Atlantic Coast Continued, La Loire and Normandy

 We hit the road travelling 90k through the pine forests via a ‘stockup’ at ‘Intermarche’ to ‘Ares’ and our campsite ‘La Canadienne’ (16 euros), 23k from Cap Ferret and right on the cycle path.  We found the perfect placement under the pines.  We met Ludovig and Gisele after admiring their ‘Carthago’ camper – a luxurious apartment on wheels! (100,000 euros)

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Woke up to a grey, wet day so we decided to walk the 6k into ‘Ares’ town with its ‘mud flats’ Port and pretty ‘centre ville’and then onto good old Macs to complete the blog over coffees!

 

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A great sunny day for cycling!  Off to Cap Ferret (‘oyster city’!) on the Cap Ferret Peninsula following a fantastic bike path through the pine forests.  Into this laid back little town passed the red and white lighthouse and through ‘Le Quartier Huitres’ (the oyster quarter)! 

'Degustations’ (tasting and sampling oysters) and eateries over looking the oyster beds standing out in the mud flats, fishy smells, golden sand and coloured fishing boats – there is plenty of charm and character here! 

We found a fabulous quaint restaurant overlooking the sea, ‘oysters the speciality’, however not one table free!

 

We hit the bike path taking a detour through the traditional villages ‘ostreicole’ (oyster farming villages).

  One of the prettiest villages we found was L’Herbe, consisting of tiny lanes and the brightly coloured houses of the oyster farmers overlooking the oyster beds along a small sandy beach. The village looks as much as it would have done at the turn of the 20^th Century.

     

 We also biked to ‘Le True Vert’, a wild surf beach with sand dunes and tussock grass stretching for miles along the Atlantic Coast.  It reminded us of the wonderful New Zealand beaches! There is a great campsite here in the middle of the pine forest.  64k later we arrived back at camp!   
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We decided to stay an extra day ‘blobbing’ and reading our ‘kindles’ in the sun.  We had a fabulous, fun evening with Ludovig and Gisele who live in Bretagne near Brest.

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We crossed over the Garonne and Dordogne Rivers and headed inland through ‘vineyard and farming country’,  grape harvesting has started along with the maize and sunflowes;  through Saintes and Rochefort to the Atlantic Coast and La Rochelle!  

Our GPS had incorrect co-ordinates for our designated ‘Aires’ camp and after a ‘tiki tour’ through the City there it was in a carpark alongside a lovely park with cycle and walking tracks, and only 1k from La Rochelle centre ville!

 
We walked into La Rochelle for an explore!  What a beautiful fortified coastal city!  ‘La Ville Blanche’ (the White City), so named because of it’s limestone facades was an important sea port from the 14^th to the 17^th Centuries.  The arcaded walkways, half timbered houses and gargoyles are reminiscent of its seafaring past.  The two 14^th Century stone towers dominate  the harbour entrance to La Rochelle.  Eateries, bistros and cafes surround the internal yacht filled marina –‘plat du jour 10 euros’ of ‘entrecote, frites et salade’ sounds good!  We strolled the quaint side streets and walked along the fortified walls!  Evidently lots of pirates were imprisioned in the Tour St Nicholas, the harbour’s lighthouse in the 15^th Century and turned into a prison in the 17^th Century.  Their initials are scratched into it’s walls!

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Up early and a great bike path along the waterfront and through the back streets to ‘Ile de Re’, which we thought was a ‘hop, skip and a jump’ away from La Rochelle!  We ended up cycling 12k before we even got to ‘Le Pont’ (the bridge), we then biked another 3k over the bridge and onto the Island, a wonderful friendly vibe and a great cycle path along the beach!

‘Ile de Re’ spans 30k and is just 5k at its widest section. 

Evidently ‘madness’ prevails here in July and August, the months to be avoided.

We cycled through the quaint little village of ‘La Flotte’ with its little port to the Island’s main town and fishing port, ‘St Martin-de-Re’.  A very pretty fortified town with bistros and eateries surrounding the yachts in the ‘inner marina’.  The green shuttered white wash buildings (predominant on the Island) remind us a little of Greece.  
We had a picnic overlooking the marina. 

The Island is a ‘cyclists paradise’made up of wonderful bike paths through the villages, along the beaches and through the forest.  We passed the oyster beds and headed to the Southern side with its laid back quaint beachy towns, mud flats in parts but plenty of character!  Back to the Northern side passed the salt beds (the salt producing villages are mainly around the Western tip) and back to La Rochelle.  We were just in the ‘nick of time’ as it’s beginning to rain and very windy as we climb over the bridge.

72k and back at camp just before the heavy rain!  We found a couple of Aires and some ASCI Camps on the Island, we will return!  Another incredible day!

