Vaucluse Dreamer

I can hardly believe that I’m writing this, but we’ve just got back from supper by the old harbour in beautiful La Rochelle, after another amazing day on the bikes.

The day started early, as we had been staying in a beautiful home on the salt marshes, just north of the Ile de Noirmoutier and the wildlife was worth getting up early for. So as we drank coffee at 6am, we were watching egrets, birds of prey and small warblers just outside the window, whilst we planned the route for the day ahead.

Andy had always thought that we would get to La Rochelle today, but if I’m being brutally honest, I didn’t think I would get there at all.

I know yesterday, that I mentioned how emotional I felt crossing The Loire, and it wasn’t simply that it was a milestone, but was also the fact that I really wasn’t sure I’d be capable of getting that far at all.

When we started talking about doing the ride, just a few weeks ago, I was worried that I hadn’t done enough training; that I wouldn’t be strong enough to carry the kit that we have brought and that I wouldn’t be able to do the distances we were going to be doing.

Andy kept telling me that with all the cycling that we do, I would be fine, but although I smiled and agreed, deep down I felt exactly the opposite. It wasn’t helped when some people sucked in their cheeks when I told them what we were planning either.

The fact was that until we started this mad little adventure, I have only done a couple of rides over 100km and they were months, if not years apart, so the sucking of teeth and the suggestion that we may be taking on too much resonated with me. At the end of the day, I’m a 56 year old woman, who has never done a long distance cycle trip before, so could simply have been setting myself up to fail, before I even started.

But I’ve managed the first few days, and today was just going to be another day of the turning the pedals, heading towards one of my favourite places in France. That said, I am in rather pleased that Andy didn’t give me a clue as to the distance we had to cover, as I was planning out the route.

After hugging our hosts goodbye, we pedalled out across the marshes, cheered on by the ‘zip-zip-zip’ call of a fan-tailed warbler, that seemed determined to see us off.

The wind may have been in our faces, but the roads were pancake-flat, as we started to head inland, making for a route along back roads, that would take us around La Roche Sur Yon, on our way down towards La Rochelle.

In some ways the flat roads did us no favours, as they lulled us into a false sense of security that the whole day’s ride would be without hills. We couldn’t have been further from the truth, as once we had passed through a couple of villages, the road started to rise and fall again. Not the roller-coaster, steep climbs of the last few days, but more akin to a children’s miniature rollercoaster instead.

I had a feeling it was going to be a big day on the saddle, so plumped for a particularly good almond pain au chocolat, when we stopped for breakfast, hoping that would keep me going for a while.

The cycling was beautiful, and at times it felt as if we had hopped back into southern Brittany, with lush verges, filled with wild flowers and scent. But the rooftops were orange and the villages had a sleepy feel to them. In some we were shepherded through by a squadron of screaming swifts and swallows, blazing a trail ahead and telling everyone that we were there.

We finally stopped for lunch in a small village just below La Roche Sur Yon, next to a lake with stunning, pink waterlilies reminding me of a Monet painting. It was so warm here that my phone overheated and died, whilst I was doing the Daily update

After lunch though, the kilometres seemed to slip past and we made good going towards La Rochelle, although the heat meant we quickly finished the water that we had been carrying. The sleepy villages were so quiet that the cafes and shops were shut and eventually, in desperation, we stopped at a local cemetery, having been told that they often have water, and just inside the gate, we found a tap, filling our bottles and drinking a litre, before heading on again.

It would be fair to say by now that we were feeling a bit weary, our legs have been working hard for nearly 5 days and the heat was draining us of energy, as well as sweat! But with my wonderful ‘Mission Control’ on the front of my bike, I could see La Rochelle on the bottom of the map and the little blue dot, marked our slow but sure progress towards it.

As we rode through Champagné-les- Marais, we finally found a shop and pulled in, buying 2 bottles of ‘full-fat’ coke (as we call it), just to give us a bit of energy and brighten our legs for the last few kilometres.

The road down towards Charron, which would normally be busy, was like a cycle route, as the road-bridge is broken (jammed in the upright position) , but we had seen that there was a cycle route through, so enjoyed riding along, the wind finally in our backs, with the road ahead looking like a pool of water, shimmering with a heat-induced mirage.

When we reached the little cycle bridge through, we had to stop as it was being swung open, to allow a catamaran through into the lock. So we enjoyed the break and munched a few fruit pastilles that had been hiding at the bottom of my bag (for emergencies). We were close to La Rochelle, but still had a good hour’s ride to get there, so we needed all the help we could get!

The final part of the route cut us through to Dompierre Sur Mer, where we joined the Velodyssey for the final off-road run into the old port of La Rochelle. It’s a perfect way to arrive, and as we cycled along the paths alongside the canal into the city I felt myself welling up with a few tears again.

Emerging into the old port, we had the iconic towers in front of us, with the harbour filled with yachts and the noise of music from what appeared to be La Rochelle Pride Parade, with rainbow flags being waved as crowds passed by.

We love this place, we always have done and to be honest, if we weren’t in Provence, we’d probably be here. We’re not city people, but La Rochelle is special and whenever we visit, we enjoy every moment that we are here and to be able to spend our rest day here is simply perfect.

After a shower in the apartment we had found (right in the harbour), we headed down for a walk and a much-needed meal, with a massive pizza and a huge chocolate dessert just about filling the hole that had been left in my stomach after the day’s ride.

So what had we managed to do? When we looked at the route On Komoot we saw that we had ridden 159km and again climbed over 1000m. I had ridden my first ever 100 miles (give or take a few feet) and that was something for my weary legs and mind to celebrate.

The evening finished with an amble around the vibrant harbour, watching the street entertainers….

Enjoying seeing the sunset colours bathe the beautiful buildings with apricot tones…

And watching the sun disappear at the end of what had been an utterly incredible day.

Despite my tired legs and weary body, I walked with a spring in my step knowing that I had proved the nay-sayers and myself wrong. I am capable of this, I am loving what we are doing and after a day off, in this beautiful city, I will be looking forward to the next stage too.

Time for a sleep!

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