It was pouring with rain and the weather forecast promised even more. Looked as though this might be more of a test of character than a holiday.
What a relief – the sun starting to peep through. Tony and our friends waved me off – though as we were planning to meet up for lunch later that day it wasn’t exactly farewell
I had been warned about the bridge between Ile de Re and ‘le continent’ but in fact the slope wasn’t challenging and there was a comfortingly large barrier between the traffic and the cycle lanes. The cycle path around the north of La Rochelle was a delight but the problem arose when trying to cut under the ring road
Well marked cycle paths led out past the port and then on to the coastal path which follows the impressive sweep of the bay south of La Rochelle. Lost the cycle path a few times going through various small towns and spent about 20 minutes in Angoulins looking for the way out. This may become a recurrent theme!
About 12h30 I rolled into Chatelaillon Plage where Tony and our friends were waiting for me with a cold beer and a pizza. Apart from the very welcome refuelling Bernard gave me a quick lesson in using a compass with a map so I should have less trouble finding my way out of small villages in future.
From Chatelaillon onwards the trip was easy though unremarkable and the weather continued to improve moment by moment until I arrived in Rochefort in bright sunshine.
I stayed at the Hotel Lafayette – an attractive, clean, friendly little 2 star hotel. I showered, changed and strolled to the main square where I relaxed and enjoyed a citron presse.
Later in the evening I went for a stroll around the ‘Corderie Royale’ where I was reminded of the incredible decibel level that female French teachers seem able to achieve. There was a school party being shown around – so I decided to cut my visit short!
By the way – the most feared words in any language: “ Go straight on, you can’t miss it”. Wrong!
60km so far - only another 800 to go.
