by Philip

Miles : 59. Ascent : 1,129’.

Our AirBnB was a large, three bedroomed house, well equipped and comfortable, but a bit lacking in some basics – no tea, coffee, salt, pepper etc – and a minimal amount of loo paper … one of our measures of how good a place is. We had a good dinner sitting outside and slept well before an early start this morning with 58 miles showing on Komoot. 

First stop was the supermarket for bread – passing a vending machine selling (only) oysters – it’s a huge industry in these parts. We then wound our way back through town, passing a man out for a walk with his donkey, before heading out into the marshlands again with cattle grazing among the culverts. We saw a coypu swimming, herons, egrets, and numerous smaller birds. The sun is fully out and there’s a fair old wind, so we’d better get pedalling!

A little further on we passed a pheasant farm, with hundreds of young birds in a large enclosure running away from the end where we stopped. There were kestrels hunting, and then we saw two small coypu munching away at the side of the road. We had our first encounter with impatient and inconsiderate motorists – up to now they’ve been respectful and given us lots of space – but we emerged unscathed. 

Emerging from the marshes we rode through a couple of sleepy towns and found a bench for our first snack stop. Last year, for my birthday, our friend K gave us a trip on the Bluebell railway with fish and chip lunch – which was a fun day out in June this year and a delicious lunch. For dessert that day, a cherry flapjack was provided which we didn’t eat at the time … but Liz brought them with us and gave them to me on our rest day a couple of days ago – they were very welcome after our first 12 miles today!

Shortly after this break we went from road to trail, this time through coniferous forest. It was delightful – we had 10-12 miles of compacted surface which was reasonably smooth, interrupted by the odd patch of loose sand which could catch you out – I was grateful for my fat, knobbly tyres. It was peaceful and cool, well used by cyclists and walkers alike. In the latter third of this section we found large parks of mobile homes, chalets, cabins and glamping-style tents – this is obviously a very popular area in the summer, although all now closed and ghostlike now that the season has finished. 

Emerging from the forest we got to a vast, golden beach at La plage des demoiselles – the tide was out, and it was several hundred meters from promenade to sea. There were people digging in the sand for seafood, others enjoying sand yachts, zooming along in the strong wind. Fortunately the wind was at our backs so we covered this mile and a half very quickly with no motor use at all. Another few miles and we found a shady bench for lunch. We’ve done 32 miles … and are very aware that we’re only just over half way. Time for more suncream and to press on. 

The afternoon passed in something of a blur. As Liz mentioned in her blog the other day, we start off fresh, all the time in the world, stopping frequently … then by the afternoon it becomes more challenging and the lure of a shower and a comfy sofa calls. We finished lunch today around 2 – and still had something like 28 miles to go which is around 3-4 hours riding for us. The ride seemed to be a reprise of everything we’ve seen so far – seaside towns with busy cycle paths, kite surfers, windsurfers, yachts, swimmers … then marshland, paths through forest – even a stretch along a river! We particularly enjoyed the forest trails which were cool and shaded, a welcome respite to the heat of the sun when we were riding along a beachfront. 

Komoot had decided to take us off La Vélodyssée about 5 miles away from our destination, but we were wise to his wiles, and also knew where our supermarket was, so stayed on the trail enjoying dunes and coast for a while before dropping into the town and shopping for dinner. Then we’ll have a couple of miles before finding our 12th floor flat for the next two nights, and working out the slightly anxiety-inducing question of where to put the bikes, and where to charge them.