also a double bed, a single bed, and a bunk bed in the large room. We are hoping to come back in August (though not quite to here) with a son and three grandchildren, and this is the kind of room that would really help then. It's good to know they exist.

We planned our route carefully to be able to stop by our friend Michel, who lives just beyond Nantes. We are now excited to be getting so close. It seems we always have some kind of bike issue to work out when visiting Michel. We have done some tire swaps with him, and in a really fun one, we went to the dump to find materials with which to make bike bags, so we could get on the high speed train to Paris with bagged folded bikes one time. This time, our drive trains are completely worn out, and Michel has been running around sourcing the parts. There is a chance we will try with Michel to do the drive train replacement ourselves, but we do lack the tools and much of the expertise. That would make for a lot of "fun with Michel", but if we can manage it we will pass up the fun and actually get the job done right, at a shop.

Today's ride: 73 km (45 miles)
Total: 3,179 km (1,974 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	7
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John FlecknerEspecially enjoying this part of the trip which we did--in reverse direction-- a few years back. Please give our greetings to Michel.
Hard to imagine what it would look like in high season but I don't want to find out....Best to you both! John Fleckner/Cyclingsanta
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7 months ago

Eva WaltersHow was the buffet breakfast in your hotel? It seemed like you were looking forward to it. Hope it was at least an 8-jammer!
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7 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo John FlecknerYou were apparently going in the right direction, while we went south to north. The prevailing wind direction is from the north!
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7 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Eva WaltersIt was ok but not an 8. Closer to a 6 to 7. However, since we mentally subtracted the 9 euro entrance fee from each breakfast fee, we were happy.
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7 months ago

Keith KleinHi,
Lots of memories for me on that route. The sand on the path near Les Sables is good to ride on even in the rain, but it does get into the drivetrain. Give my best to Michael.
Cheers
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7 months ago