Distance 150
Time 6:06
Climb 801
Weather Sunny
Fantastic breakfast. Quite the best of the whole trip despite the La Fayette being "only" a 2 star hotel. Fresh fruit salad, carpaccio ham, huge range of cereals, great fresh bread and croissants. Wonderful.
Leave Rochefort by the "pont transpondeur", a quite unique contraption that is a cross between a bridge and a cable car.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transporter_bridge
Perfect for cycles as takes minor roads out of Rochefort. Meet French/German couple who are also on cycling trip. German is pedalling a fixed gear bike along with trailer, looks hard work!
Wave goodbye to them but not for long as I confidently head for the area of France I know best after the Alsace I get lost and end up a dead end in some oyster beds. Return to point I got lost to see the couple again. Wave goodbye again and then think I have taken wrong direction into Marennes so again see them going in as I go out. Take bypass round Marennes to bridge in direction of Normoutier and guess what I see them again coming out of Marennes. Wave goodby for final time and head over to Ronce. Cycle down familar road along coast to La Palmayre/Royan.
This road brings back many happy memories of camping holidays past. There is a hill on hte road that I used to think was tough. It goes up about 30m at 8% or so...so things have changed a bit!
It was along this road that I noted in my diary the problem of using sun tan lotion (now the weather was getting so good): you become a mobile fly trap and end up with face and arms spattered with dead insects. After a few days of this I gave up on the lotion.
South of Royan I left familiar territory as I cycled south down the mouth of the Gironde. I needed to stop for lunch but there were not many villages. However I lucked upon a restaurant by the side of the road that looked very unprepossessing but turned out to be excellent. Think it was called Moulin de Monards. I remember particularly how kind the waiter was, not looking at all nonplussed by having a bespattered cyclist turning up and offering to fill my bidons (an offer I gratefully took up as it was getting very warm).
I push on in the afternoon finally reaching Montendre. I found most of the little towns and villages on my tour to be quite pleasant, but this was an exception. It was very dreary with a main strip that was more reminiscent of a mid-West American town rather than a French one. There were a couple of hotels but both were very run down to the extent that it was not even obvious they were still functioning.
I gave both a miss and resigned myself to having to head further south, which was a bit worrying as I was heading into countryside off the beaten tourist track.
Luck however was on my side because as I followed the road out of time I spotted a "Chambre D' Hote" sign pointing down a gravelled road. I knew what this was. It had been mentioned by one of my French colleagues when I had told them what I was planning. Chambre D'Hote is the French equivalent of Bed&Breakfast.
I descended and scrunched up this until I came to a large detatched house. There were clear signs of life, washing was on the line and windows were open. I scrunched up to the door, noticing as I did a lot of donkies in an ajoining field. I rang the bell a few times but no joy. Just as I was about to give in a lady appeared. She spoke no English but my French was more than sufficent to establish that: yes she had a room and yes I could stay the night. I thanked my lucky stars and followed her to a super large room at the back of the house. The lady explained that they did not serve dinner but recommended a restaurant back in Montendre.
All was seeming pretty OK. I phoned Mrs M only to receive some very sad news. One of my aunts back in the UK had died. I was especially sad about this because she was my favourite who I had known all my life as she lived in the same city as my parents. She was a wonderful person, who everyone seems to have been loved by all who met her. Typical of her was the way she reacted in the face of the cancer that would eventually kill her, somehow managing to keep smiling despite how she must have suffered.
I finished the phone call with my head in a bit of a whirl. I took my maps with me to my meal realising I would have to do some replanning as I felt I wanted to come back to the UK for the funeral that would be taking place in a few days time.
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