Poitou Charentes | ch3 - blog

(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 celebration of the 1000th kilometer.

A banana for the celebrations.

(55km)

Yesterday, when I wrote about day off, I meant I would stay in the same camp site, but didn’t mean I willÂ not cycle.

After such a hot day, it was a big surprise to wake up in the rain. I got a little bit annoyed as I had so many things I wanted to see and do in the area. After my late breakfast I put all my waterproofs on and headed for the town of La Rochelle which was a little further than I thought.

Go away black cloud!

La Rochelle is very beautiful, maybe one of my best so far. Had loads of small alleys and old buildings with character, as well as an old port. Unfortunately I didn’t stay as much as I wanted, as I also wanted to cross to the island. I think it’s a place that I should revisit some time as it has so many things to offer.

By the post office at La Rochelle

La Rochelle port

To go to the island of Re, I had to cycle about 10km and cross another big bridge, which luckily had a dedicated cycle path, so things were kind of easy.

Crossing the bridge. Notice in which direction the wind blows again!

The 4km bridge as seen from the island

Again when I got to the island, I didn’t have to leave the cycle paths, as you can go to any little village on them. That’s why I saw numerous shops rending bikes. I didn’t want to cycle all the way to the west end of the island, as that was 30 kilometres away and didn’t fit with my day off. I visited La Flotte and Saint Martin De Re villages, both very beautiful.