My first puncture! I must have picked up a thorn at some point in the forest and discovered on leaving the town that my front tyre was flat. A moment of panic but in fact I just swopped the inner tube – no problems.
Splendid piste from Lacanau to Bordeaux but more kilometres of boring pine forest. For the first time I am beginning to find the need to cycle standing up some of the time. A beautiful day so I had to stop and plaster on the factor 50.
Just outside Lacanau I picked up a friendly Spaniard who decided to keep me company to Bordeaux. Nice chap but almost impossible to understand as he had a really strong Spanish accent. I also got rapidly tired of being told what to do, which turnings to take etc – all very well-meaning but I’ve got this far on my own. In fact one of the best things about this trip is to wake up every morning and know you have 60km between you and your next stop and only pedalpower and a map to get you there. I was quite glad when he stopped for a snack. I on the other hand hadn’t thought to bring a casse-croute so ran a severe risk of starving to death as none of the little villages en route seemed to have an open shop. I arrived in Ste Helene just as the supermarket was closing (12 – 3) and no way were they going to stay open an extra 5 minutes for some sweaty anglo-saxon on a bike. . That’s when you know you are in the south. Fortunately I found a small restaurant in Salaunes so was able to recharge my batteries.
I was nervous about cycling into Bordeaux along the main roads but it was really easy. Luckily I spotted a couple of cyclists heading back into town with a child on the back of the bike and they led me safely onto the cycle network.
Laura arrives on Saturday so it will be a non-cycle day – which will give me a bit of welcome recovery time. Very nice hotel (Hotel La Tour Intendance) right in the centre of the pedestrian area.
318km to date
