May 14, 2018
Day 49: Coulon to Parthenay
On leaving Coulon we got a bit more idea of what the wetlands are about, though we did not see any real Everglades level stuff. There were certainly rentals of little chanel boats to be had, and bridges in the cycle path over those chanels.
We found various kinds of cows, happily out in the lush foliage. Here are a few of them:
It is only about 10 km from Coulon to Niort, the major town in this region. We sailed along fairly happily over this section, though the temperature was 10 degrees. No rain and few hills - makes a big difference.
In Niort we of course wanted to see the sights of the town, and we had another agenda too - to buy a kettle. Our hand held water boiler had packed it in, but we remain quite devoted to having a hot drink available on the bikes, in our thermos bottles.
Niort was almost totally closed, this being Monday - the people need to rest up from resting on Sunday. This was in a way an advantage, since there was no one about to get in the way. Unfortunately Les Halles, the indoor market, was also closed.
Niort has several nice churches, an impressive city hall, and a large grey structure called the Donjon. The Donjon is two keeps that are the remains of a former larger castle. There are also some pedestrian only streets, very neat looking with no people around. We whipped through the whole thing and happily snapped photos. We especially liked the twin towered Saint Andre church. It sits on a bit of a hill, and when we cycled up to it we found ourselves in a neighbourhood of very old and satisfyingly decrepit houses. We felt typical tourists would not usually come up there and would miss seeing this.
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We crossed the Sevre, which is on the edge of downtown, and went to Leclerc, which is essentially Walmart. There we found a 1 litre kettle - kind of big and heavy but we know it will work well. 2000 watts of power! - those hot drinks are gonna be really hot. We returned to the river to eat some lunch, while I enjoyed reading the kettle instruction manual. Mainly it's fill it and push the button, but as usual with these things there is a lot of lawyer written material in the book. They advise, for example, that anyone with a physical or mental disability use the thing under supervision and/or receive special training in how to do it. They also apply the same advice to anyone under 8 years old. The device, they add, can be used at home, in offices, and in farms, as well as B&B's and hotels. I was glad to know that!
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Up until Niort the cycle way has been following the river. But the next stage takes off cross country, over hill and dale. By over hill and dale I mean hill and dale and hill and dale, without end, for 70 kms! We began to think - we positively knew- that we had been too naive and exuberant in booking a place at Parthenay. To help make the point, the weather conjured up some rain, and mixed in a little wind. Ok, a lot of wind.
The thing about our e-assist is that it only is a bit of assist. I liken it to the changing of my heavily loaded heavy bike into a medium loaded medium bike. That is, if you want to make any distance. Sure, it can conjure up a lightly loaded light bike, but only for a little while.
Riding our "medium" bikes for 70 km of hills, wind, and rain was exhausting. Now that it is over, and 2 hours later, my face is "hot" and my body is beat. Dodie is the same, and I am proud to think she did make it.
I wasn't mentally prepared for the nonstop hills. And I had no idea about the layout of Parthenay. It turns out it seems to be built on the side of a ridge. So even when we made it to town, it was still hills until we found our B&B. This stopped me initially from appreciating the beautiful old town. Maybe tomorrow I will have a better grasp on it.
Our B&B is also remarkable, and if we had not climbed a 15% hill to get to it, I would like it even more. The building is from the 17th century, and we have a huge room that looks out at both the front and back of it. Out the back is a medieval garden and a view to an ancient church - not sure yet which one. Our room also has its own chapel, though it only has room for one person at a time. A facility like that has got to add one star to the rating, wouldn't you say? Actually, more than the chapel we like all the electric outlets we have here. We can charge our bike batteries to our hearts' content, and stage races between the in house kettle and our own, for making drinks to recharge our internal batteries.
Bonus: The Fleur de Lys
The Fleur de Lys is a decorative design or motif found all over France, in the flag of Quebec, and as a symbol of Forence, Italy as well as other places, as far away as Norway. While clearly the name means "lily", the actual symbol most resembles the Iris. In our travels in France, Iris has been everywhere, while we can not remember seeing any lillies, so it's confusing.
Confusion aside, we really love irises, for their many colour combinations and unique perfume. Since Provence, they have been among the most noticeable of the flowers. The large number of colour combinations was really apparent yesterday, along the Sevre. So today I got the idea of collecting up photos of the various kinds that are evident everywhere.
Once I got this idea, suddenly all irises disappeared. I searched for the whole morning, with little success. But slowly during the day a few did pop up, and I got some photos. Here is a sample:
I think these photos are valuable as an indication of what we were seeing in this place and season. But as to the general topic of how many Iris variations there are, have a look at this.
Today's ride: 80 km (50 miles)
Total: 3,259 km (2,024 miles)
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