Whenever we visited France in the past (20 years ago), the French had the attitude, if you can’t speak French properly, we will not help you, we will pretend not to understand you and we will definitely not attempt to speak English.

What a difference to the French attitude now.  They could not be more helpful and if we attempted our poor French, they assisted us with correct pronunciation or if they spoke a little English they would try their English.  We had many “interesting” half English, half French conversations.  As we cycled through Towns and Villages we were greeted with Bonjour.  If we stopped for lunch we received a Bon Appetite.  If we stopped to check our map, people would stop to give us directions.  When we talked to people we always got a Bon Courage or Bon Journee.  On the very occasional hill we had to go up we were encouraged with allez, allez as if were in the Tour de France, it was very funny.

The cycling in France and their cycle routes was absolutely brilliant.  Well signed routes, although some areas were better than others.  Some areas went to the extreme of keeping you away from any road, and directed you away from the Towns and Villages (to ensure safety).  The car drivers were extremely courteous and gave us loads of room when passing and for 99% of the time waited until it was safe to pass before passing.

The French people generally are fit, they cycle or walk places.  We often saw little old ladies on big black bicycles with a basket on the front cycling to the bakeries, or supermarkets.  Every supermarket we stopped at had bicycle parking right in front of the main entrance.  We didn’t see any mobility scooters in France.  We saw a few chubby kids but not many.  When you consider the French diet of white baguettes, croissants, choc au pain, quiche and high fat foods I cannot understand why they are not huge obese people.  Maybe it is their attitude to walking and cycling, it is a means of transportation, not exercise.

France cycles and encourages cyclists.

There were a few things we didn’t like about France: dog poo, smoking and toilets.

The French do not clean up after their dogs, it is often littering the sidewalks and it can be a bit of a \”minefield\”.

Smoking is still very common and unfortunately it is prevalent amongst young women.

Finally, as touring cyclists we use a fair amount of public washrooms.  The toilets varied from feet straddling a hole in the ground, toilets with no seat and no toilet paper to full-serviced toilets that are cleaned after every use. The urinals were more often than not open to the world view.  You would walk past a man having a wee before going to your enclosed cubicle.  We never knew if there would be toilet paper in the loo or not, most often there wasn’t any. At camp-sites they often did not provide toilet paper.  Not that they had run out of paper, there wasn’t even a holder for the loo roll. We always had to carry our own loo roll in our pockets.

We missed out on the warmshowers in France, because French people generally take their vacations in August.  Because of that we didn’t get to have too many in depth conversations about health care, schooling, politics etc.

We found that the big cities as most cities around the world had their fair share of poor people, poor housing, dirty streets and graffiti.  In the countryside they appeared to be better of with bigger houses, cleaner streets and a general pride in their areas.

We really enjoyed France, the people, the cycling, the Towns and the villages.  The weather could have been a bit warmer and drier, but France is a great place to cycle.

Tuesday August 26, 2014

Woke up to rain today.  Ralf suggested we take a second rest day as we hadn’t the time last night to do the planning for Spain and Portugal and we really want to \’plan\’ Spain and Portugal instead of following the coast line.

We had a relaxing breakfast and then came to the bar/restaurant area to connect to the wi-fi.  We paid for the camp wi-fi E2.00 it works and quickly.  We spent about 4 hours planning our route for Spain and Portugal.  I won’t tell you where we are going, but I think it will be interesting for us and hopefully you will find it as interesting.

The blog is up to date 🙂

Tomorrow we are heading for Spain and should be in Bilbao by the week-end, where we will have to buy another SIM card for the phone and USB stick!

Monday August 25, 2014

I was hoping to sleep-in this morning, but I was awake at 7:00, I made a move around 7:15 and by the time I had my shower and back to the tent, the camp store was open and I went to get breakfast – fresh croissants with scrambled eggs, – scrambled eggs are very easy to make on our camp stove.

We had a slow start as we had decided to move our tent up the hill slightly where it might get more sun in the morning and had to wait for the German motorcyclists to leave.  It was very wet from the dew this morning.  We are a bit between the devil and the deep blue sea really.  We want to get going early, so that we can be finished before it gets too hot and be able to see things as we are cycling, but by leaving before the sun is really up and warm, the tent fly is still wet.

