by Liz

Miles : 44. Ascent : 1,125’.

Today’s route looked like we’d be following the coast all day, which we mostly did however we could only really see the sea for the first eight miles. Instead the landscape was varied and interesting. We left in blue sky and sunshine and were soon enjoying sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean, mid-blue with white waves, and nearer to shore, dark reefs on which sea birds were perched, shining in the sun. 

The bakery in Prefailles was shut (there’s a Monday closing thing that goes on in France) but we found another and bought breakfast and lunch. There were fishing huts on stilts again along the coast. On a near-deserted beach, a wheelchair had been left at the end of the path and two men were on either side of an elderly woman, who could barely walk, helping her to the sea. 

Turning inland we found more fishing huts along the Louippe river. We passed through farming country then oyster farming territory, and later vast, flat wetlands drained via culverts. It was a warm day and there was little shade, with few trees. In this hot landscape the only houses we passed seemed to hug the ground, low and white with pale blue shutters, the coolest colours. Hot air wafted past us as we rode. 

We had lunch at a wonderful picnic table. It was on a roundabout in Port du Collet but it had a sturdy roof that provided much needed shade, which at that moment was all that mattered. We shared it with a French couple in their late 70s or early 80s, who are walking from Angers to les Sables d’Olonne. That’s around 125 miles. They were an inspiration, they just take it slow and steady, towing a little trailer with their kit, attached with a harness. We swapped experiences and encouragement. 

We were tantalisingly close to the sea for much of the afternoon but it was hidden by a dyke. Someone had done just what I would have done and placed a table and chairs on top of the dyke so they could sit and look out at the sea; the nearest house was a quarter of a mile away. Just around the corner it looked for all the world as though there was an unexploded bomb in a field. 

Today’s wildlife included kestrels, herons, egrets, dragonflies, a flattened coypu and probably a thousand other birds and animals that escaped our notice. We were relieved to reach our cool house in Beauvoir-sur-Mer (but where is la mer? – at least three miles from here) and to be safe from the marshes which abound in this area. The mozzies are mean in these parts and we are fairly covered with bites . It turns out the best way to torment me is to tell me where the bite relief spray is and then move it. After we arrived Philip went to SuperU to buy ingredients for dinner and returned with my very own bottle of bite relief spray – the best gift 😊