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It’s a great day for travelling even though it’s threatening torrential rain!  We travelled 180k inland via Lucon and Les Herbiers noticing the dark slated roofs giving a Gothic appearance; passed small chateaux, spotting the odd turret in the distance!  Through Chalonne-sur-Loire to a beautifully located ‘Aires’ in Bouchemaine alongside the Loire River (automatic pay system and some facilities, 10 euros).  A walk and a run and now it’s raining hard!  Met Daph and Sue from Stoke-on-Trent parked in their Burstner!

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We took advantage of a break in the rain and biked a pretty bike route along the Loire River into Angers!  Much bigger than we had envisaged but beautiful and straddling the Loire.  The magnificent black stoned Chateau D’Angers ringed by battlements and 17 Watch Towers and the Cathedrale St Maurice in the centre of the old city stand out over the town!

We parked the bikes and went for an explore!  Angers is a bustling old town with many car free streets and busy cafes, trams and tram lines – a fun town and the eastern gateway to the Loire Valley!

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We hit the road after the torrential rain had eased!  There is a great bike path along the Loire to Samur and also to Nantes which we’ll need to come back to do, we need to make tracks now to catch the Calais to Dover ferry on 13 October.

 

We travelled 280k in the rain through Le Mans and Alencon to our chosen ‘Aires’ (5 euros) at Broglie!  A wonderful camp alongside La Gueil River, on a bike path and five minutes from the centre of town.

We’re back in Normandy, the largest region in France not to contain a single vineyard but made up for by it’s locally produced cider (calvados), soft cheeses and seafood. 

 It’s getting dark earlier and our ‘leisure battery’ seems to have lost it’s charge (dim lights and no water pump pressure) we’re waiting to see whether a new one is needed!    

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After a stroll around the pretty village of Broglie (half timbered, typical in Normandy), we travelled 120k via Rouen with it’s soaring Gothic Cathedral.  The N138 took us through Rouen and grid locked traffic, we got stuck in our first traffic jam before continuing on to our chosen camp at Neufchatel-en-Bray, ‘Camping Sainte Claire’ (12.40 euros).  Now only 175k from Calais.

Canal du Midi,Toulouse & Bordeaux Areas, Arcachon

            14.09

Had another bumpy night with gale force winds and as the forcast was for it to continue we decided to head inland again and find a place to base ourselves for a few days of cycling and  R & R.  We headed up to Perpignan and made a left following the D11 as far as Lavelanet where we headed north past Castelnaudary and into Soreze, 6k from Revel.



 

Soreze is only 4k from ‘Le Lac de Saint-Ferreol’ which is a source for the Canal du Midi.

Found the perfect camp called ‘Camping Saint-Martin de Soreze’ and settled in!

 

15.09
 

Spent most of the morning with the blog (trouble downloading pictures for some unknown reason) .  In the afternoon jumped on the bikes and cycled into Revel for a look at the markets, described as some of the prettiest in France.
 

 16.9

 

We cycled uphill to ‘Le Lac de Saint- Ferreol’ which is one of the lakes that controls the water flow for the Canal du Midi.  We strolled around the Museum and Park dedicated to ‘Pierre-Paul Riquet’, the architect of the canal commissioned in the 17^th Century and constructed over a 15 year period.  We continued exploring on the bikes completing a circuit of the lake and enjoyed the downhill leg back to camp. 

 

In the evening we cooked on the camp BBQ and met a couple from Belgium who were cooking a huge leg of beef!
 

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A stroll around the pretty village of Soreze with it’s old Abbey and then a ‘blobby’ day in camp around the swimming pool!!

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We cycled through the Medieval village of Durfort and attacked Montagne Noire, the first 6k was a steep uphill climb on a shaded narrow road with spectacular views!  At the top we cycled to the small village of Les Cammazes then down to the Barrage de Cammazes, one of the host of dams and bridges used to overcome the difficult and varied terrain and flooding of the Canal du Midi. 
 

Back to Les Cammazes where we followed a great bike path along a canal through the forest to Lac de Lampy.  10k into our ride, the route was barred and replaced with a bumpy deviation;  it was late so we decided to turn back! 
 

What a buzz ‘flying back’ down the mountain!!  At the bottom we had a quick ‘stop’at a beautifully located ‘do-up’, which we discovered was an old Mill then through Durfort and back to camp!  45k and a great day!        

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We followed the ‘voie verte’ cycle route on small roads through the countryside to the outskirts of Revel where it joined a canal with a great bike path that took us the 22k to Lac de Lanclas.  The great path made up for the Lake which turned out to be not much more than a man-made fishing pond! The bike path finished here but another 50k along small roads would lead to the Canal du Midi.  Turned back and 45k later we were back at camp  enjoying a glass of chilled Rose (2 euros a bottle and good stuff)!

 20.9

Up early and a stock up at the local Intermarche!  We’ve decided to move closer to the Canal du Midi and also be within cycling distance of Toulouse.

