Vic arrived

After a 3 hour ish cycle to airport through a nice forest and undramatic ring road of Bordeaux i got to Vic! She only waited 30 mins so not too bad timing! Needless to say it was good to be reunited. Got hire car, picked up tent and booked into our 'lovenest' caravan. So a 5 chilled days now to recover and enjoy time with vic. FACT: would not make it to spain without break. Knackered and knee bit wrecked. Will poat the odd thing this week but be back in earnest Saturday ish...

Ferries, paths and edible pets

As the subject says :-D

Sneaky cheating bugger

Yeah! My ferry shortcut made a 75 mile ride a 50 mile ride. My bum tells me it felt like 75 ;-)
Initially an awesome ride on cycle path by track/dunes/pines. Otherwise a fairly simple day through lots and lots of vineyards! Vic arrives tomorrow! I am leaving all the gear at campsite while i 'collect' her. So i will be like a stripped back racecar grrrr.

For sale

Bunker. Good views out to sea. One carefull owner. May need refurbishment as previous owner left in a hurry.

FYI-REALLY IS FOR SALE....CURRENTLY USED AS GARAGE :-)

A day of highs and lows

Emotionally that is. Woke up grumpy as didnt like campsite and my knee still hurt. But once i got going was really flying and enjoying it. Rocquefort was an interesting place although it appears wierd mental drunks dont just wander around Gloucester... Leaving the Roc was bloody impossible and had to go on massive dual carriageway bridge thingy-scary even with bike lane! After desperate attempts (and wrong turns) to avoid a second massive one i conceeded and crossed that too. I finally saw the sea today whoop whoop. All in all 8-9 hours cycling!!!
Roadkill:
Massive and too horific to describe(think tarantino) but possibly a goat.
Massive

Going mad?

Fire hydrant like a face? BTW i am at Esnades mot Charron...thats where campsite is! Lucky as Charron was crappy...off to find dinner.

I got it up

Knee by the sea

Ok so it wouldnt be me if i didnt moan about my knee. The morning was hilly and any serious inclines resulted in a wincing pain in my knee. But the afternoon was flat and no knee pain! I think credit crunch has hit this region hard as they appear to have sold all road signs. Every road junction was a guess...as i got here must be v lucky ;-)
Roadkill today:
Hawk :-(
sparrow
wafer thin hedgehog

FINALLY: Happy bday ju! Sorry cant be there xx

Sights of the day

Vineyards nr Saumur and exit of Argenton sur valees

200 mile mark!

Absolutely baking here. On the verge of burning (with cream). I tried to cut down on baguette today as it appeared to have a side effect that has added significant baggage ;-) This morning Saumur was not keen to let me go and it took about an hour to get going in the right direction! But ace morning on flat roads past vineyards. My Lunch stop gave me a taste of what the afternoon was to bring. A hilly climb to Argenton sur vallee followed by descent on to valley. Up down up down.... For anyone interested todays roadkill:
sparrow
crow
black(!) squirrel
BTW nothing except a caterpillar yesterday (me-sorry vic)

Chickens

Vic - it appears that chickens in france get bullied too. Only a bit worse.

Sunny Saumur

Cracking sunny day with some brutal wind. I made my first french friend! Jean-Claude (no really) escorted me through a large town called La Flesch. He was a dude...and ran the cycling club of the area. He showed me to a secret vois vert-cycling path that keeps you off the main roads. An awesome baguette/cheese/carrot thingy(see photo). Otherwise pleasant quiet ride beside the Loire river. Got to Saumur and decided 55 miles cycling was not enough and 3 mile walk to castle was in order. Oh and my butt hurts like hell so should be interesting 70 miles tomorrow :-S

One for mum

Stopped by Mierre but no one was home. Raft was still there though :-)

What a mother freaking day

I have finally arrived after 87 miles but not at my planned destination. france has been kind and only rained on me for last 20. Serious hilly route. When i got to la suze sur sarthe it turns out the campsite was closed and all hotels full. Cue benny hill music. When I finally got hotel 10 miles south it was cooler than a monkey in a tuxedo riding a cyborg stalion. And in case you didnt know that is very cool. Free(!) vino at dinner will surely help me sleep. For those of you intetested I have seen a detailed view of french roadkill :-S so far: rabbit hedgehog chcken kitten blackbird and vole (sorry vic).

Lost

ha ha. Went round caen ring road twice and got totally lost. Not a drop of rain until I arrived at my destination (domfront)....then a monsoon. Ooh errr.

Ready to go

All loaded up and at ferry port now. Bike is a little heavy at 30kg...I am sure I will get use to the wobble eventually