Wednesday August 13, 2014

Free breakfast at the Y, not a filling breakfast, but free.  Good coffee.  We left the Y at 9:15 after chatting to a lovely young French woman (Francesca) who had decided to take two months to cycle to Spain.  She is taking a Masters degree in Tourism, what a great way to learn about tourism than being a cycle tourist.  You really get to feel the country from the back of a bike.  She had the same philosophy as us, it has to be fun.  There is no point putting in a lot of miles and not enjoying what you are doing.  You do not see anything as you are cycling and at the end of the day you are too exhausted to enjoy where you are staying.

We worked our way through the cycle routes of Nantes to D\’Ile. We needed to follow the cycle route (Velodyssey) out of Nantes for a while and then we were going to veer off towards the south-west instead of going west and then south.  We had also decided to stop at the Tourisme Information to pick up better maps.  We missed the first Tourisme Centre but found the second one on the Ile with a little bit of help from a French man, who stopped to help when he saw us looking at our maps.  I never thought I would say that the French are helpful, but they have been amazing and very friendly and this is in a big city.

Before we left the d’Ile we found the big elephant.  The old ship yards have been converted into an art and cultural area.  The works of Jean Luc Courcoult artistic director of Royal De Luxe who created massive animatrons are in this area.  Google Royal De Luxe to see what this guy has created.  This fella was influenced by Jules Verne, he created this elephant and the company have created all sorts of different animatronics and it is all created in this area.

We found our way out of the city relatively easily following the velo route and then headed towards our minor routes. It was a relatively flat ride today, although very windy.

One of the things we like about France is the provisions for bicycles.  Even at a supermarket they have covered parking for bikes.

Many years ago Ralf and I went on holiday to Holland, we played a game – spot the windmill, these were usually the very large working windmills in Holland.  Who ever spotted a windmill got a drink bought them.  We have continued this throughout the years and included small garden ornament type windmills.  We often scare people when we shout \”windmill\” as we spot a windmill in someones garden.  We have changed the rules slightly on this ride, as we no longer have our own money to buy the other person a drink,  whoever spots the most windmills get to choose what we drink with dinner that evening.

After the first 25 kms of me being at the front.  I asked Ralf to take the lead, I had two massive head spikes – translate that to a migraine coming on and I really didn’t want to fight the wind and the migraine.  I tucked in behind Ralf’s back wheel and had quite an enjoyable ride.

When we arrived at the campsite in St. Gervais we weren’t sure if we should set up our tent or not.  We asked a couple of municipal workers if we could set up and when the office would open.  They said we could set up, and the office should be open at 5:00 (perhaps) We picked a site and set up the tent but didn’t set up the beds until we knew we were o.k. to stay where we were.  The office opened at 5:30pm the warden said we were fine where we were.  We had a late dinner (7:00), and while we were eating, the warden told us about the Mayor’s soiree.  The Mayor was coming to the campsite and offering drinks and brioche, their would be traditional music and dancing.

We finished our dinner and went over, everyone was very nice to us.  The music sounded a little like Acadian accordion music, it was a very nice evening.

I really liked the traditional dress and the intricate lacework in their bonnets.

We chatted to one of the performers about our cycling and France (we did it all in French).  We are getting much better at holding conversations – still very simple ones but we are managing.  Of course there are other times when we don’t understand a word they say.

St. Gervais is the last of the cheap municipal campsites.  Tomorrow we will be along the Atlantic coastline and more touristy area.  I have already checked on some prices and the private campsites are around €28 to €35, the municipal sites range from €18 to 20.