(93km)

Today I woke up in a very good mood and I already knew it would be a good day. I had a whole baguette for breakfast, along with cheese, a very strong salami and another smoked sausage I had for a couple of days.

La Rochelle in the morning

I made my way to the south through the nice city of La Rochette. For one more time I got lost trying to get out of the city as expected.

To the next destination via a cycle path

Luckily for most of the day, I managed to ride on tarmac cycle paths, going from one city to another. Once more though, the wind was blowing against my direction. I always though that in general the wind on the northern hemisphere goes from north to south. Maybe I am unlucky, maybe that’s my training for the Pyrennese.

That's Jim and his friends.

A rathen different canal

One of Rochefort's squares.

For lunch I stoped at Rochefort where I had some amazing take away pasta that kept me going for the rest of the day. The city itself looked very interesting, with rather nice old buildings and many young people. To leave the city, I crossed a bridge and had to head a little to the north to go through the small villages to avoid the highway.

Another bridge to cross

That’s when the nice surprise of the day appeared. Brouage appeared in the map just like a small square shaped village, but when I entered a big gate to go through it, I realized it’s a big fortress. I couldn’t just bypass it, so I had a short break to walk around its walls. All the houses within the fortress were very small and cosy, surrounded by nice cobbled streets and pavements.

The fortress of Brouage

The inside of the fortress

sunflowers

After the next city of Marennes, I crossed yet another bridge for the little resort town called Ronce les-Bains, where I chose one of the many camp sites to spend the night. I have to say, there is the island of Oleron just a few kilometers on the north which is also connected by a bridge to the mainland, but I think I’ll skip it and continue south tomorrow through the forest of Coubre.

The last bridge of the day

Today I completed my first 1000 kilometers! Another couple to go…

A banana for the celebrations.