We made a list of things to do in Biarritz and things we needed to get – Spanish maps, and a few other bits and bobs.  There is a Decathalon (sports store) near here so we thought might make the trip out there.

This building (above) and the next hotel (below) are buildings very close to our campsite, we cannot afford to stay at them, but the campsite is located on prime real estate, above a beach area.

We took the bus into downtown Biarritz and had a good wander around.

Biarritz has some lovely architecture and interesting buildings, but also modern buildings mixed in with them.

Biarritz used to be a resort area for the rich and famous, it still has some very expensive hotels, but it is now very popular with the surfing crowd, although I didn’t see any big waves.

Ralf has to climb things.

We arrived back to the camp site at about 5:30, I did the washing and Ralf went to get some grocery shopping.  We had a late dinner, but that is o.k.

We are also going to \’plan\’ a route in Spain.  Instead of just following the coastline, we are going to research places we want to visit in Spain and Portugal and see if we can connect the dots.

The wi-fi here is not very good, I hope I will be able to get better connection near the reception as I cannot update the blog until I get better connection.

Sunday August 24, 2014

Last night I heard an owl, this morning I was woken up by two cockerels competing in the loudest crowing competition.  This is the first time in France that I have been woken up by birds. I have heard the occasional mourning dove but not birdsong like we experienced in NZ, Australia and England.  Are the French eating all their song birds?

It was very chilly this morning – below 10 degrees.  The tent was wet from the morning dew and the sun although above the horizon did not dry the tent.  However, the day warmed up considerably as we headed south to Biarritz and reached a high of 31 degrees.  Warm day for cycling and we were into hills.  We are in the foothills of the Pyreneans.

We had our lunch in CapBreton, it had a Sunday street market, and the first stall we came across had a wonderful assortment of sandwiches.  Our loaded touring bikes always garner a lot of attention and we try and answer any questions people throw at us.  We always get a Bon courage or a Bon journee.

We switched back and forth from the cycle route to the road today.  The road was busy but most car drivers gave us enough room, except the British, sorry guys but you really are appalling drivers.

We cycled into Biarritz and saw the Tourisme office then circled the road three times to try and get to the parking lot where the office was.  The YH didn’t open until 5:00 (it was 2:30) and the campsite in Town was full.  We decided to cycle to the campsite as we have found that they often have a couple of sites available for cyclists.

The campsite did have their “emergency” sites available.  The price depended on how many other “cyclists” turned up.  If we were on our own on the site we would pay the full price of E36, if others showed up the price would be cheaper!  After dinner we found a couple of motor bikers on the site – the price has just gone down.  They are two German motor cyclists touring for two weeks.  They have just come over the Pyreneans and said it was beautiful.

We decided to have dinner in the restaurant tonight – it was reasonably priced, but the service was appalling.  We had to wait until after the “Meet and Greet” for the weekly campers was over.  We joined them and had a few free Sangrias and snacks, before we then went back to the restaurant and eventually got served.

Tomorrow is our rest day in Biarritz and then onto Spain!

Saturday August 23, 2014

It rained during the night, fortunately the tent didn’t leak, but the tent was very wet in the morning.  We had to pack the tent away wet again.  We cooked our breakfast in the washing up area where it was dry, as it looked as if it was going to rain again and it did.  We left the campsite wearing our heavier rain jackets as it was quite cool. It stopped raining we switched jackets to our windbreakers and finally the sun came out and we were able to remove the jackets as it was quite humid.

We stopped in Julien en Born for lunch – the boulangerie did not have sandwiches, but did have a lovely olive bread which we bought to have with dinner tonight and smaller baguettes and of course pain au chocolate.  I went over to the charcuterie and bought 6 slices of salami and 4 slices of some local cheese (which he let me taste before I bought it) and we made our own sandwiches and ate them before it started to rain again.  Ralf went into a small restaurant and bought two cups of coffee.  What more could you ask for fresh baguettes, good meat and local cheese, a good cup of coffee and fresh pain au chocolate.  Life is good, even in the rain.

