Day 15, Lacanau Océan to Rochefort (101 miles).

Today started off badly when the woman in the hotel remonstrated with me for daring to turn up half an hour early for breakfast. "Breakfast isn't until 8am", she said. I replied that I'd spoken to the other lady yesterday and she said it was OK, but it made no difference. 

After breakfast I oiled my chain and set off at about 8.30 in to the endless forests. Initially the route was very remote, remote enough for there to be a missile testing range, but as I went further north the endless forests gave way to what seemed like endless holiday resorts, all totally empty. It seems as if the entire country must come here in the summer months. 

I was pushing pretty hard to get to the ferry to Royan across the estuary formed by the rivers Dordogne and Garonne. It was about 50 miles away and I arrived just in time for the 1.45 ferry. If I missed it the next was at 3.30, which would have set me back. 

Unfortunately I didn't have time for lunch, so I grabbed a cheese and ham baguette on board. 

The crossing took about 35 minutes and as soon as I arrived I set off to the north again, past some very impressive neighbourhoods. The route followed the coast around the north of the cape, before crossing the wetlands to the south of Rochefort. The Vélodyssée certainly winds its way around, meaning you see some interesting places, but definitely at the cost of progress. 

Tonight I'm staying in Rochefort, tomorrow I head towards La Rochelle and hopefully on to the Velo Francette away from the coast.

#abitofabikeride 

Amicii Dog Rescue and Rehabilitation UK 

Amicii Dog Rescue Romania 

https://justgiving.com/campaign/a-bit-of-a-bike-ride

Today I resolved to stop every hour and take a photo, irrespective of where I was.

Day 14, Mimizan to Lacanau Océan...

80 miles ridden today, but I cut off a 22 mile loop by riding up the main roads, so that's a little bit closer. Don't really want to do that again though, it wasn't fun. I left Mimizan about 8am again and headed off on my "short cut" in the pouring rain again. The roads were quite busy, but it was OK when there was a bike path, not so OK when there wasn't. I rode past a French air force base at one point and they seemed to be intent on making as much noise with their jets as possible, circling round and round.

The rain became more showery in nature by midday and just as I was entering Gujan-Mestras the heavens opened but fortunately I was able to take cover. Further on in Biganos I wasn't so lucky and it took a while to find a bus shelter to take cover. At one point it started hailing and while my cape is pretty good, it was a bit painful. 

At Biganos I reverted to the EuroVelo route, which started off on a disused railway again so was pretty flat.

I had to take shelter in a converted station with some French guys, who's game of Pétanque had been interrupted by the shower.

Eventually at Cap Ferret the path turned north through the forest again and the showers were less frequent, but the wind was blowing at about 30 mph. Mostly it was a crosswind, but at times the path veered straight in to it and I almost came to a complete halt.

All the time I knew the coast wasn't far to the left of me, but I couldn't see it because of the forest and the dunes. Eventually I arrived in Lacanau Océan and decided to stop. There's not a huge number of places on this coast to stay, but this is obviously a bit of a surfer's paradise. Not today though, far too rough!

I met a lovely couple from the Netherlands, and after explaining what a fantastic job that Amicii Dog Rescue and Rehabilitation UK and Amicii Dog Rescue Romania do, they made a random donation, thank you so much.

Hopefully tomorrow won't be as wet, although I think the forest is still windy.

Thanks for everybody's kind words of encouragement, they go a long way to keep me going. There have been times these last couple of days where I've been close to throwing in the towel. 

#abitofabikeride 

https://justgiving.com/campaign/a-bit-of-a-bike-ride