 

We managed a huge 50k drive with an unscheduled stop at a Gite, incorrect co-ordinates inserted into our GPS by a certain person had caused the detour!  Back on track through Gardouch to our camp in Deyme, ‘Les Vialettes’ (16 euros) located only 1k from the Canal du Midi!  Great hot showers, lots of cyclists, nice shady pitches (with a table) and a ‘gypsy feel’! 

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We decided to ignore the high winds and followed the beautiful bike path along the Canal du Midi 15k into Toulouse.  Toulouse is situated at the confluence of the Canal du Midi and the River Garonne, it’s known as ‘La Ville Rose’, a reference to the hot-pink stone used to build many of it’s buildings.  It’s the 4^th largest city in France and famous for it’s rugby team ‘Stade Toulousain’ or ‘les rouges et noirs’! 

 

We biked the Canal du Midi City circuit then took our ‘lives into our hands’ by heading into the ‘Centre Ville’ with it’s mad traffic.  We took refuge at ‘Place Wilson’, a small garden square where we parked our bikes and walked to the main square ‘Place due Capitole’.

 

Lots of cafes, bistros, City Hall and The Opera House.  Great strolling around the streets of this busy, buzzy vibrant city bustling with students.  A look at the magnificent Basilica St-Sernin then a cycle to the Jardin des Plants which has gone crazy with cow statues! Up to the Pont Neuf which spans ‘La Garonne’and along a small subsidary canal, ‘Canal de Brienne’ which led back into the centre of town.  An incredibly hard bike against the wind back to camp!  50k in total and a fantastic day!   

            

  22.9       
 

The wind is still with us but not as strong as yesterday!  Again, we biked the path along the Canal du Midi in the opposite direction of Toulouse, 25k through Gardouch to Villefranche-de-Lauragais!  The last 2k was a bit scary as we had to combat some mad fast drivers as we left the canal and hit the main highway to Villefranche!   After a walk through this pretty, sleepy town we headed back to the Canal du Midi path armed with bread and Brebis cheese.  Lunch alongside the canal, wonderful!

Another beautiful ride and after 53k, back to camp and a hot shower!   
           

 23.9
 

Another long drive, 90k to Albi!  The landscape that’s been dominated by ‘yellow’ has turned to ‘brown’ with harvested maize fields and sunflowers that look like wilted soldiers standing in rows as they wait to be harvested for their oil!  In their place, fields of wheat, looking spectacular and ready to burst!

Albi is the birthplace of one of France’s most beloved painters, and a favourite of ours, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec!!  We found our chosen camp, ‘Des Pommiers d’Aigueleze,’ in Aigueleze, 11k from Albi and not much wind!  We decided to have a ‘blobby’ late afternoon and hit Albi tomorrow to give us more time to explore. 

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We followed the pretty ‘voie verte’ cycle route through vineyards plump with grapes (obviously a popular route as there was not a grape to be seen closest to the road-damn!) and fields of browned maize plants now ripe and ready for harvesting.  We took ‘pot luck’ as in parts the ‘voie verte’ signs  suddenly disappeared then miraculouly reappeared along the way!  Phew! 

 We passed through small villages including Marssac, after 21k towering above Albi’s centre ville, the enormous Gothic Cathedral Ste-Cecile!  We parked our bikes in the car free beautiful town Square dominated by the Cathedral and the red bricked Palais de la Berbie (built in the Middle Ages for the Archbishop)!!

After buying a ‘City Pass’ (18 euros) giving discounted admission to the Musee and the Cathedral, we  headed to the Palais de la Berbie which now houses the Musee Toulouse-Lautrec giving a comprehensive overview of the life and career of  Henri Toulouse-Lautrec!   500 originals and awesome!  Our favourites are his Poster Art and Parisian nightlife scenes. 
 

We walked around the Palais’s geometrical gardens with a stunning view of the Tarn River and the beautiful old Town.      

A bread and yummy cheese picnic (couldn’t find Le Brebis) overlooking the Square and a stroll through the streets and down to the old Town!  We visited the Cathedral with it’s beautiful frescoes painted in the 16^th Century by Italian artists and it’s massive stained glass windows.

 

We missed our ‘exit’ leaving Albi and ended up biking a whole circuit of the city before we discovered the ‘exit to Terssac’.  We peddaled madly to beat the dark as we had no lights!!  Relief when we reached the Bastide (fortified) Town of Labastide-de-Levis to catch the sunset and a panoramic view of the region!  Just on dark as we reached camp, a great ride and 61k in total!!

 

 25.9    
 

 A lovely sunny day with no wind!  A nice ‘catch up’ on emails day and relax!  Bliss!

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Woke to rain and the cold!  Decided not to travel and ‘catch up’ on chores and the blog and perhaps even kindle! 