We had decided on a short day to day and not to follow the Velodyssey route.  It was getting quite monotonous and we really can cope with the cars on the smaller roads and you get to see villages and Towns.  Although, we came to one round-about and a small car had cut off another car.  The car that had been cut off laid on his horn and then drove so close to the woman’s bumper it was scary, then he overtook her with cars coming in the opposite direction – road rage.  Qu’elle surprise it was a British car driver that was exhibiting the road rage.

Water towers do not have to be boring.

We stopped at this house which seems to be a traditional style building for this area.

The dogs were not impressed with us taking photos and were barking up a storm.

We carried on to Leon, quite a nice Town, the market was closing up as we arrived and the Tourisme Office had already closed for the lunch hour period, well actually 2.5 hour lunch period.  There was a local map showing campsites and we decided to cycle to Petit Jean, an aire camping site, which means a rural site.

The campsites in Town were 3 and 4 star sites, which we figured would be expensive.  As we cycled along the road to Petit Jean, we almost turned back.

Petit Jean is a rural site, I looked around and thought, this is going to be rustic but it is absolutely lovely.  We set up the tent on a nice open piece of ground and it dried very quickly.

We chatted to a fellow camper who is a cyclist (Paris Brest Paris) kind of cyclist and was very impressed about what we are doing, but would not do this for a holiday.  We showed him on his map of France where we had cycled and told him we were heading for Spain and Portugal.  He is also heading for Portugal but by car.  He likes Portugal because a lot of people speak French in Portugal.

Ralf had decided that he would cycle back into Town to get dinner, rather than get it as we cycled through the Town.  He said it is better as that way I can do some research and shower instead of waiting outside in the sun for half an hour while he goes in to get the shopping.

I went for a shower.  OMG a shower cubicle that is big enough to swing a couple of cats.  I don’t bang my elbows on the walls when I am washing.  The cubicle has a shower curtain which stops your clothes and shoes from getting wet while you are in the shower. Miracles of miracles a tap that you turn on and the water comes out continuously, you can actually adjust the temperature and stand underneath the water that is spraying from a nozzle and the water pressure and temperature is awesome, I think I have died and gone to heaven.

This is what life boils down to a decent shower, good food and a nice quiet place to pitch your tent – now if we could only have a picnic table at the site, life would be perfect.  There is an area where we can sit and eat but not at the site.

Friday August 22, 2014

Today should have been an exciting day, I would be hitting the 10,000 kms mark to day and it should have been a day to celebrate.  However, the day started off badly for me.  I woke up late (7:30), which put me in a bad mood, waking up late means a late start from the camp site.  I got up and went to the washrooms, they were closed because they were being cleaned.  Now I understand that it is necessary to clean the washrooms but when everyone is getting up and need to use them, that is plain ridiculous.  I had to walk to the other washroom half a kilometre away – not a happy person by the time I got back to the tent.  We packed up the tent and had breakfast by the office where there were picnic tables.

We left the campsite at 9:45.  We followed the road towards La Teste de Buch, to pick up the trail.  I had a little melt down in Gujan Estras when Ralf kept asking me for a Town to punch in to the garmin so he could find the right road.  I didn’t have a town that worked because all my map showed was the cycle route and the “Towns” were beaches.

We eventually found our way to La Teste de Buch and a Tourisme Office.  The lady was very helpful and we got on to the Velodyssey route again.  The first section paralled the road towards La Dune – the highest dune in Europe at 160 metres.  By this time both Ralf and I were in a bad mood, so didn’t stop to take photos of this area (sorry) it was quite spectacular.

After we passed La Dune we were back into the forest area and mmba.  This route has become very monotous, but at our second hour rest stop, I took a photo of the trail. A lady and gentleman were walking by and asked about our trip, and offered to take a photo of us – my garmin said we were 5 kms short of 10,000 ks.  This photo is at 9,995 kms!

At 10,000 ks, Ralf took these photos.

Once again the route adds kilometres, we got to one point on the route where it stated 15.7 kms to Biscarrosse, the road was only 5 ks.  We took the road, it was hilly but so was the trail and the road had a shoulder.  It was awesome to get the wheels turning quickly and do some climbing without people in the way.

We had lunch in Biscarrosse and Ralf bought dinner for tonight at the same time, so that he wasn\’t searching for a grocery store after we had set up the tent.

By coming of the trail and following the road for a while we got to go through some of the smaller villages.

