A day to chill, smell sea air and recover

The day started with two big questions. Firstly, were the bikes ok? I had woken before 5 am but felt I could not sneak out due to a tricky and noisy lock on the door, so I waited inpatiently for Tony to awake.

Per the picture below they were there. Many hosts do not understand the value of bikes. I often do not understand why our bikes cost so much either. Without the value of the contents we carry the bike and fittings is over $10,000. Add the cycle clothes, and other bits and pieces we carry it would be $12,000.

Travel insurance will cover a maximum of $5,000 plus clothes. If stolen, apart from a financial deficit, your holiday comes to an abrupt end. Hence our care for their safe storage.

My new bike weights 7.9 kg. Very light, very transportable, very demountable ( eg wheels can be removed in a matter of seconds, not minutes).

The second question, the pot plant. The very first picture is of the deck, plant removed at 7.20 am, 10 minutes ahead of schedule.

Here is Tony enjoying his breakfast. Shortly thereafter I was sick with a tummy upset and did not finish eating, and later ended up,with a very empty stomach.

We left with me experiencing stomach cramps and nausea unsure how far I could go before experiencing another ‘stop’. I was dizzy (not ideal on a bicycle) but needed to try and push on best I could.

The area had lots of lower laying land swamp like. My bike computer showed the altitude to be below sea level in parts.

At Bouin I needed to stop urgently. Finding a Tabac open, Tony ordered coffee whilst I used their toilets. Poor Tony received two coffees, one with milk and one espresso. I was not in a position to assist him, so he was very perky.

The church over the road from the Tabac in Brouin.

At the next village, Saint Gervais, I found a pharmacy open and had a chat to the pharmacist and purchased some anti spasmodics. Around the corner was this statue of Saint Gervais. We snapped it as we have a friend in New Zealand with the same name, and I vaguely recall him saying something about being named after a Saint.

Whilst Tony waited for me, he saw this car.

Back into the forests again. I do enjoy these trails.

Another village, another Saint. This one being Hilaire. We stopped and purchased a hot chocolate each, and I kept mine down. Good sign. I was starting to feel a heap better with something in my system. At this point we had ridden 60 km.

We followed the coastline along a variety of surfaces including compacted gravel, paving and bitumen.

The tide was low, heaps of exposed rock in this section.

A variety of various village and town views.

Ah back onto a forest trail, our happy place.

Good information is a available on the region known as the Vendee (formerly Poitou).

Here there are two tracks. The broader one is for cyclists, the narrower for walkers.

We stopped on a bridge to take a photo but we were distracted by ‘something’ heading our way, taking up most of the path. What on earth were we looking at?

The guy stopped. He only spoke French but we understood he made this himself, and it floats. He pedals it in the water and goes fishing. Really interesting.

The view that we stopped to photograph as we crossed the bridge

Ah back into the forest 😊

We arrived into Les Sables d’Alonne a few hours before check in (shorter days ride at 90 km), and fortunately we were given access to our room.

After showering and washing our clothes we walked around Port Olona ( Port de Plaisance) adjacent to our accomodation.

Following the waterway down Quai George V we boarded a little ferry (after paying 1.10 euro each) to cross over to the far side. The ferry takes all of about 90 seconds.

We wandered to Grande Plage (Beach). It is a long beach with lots of 10-12 story buildings overlooking the beach. we wandered down the Promenade.

Tough way to earn a living. Beach art. He had a mat out for donations.

Walking back to the ferry we entered a nice old church. Hard to photograph as it is in a narrow street, but the door was open. Music was playing and there were people seated. To my horror I realised I’d walked into a funeral. I did a very quick about turn.

A borrowed photos below sans funeral.