by Philip

After four days cycling, we have our third rest day.  We burned through the miles in the first half of the trip, so when we came to plan the second half we found we could be gentler on ourselves, with more frequent rest days. Today has dawned with a beautiful sunrise, the sun shining on the cobb of the port wall, and the promise of a dry, sunny day when we plan to relax, swim and do the usual rest day jobs like laundry and cleaning and maintaining the bikes.

Liz introduced the cottage we are staying in in her blog yesterday – the French have a word they like to use for places like this : “atypique”, meaning unusual. When being shown round by the owner yesterday we said it was “unique” and were corrected to “atypique” – there seems to be a distinction we aren’t aware of. The house has a lounge on the entrance level looking out over the patio with the sea over a balustrade, then the kitchen and bathroom are downstairs and the bedroom upstairs in the eaves … more risk of head bumping, but the ceiling is not quite as low as we had the other day! The house has been carefully and very thoughtfully converted, and the owner tells us it is very popular as a rental. They live in a large house behind the cottage, with extensive grounds with three rental properties including ours and a fourth about to be developed. They keep chickens and parrots (named Grisette and Pistache) in separate enclosures, each with automatic shutters for the night and CCTV to monitor. There’s a pond with five huge koi carp, and also a little community of frogs, much to my delight. 

Leaving the house to find breakfast, we were visited by the owner’s dog – huge and fluffy, and very calm. We walked on the promenade round to the little town of St Georges de Didonne and found a boulangerie for our breakfast. Liz had a “Jesuite” pastry – a slice of a large pie by the look of it, with pastry, almond cream, and a thin layer of meringue. She asked in the shop if it was good, and there was a resounding “yes” both from staff and customers, with many smiles. We sat outside with tea and coffee to eat our breakfast, and one of the customers came out and stood chatting to us for ages which was fun … I think I got about half of what she said and Liz about 90% … she did speak very fast! From there to the supermarket for provisions including a local Charente wine, and then back for a swim. 

We have a private gate out from the property to the path running alongside the beach – it looks like the gate to a prison cell! Down a flight of steps and a brief scramble over some rocks, seemingly grouted with thousands of oyster shells, and there we were. It’s a very shallow beach, and even after swimming out for perhaps 50m I was still able to touch the bottom. A gorgeous swim, gentle lapping waves, no current, and very comfortable temperature both air and water. We sat on the rocks to dry a little, then back home to shower and have lunch – sitting on the terrace in the shade of the large parasol, with left over pizza (absolutely delicious), wonderful bread, a cheese we haven’t tried before, and then fruit, yogurt and ice cream – all while looking out at the sea. Liz described it as paradise, and I think she might be right. 

A little nap after lunch was required, and then rest day jobs called. Both bikes were washed, oiled and tyres checked … frustratingly I managed to completely deflate one tyre when its valve fell apart, but my electric pump sorted that out fairly quickly. There was a little chain-oil-on-trousers incident which required some googling and tender care courtesy of Liz. 

Later, we went to inspect the fauna on the property, seeing both the previously mentioned birds and frogs, and also a lizard on the terrace. The mosquitoes we could have done without. We’ve noticed common ringed plovers on the beach when the tide is out, digging in the sand for their supper. This evening Liz is cooking and we are looking forward to a seafood risotto which will be followed by fruit and the remainder of the amazing ice cream we bought last night. Tomorrow we have an early start as the day’s riding begins with a ferry, followed by about 45 miles so we don’t want to miss the 10 o’clock sailing!