It was a long day today, due to the late start and by 4:30 we were searching for a camp site.  We found one in the Town of Saint Paul en Born.  It is a very quiet site, with no highway, no railway and no sound of surf crashing on the beach – what is that strange popping sound, oh heck we are next to a paintball site.  At least it will be quieter when we go to bed.

An early night tonight, ear plugs in as the French around us are playing petangue.

Thursday August 21, 2014

A cool morning again, but it very quickly warmed up.  Today we decided to attempt omelletes for breakfast, we are becoming gourmet chefs on a camping stove (or not).  Ralf’s came out o.k. – mine looked more like an explosion, but it tasted good.

The first part of the route took us back through the Town and we got misplaced trying to find the right path.  The route was a little confusing and we came across a fellow touring cyclist that had the Velodyssey guide book.  He got misplaced too!  We all found the right path and headed towards La Porge.

The route was again on a paved forest path.

A couple of days ago we passed a large Naturiste camping site (the largest in Europe).  We always get confused with naturiste and naturalist!  Today we definitely saw a nudist, he was wandering through the woods towards a beach area – very cute buns he had.

As we arrived in La Porge we were pleasantly surprised to find a large surfing and beach area. There were several restaurants ready to feed the hungry beach goer.  It was quite expensive, but with the captive audience from the beach it was a nice place to stop and eat or have a coffee.

Take your rubbish home with you.

We stopped in Lege Cap Ferret for lunch, it was getting quite hot.  While we were eating lunch Ralf’s garmin had a heat stroke.  It stopped displaying anything – Ralf thought that it was still working, but was beginning to get concerned when it was still not working as we cycled along in the shade.  We carried on the cycle route which had now changed from a forest path to a wide paved path which ran adjacent to the D3.  Every Town we went through the path directed us into the Town or we could carry on along the cycle route.

We had decided to stop in Audenge at the Tourisme Office to find out about camp sites south of Audenge.  Unfortunately we were there too early – they were closed from 12:30 to 2:30, it was 2:00.  We carried on to Biganos, where we got information about the campsite in Le Tiech, which is where I wanted to stay tonight.  The lady in the Tourisme office called the campsite to make sure they had pitches available, they did have.  We cycled on and are in another private site, with a swimming pool, restaurant and clean facilities (E17.70).  Our site doesn’t have power so I plugged the computer in at the office and updated the blog, while Ralf went to get dinner.

Wednesday August 20, 2014

Today was a little chilly to start with, we were wearing our windbreakers for the first hour.  The route was flat until the last 25 kms and then it was hilly through paved forest tracks.  On this section of the Velodyssey the signs have been really good.  If there is a Town to visit the signs will direct you in to the Town or Village but also direct you on the Velodyssey route.  At about 54 kms we were getting a little hungry so made the deviation into Maubuisson and had a baguette.  Maubuisson has some very nice holiday homes nestled into the trees and beach area.

Often we had the route to ourselves, but if we were coming into a Town or Village, we would be inundated with cyclists, joggers and walkers.  We often had to ring our bells to warn people we were coming and to indicate that we were wide and they should may be stay on their side of the two-lane bicycle path.  We stuck to our line and they would move out of our way.  I often felt today that we were the “transport truck” on the bicycle path, big, wide and moving fast.  Get out the way people we are coming through.

There are things that I miss since being on the road, and I have mentioned pillows and fluffy towels before, but last night I realized I miss a shower that when you turn the tap on the water pours over you until you decide to turn the tap off.  Camp site showers in France are on a timer and the temperature of the water is preset.  You press a button and the water comes out for a set amount of time usually about 30 seconds and then it stops, you press the button again and again and again, the water temperature can vary from boiling to cold.  I mentioned to Ralf that I was missing having a regular shower and he told me the solution was simple, when you hear the water pressure reducing you hit the button again. I wish I could describe Ralf’s actions and noises when he was telling me how to do this, it was very funny.  Whoosh, Ralf pretending to wash his hair, arm behind him to hit the button, whoosh, pretending to wash his arms, arm behind him to hit the button, whoosh, pretending to wash his body and so it continued – Voila continuous water.  I tried it this afternoon, not quite as voila continuous water for me. I really miss having that tap that you can turn and get continuous water with the temperature that I like.

