Day 22: Espana!!!

So, after the previous day of fixing a broken spoke, I had been mulling over the fact that I had yet to have a puncture on the trip. Lucy had just 2, and 4 of my spokes had given way at various points, but no puncture. I put this down to the clean roads in France, and the fact that you don´t find yourself cycling through glass as I so often did on the Pacific coast of the US.

Day 21: Getting there

I awoke early to see Igor packing his tent and heading off. For some reason we don´t think it will be the last time we see him, although we hope it is.. not being mean, but he´s a proper nut job!

Day 20: Crash bang wallop, and another visit from Igor

We left Arcachon fairly early and headed down the coast, looking to get a good days cycle in and at least make it to Mimizan. The cycling was going fairly well and we followed bike routes for most of the way. In fact we were making great progress through the beach villages, and the weather was still fairly good apart from being a little colder.

Day 19: Rest day, but a proper one

We decided that a day in Arcachon would be a good idea as the glorious weather was about to change, and cycling everyday in the searing heat was starting to seem silly. Best make the most of it for one day and then head on refreshed and ready for the final push.

Day 18: Rack off

After a nice night of listening to the waves crashing in and the smell of pine, we headed off as a threesome for another day of cycling through pine forests just by the coast. Lucy's tent peg/cable tie/electric tape combo appeared to have done the job with her pannier rack and all was well and good.

Day 17. A new recruit!

So after a sort of rest day we headed out of Royan via the ferry across the bay of biscay, another lovely sunny day in the 30's and a day of cycling through pine forests ahead of us.

Day 16: Rest day, sort of

We had a rest day in Royan, sort of... we thought it was bound to have a cybercafe, which it did, but it was closed, so while Lucy went and sat on the beach for a couple of hours I cycled 8 miles back in the direction of La Palmyre as I knew it had a cybercafe, and I was eager to get some of the last week blogged.

When I came out of the cybercafe low and behold the 3 muskamigos passed me, looking burnt, tired and like they were about to die. They got lost again, still hadn't invested in a map, and I told them it should only take them about 40 minutes to get to Royan... realistically, I reckon the pace they were going it would probably have taken about an hour and a half.

Not much else to say, other than by the end of it we were both well rested, although I had cycled about 20 miles on a rest day, without making any progess!

Lucy question of the day "Does a beached whale bask or does it only bask when it is in the sea?"

Day 15: Sun sun sun

For the 5th day running the weather has been amazing. It was mid 30's again today, and again we were up and out of the campsite at the crack of dawn (or about 9am, which to us is the crack of dawn)

Day 14: Decisions decisions

Sometimes decisions you make on the road are often the wrong ones.

We had left La Rochelle earlier than any other day so far (predominantly because it was like camping in Tooting) and headed out towards Rochfort? with the intention of making it to La Tremblade, which was a good distance but not too far as to make it difficult. We followed a bike path out of La Rochelle toward Rochefort, and followed the coast most of the way. The cycle paths were great and signed and so we made great progress and hit Rochefort for lunch (the usual bread and cheese... suprise suprise)

Day 13: Tricalore!!!!

We've been debating what to call the other tourers for days. Lucy wanted to call them the 3 muskateers, although that would create the impression that they were organised and efficient. I wanted to call them the 3 amigos or the 3 stooges, as that would give you more of an impression of what they are really like.

Day 12: Popping tyres and other tourers

So after the pain of having to go back on ourselves, but the joy of a hotel bed, I picked up my wonderfully true wheel from Lucy's favorite frenchman and we headed back along the road to L'herbergement.

Photos

I haven't got time to sort them by day.. but these are the photos so far.

When I get a mo I'll label and catalogue etc...

Day 11: Spokes

After the long ride into the outskirts of Nantes the day before we were both a little tired leaving Bourgenais in the morning. Every day for the last week we have been waking up to immense dew covering everything and it makes it very difficult to get going. Today was the day things changed!

Day 10: Long day

We left Riex with the intention of following the canals down towards Nantes. The friendly bike tourer from a couple of days ago had told us that it is not only beautiful but flat. It certainly wasn't the most direct route but if it's flat you know you will make good progress. I wasn't 100% sure this was the best way to go, but as it was a tip from a fellow cyclist, and Lucy wanted to follow the canals, that was the way we were going.

Day 9: Sunday

Sundays aren't a good day to be looking for things in France. As I have said a few times most of France seems to be shut most of the time, but usually you can find something that is open. Not on a Sunday though, really, you have to know where to go at exactly what time to get anything on a Sunday!

Day 8: Rest day.... but I'm not allowed to call it that.

Sooooooo... 7 days wrth of blogs to get through, from random notes on my iphone. Doubt it will be particularly exciting or funny, and the azerty keyboards aren't easy to deal with either. However I will do my best.

Day 7: Hilly

We left Pont Augen, which was our chosen destination the night before, again quite late in the day. We had decided we were only going to head down to Grand Champ, which wasn't far. When we got to Grand Champ the campsite was shut for the season. Not the first and I'm sure it's not the last time this will happen.

Day 6: All in all a nice day

We left the campsite of Monsieur Haystacks fairly late in the day, about lunchtime, as we had been waiting for clothes to dry and had decided just to head along the route the friendly bike tourer (who's name we never got) had given us.

Day 5: Transcript

Me: What's been your favorite bit of today?

Lucy: Getting here

Me: ...and?

Day 4: Chateuxlin to Foret de Fouesnant

After a good days rest we headed out of Chateulin in the direction of Foret de Fouesnant, a town on the coast and tlhe promise of lots more camping. We ended up in a place called La Falaise camping, which was a fairly big mainstream campsite but right by the beach. So we got our first sight of the Atlantic as we were coming into town.

Day 3: Rest day, already?!

So after covering a massive 65 miles in the first 2 days in France we decided day 3 should be a rest day. We had a look around Chateuxlin, did some internet and then chilled at the campsite. Chateuxlin was nice, although again everything seemed shut, except for the tabac/bar, which is where everyone hangs out, apparently.

Day 2: Questions questions

So after a washout of a first day we awoke early to try and get some good mileage on the board. The Hotel de L'Avenue was completely shut on sunday morning... as is the rest of France it seems!! We've passed so many shops, boulangerie's and patisserie's that are closed we wondered if the whole country had shut down.

Day 1: The ferry

Day 1 of the trip started well. We went into Taunton to watch the Tour of Britain stage 6 start. Lucy got very excited because she got to see her hero Mark Cavendish, although it was the moment she decided that I don't find anything exciting because I wasn't particularly excited about it. After that we did some general last minute preparations and got everything ready for the off at 7pm. We got a lift to Plymouth (thanks mum) and were both fairly excited about the whole thing, which was good because it proves I do get excited about some things.

And they're off..

Bags packed,. bike ready.. it's time to head off down the west coast of france to see what it has to offer. In fact we're leaving in 20 minutes, and I only thought I should do a blog because Lucy is doing hers. So not much else to say other than I'll keep you posted along the way. If you want to read what Lucy has to say then click here... www.cyclingpickles.blogspot.com and then ask yourself; what is her problem with capital letters?!

Details

The first thing to do is go through the details I suppose, just so you and I both know what is going to be happening, how long it's going to take and what the rules are.