 It cleared up in the early evening so we biked to Labastide-de-Levis for a closer look!   
 

27.9

Up early and off!!  A pretty drive (and great biking) through ‘La route des Bastides’ (fortified towns) along the Valley of the Garonne in the ‘Tarn-et-Garonne’ into the ‘Lot’ via Cahors.  Onwards via Bergerac and ‘vineyard country’ to our selected camp near St Emillion in the Bordeaux region.  This camp promised everything (including great views of the vineyards), but didn’t live up to it’s hype;  we chose not to stay and after 5 hours of driving it was getting late!  Fortune was on our side and we found a great ‘Aires’ a short drive away over looking the vineyards in the little village of Lussac.  The electricity and water here is ‘gratuit’.   We met Gypsy the playful Yorkie!
 

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Yet another beautiful bike ride through vineyards with their chateaux/wine houses to St Emillion, 40k from Bordeaux.  We parked our bikes and strolled through this very pretty Medieval village perched above the vineyards and renowned for producing full bodied ‘reds’!  It exists for the tasting and buying of wine, eating and drinking wine at cafes and brasseries and enjoying the view!   We found a price list at ‘Comptoir Vignobles’ who ‘specialise in vintage wines’ and noted a bottle of ‘Petras 1945’ red listed for 11,900 euros – about the cost of Lefty!!
 

We chose a different route back through the vineyards enjoying the stunning scenery!  It’s chilly in the evenings now so unless we eat early (which we don’t seem to manage), it’s much warmer inside Lefty!  We met Gypsy’s mum and dad – Guy and Marie-France who very kindly downloaded all the ‘Aires’ camps of France onto our GPS.  Guy mentioned he was thinking about setting up a small camp next year to run over high demand July and August and would need two English speaking helpers – need we say more!  A fun evening!
 

 29/9  
 

Farewell to Guy, Marie-France and Gypsy!  ‘A bientot’!  Bordeaux next!

 The Bordeaux region is the largest ‘fine wine’ producing region in the world with prestigious Chateaux such as Mouton-Rothschild, Haut-Brion and Yquem.  All up there are over 5,000 Chateaux here specialising in ‘Reds’ and Desert Wines!  

 We’re not too keen to drive into Bordeaux Centre so after studying a map of the region, grabbed from the Tourist Office, we found a bike path that ran all the way from Sauveterre-de-Guyenne to Bordeaux.  We decided to park Lefty in Latresne, a small village situated on this bike path, 12k from Bordeaux.  Off we went!  We crossed over the ‘muddy’ Garonne River into Bordeaux’s Centre Ville, we hadn’t factored in the trams and I yelled out just in time to save Col from being struck by one!!  We parked the bikes and set off for an explore on foot, now very much aware of the trams!!!!

Lots of beautiful neo-classical architecture, wide boulevards with fountains, trams and tram lines and a high percentage of students.  It’s  Saturday and there are crowds taking advantage of the ‘end of summer Sales’!  Buskers, beggars and funky students!!  We ate our usual bagette and cheese in the Girondin Park and continued to stroll the streets!  We found Bordeaux to be a beautiful city with a  personality in parts, however we found it hard to find it’s warmth.

 Back to camp and a 6k drive to the ‘Aires’ at Creon.  Turned out to be a great right on the cycle path!  Only three other vans here.

 

30/9
 

Col went for a  morning run along the path and through the forest, very pretty!  Next stop Arcachon, 80k and into the Atlantic beaches and pine forests.  Arcachon is an oyster harvesting area in the triangular ‘Basin d’Arcachon’.  We parked in an ‘Aires’ near the Centre Ville, mounted our bikes and off we went following the signs to the largest sand dune in Europe the ‘Dune Du Pilat’!!  Got as far as ‘La Teste-de-Buch’ and the signs disappeared!  We got horribly lost, eventually abandoning the cycle route and following the road  to Pyla-sur-Mer and the sand dune. 
 

Absolutely amazing!!  This colossal sand dune (Dune de Pyla) stretches from Basin d’Arcachon southwards for almost 3k.  It’s spreading eastwards at a rate of 4.5m a year!  We climbed to the top (114m above sea level) for an incredible panorama of the Basin d’Arcachon and Cap Ferret to the west and dense pine forests to the east.  We had a picnic in the park below.  

We easily found the bike path through the forest back to Arcachon passing many 19^th Century Bourdelaise villas. 

 It was getting late so we had a quick look at the waterfront, then hit the road!

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A sunny morning 4k walk into Arcachon, passing the port and along a fantastic boardwalk for pedestrians and cyclists running the length of the beautiful golden sandy beach.  Just to attract your attention, a ‘bright pink tail of a whale juts out of the sea!  In town cafes, apartments and hotels, some with 1950’s architchture, line the boardwalk!  A great vibe, laid back and fun!