We are staying in a very nice touristy campsite tonight with water-park, restaurant and all the facilities.  We thought it might be really expensive but it is the same price as the Municipal camp site we stayed at last night.

We are located next to a surf school camp, we were assured that they would not be noisy.  – Not quite true, but hopefully they won’t be up all night.

Tuesday August 19, 2014

A nice ride today and good weather.

We love poached eggs and it has been a long time since we have had any.  Ralf suggested last night that “we” should try to make them.  I will give anything my best effort on this camp stove, but poached eggs?  Well if my hubby wants something I try to provide it for him.  Apart from the pan looking like an egg explosion – they turned out quite nicely.  We had bread (no toast), avocado with a soft poached egg on top, lovely.  Not sure I will do it again in a hurry, but it tasted good.  As we were packing our bikes away, we heard a car horn tooting as he went around the camp-site.  Fresh baguettes, croissants and pain au chocolat for sale.  Ralf leapt in front of the van and bought two pain au chocolats before I could blink.

We left the campsite at about 9:30, it was going to be a short day today (40 kms).  Our plan was to catch the ferry at Royan and then find the first municipal campsite. But we also needed maps and guides for the next Department, because god forbid that the Departments (municipalities) share information.  You have to wait until you get into the particular municipality to get the information.

As we departed the ferry it was 1:30, Tourisme Office didn’t open until 2:00.  We decided to carry on to Soulac sur Mer and check at that Tourisme office for maps and campsite availability.  The lady at the Tourisme Office gave me a book for this area, similar to the one we received for La Manche.  We then had to get the tedious things out of the way, shopping, setting up the tent, and doing washing.

Tonight’s dinner is Salmon with rice and mixed vegetables – yes we are cooking on our little camp stove and it is fresh salmon, Ralf is almost MasterChef on the camp stove.

Monday August 18, 2014

A long day today.  Google maps and Le Veolodyssey mileages are completely different.  Google had us cycling 62.8 to Bourcefranc and La Velodyssey had us cycling 90.88!! A little bit of a difference, mainly due to the very rural cycle route.  Velodyssey takes you along farm tracks, very rural roads and canal and river paths.  It keeps you away from all traffic as much as possible.  Unfortunately it also tends to keep you away from small villages and towns.  The route today was rather monotonous – miles and miles of canal and river path.  It was very easy going and safe, but I would like it to take us through towns and villages as well.

When we left our campsite this morning we had decided to spend about an hour visiting La Rochelle as we had blown by everything yesterday.

There were some lovely buildings and lane-ways to explore.

I noticed on the top of La Chaine, (a tower near the waterfront) an inukshuk and the Territory flag of Nunavut.

I went into the Tourisme Office to find out why they had an inukshuk and the Territory flag.  The young woman who served me (Emma) wasn’t sure but asked a colleague. Apparently the curator of the museum is very interested in the Inuit and a couple of years ago did an exhibition on the Inuit. Interesting to note is that La Rochelle was one of the major ports for exporting slaves, the French would bring them from their colonies in Africa and then \”export\” them to the Americas.  The things you learn when you have an inquiring mind.

I also spoke to a lady who told me her son and daughter-in-law were doing the same thing, New Zealand, Australia and are now in South America cycling through Peru, Chile, and will be home for Christmas.  She asked me for my blog and I asked for her sons.  I am going to try and add a BlogRoll on to my blog.  This is a technical term for other people we have met who have shared their websites with us.

This happy 3-wheeler was outside of the Tourisme office.

Although the route was flat we did see our very first stork.  We haven\’t seen wildlife or heard a lot of birds in France.

Our route today did take us through a couple of Towns and this bridge was quiet amazing connecting the old with the new just outside of Rochefort.

We came into Bourcefranc by the back road, we thought it was a small Town, but as we progressed through it, we found it to be quite large and found this lovely old windmill which had been restored by the owner of the property and is now owned and maintained by the Town\’s citizens.

The campsite was a municipal site and fairly quiet, although we could hear the highway.

Our meal tonight was very interesting – Menu option # 4 – sausages and lentils (one can) and potatoes (a second can), very filling and tasted quite good, either that or our taste buds are completely shot.  Ralf suggested we buy real sausages next time as opposed to wieners in a can.