Vaucluse Dreamer

Our day off in La Rochelle flew by far too quickly and it just reinforced how much we love the place and we are already plotting when we may be able to come back for another little visit (with the bikes of course)

Our original thinking had been that we would take the ferry out from the city to Boyardville on the Ile d’Oleron and visit some of our old haunts there, before cycling off and into the Dordogne

Unfortunately, once we looked at the timings, we discovered the ferries don’t run on Monday or Tuesday this week, so that idea will have to be filed away for another time.

So a little re-think saw us planning a route, following the Velodyssey, along the coast to Rochefort, where we could catch the amazing ‘Transporter Bridge’ across the river and continue on back roads through to Pons, where we had found a nice looking Chambre D’Hote for the night.

It was another beautiful start to the day, and we pottered out, following the well-marked trail, away from La Rochelle and onto the coast.

I love this part of western France, with turquoise waters, views across to the islands and the quirky local fishing huts along the shoreline, that are built on stilts, with huge square nets on frames that are wound down into the sea at high tide.

The cycle path follows the coast along a mix of well-made trails, with the occasional bumpy off-road bit thrown in for good measure.

We wingled our way through, stopping in Chatelaillon Plage for a rather good breakfast (that was so big that it actually kept us going, nearly all day).

It was lovely sitting by the sea, but we couldn’t hang around as we knew the Transporter Bridge closed for lunch at 1230 and wanted to make it there in time to cross (as the alternative would be a much longer ride round to the next bridge along at Tonnay Charente). Also I have wanted to ride in the Transporter Bridge for years, as I do love a bit of industrial history.

So off we pedalled, turning away from the coast and heading out through the salt marshes towards Rochefort, soon seeing the metal frame of the Transporter Bridge in the distance, sure that we’d be there in plenty of time.

It was one of those optical illusions though that make things appear much closer than they actually are (isn’t that a Meatloaf song?) and we finally reached a sign showing 7.5 km to the bridge. It was midday, so we still stood a chance of getting there on time.

At this point, I became a woman possessed, spinning my legs and hurtling along as if I was doing a Time-Trial, rather than a potter along a cycle path. I think I would have given Marianne Vos or even Mark Cavendish a run for their money, in my efforts to get there in time.

As we approached, I saw the cradle of the bridge making its way across to the far shore and had a sinking feeling that the return trip across would be the last one before the shutters were dropped for lunch. But that was a bit of negative thinking and I don’t do that, so spun my legs even harder, pulling into the ticket office at 1220.

We watched the cradle coming back across the river towards us, which is an incredible sight, as the very lovely member of staff confirmed my thoughts that if we wanted to take the bridge, we would have to wait until it opened again at 2pm.

Now I don’t get grumpy, but a little grey cloud settled above my head, at the thought of having missed it. Yes, we could wait until 2, but we’re not good at just waiting, so we decided to plough on and follow the cycle path through to Tonnay Charente, where we could take the old suspension bridge across the river instead.

Happily, we often find that positives come from a negative and we found ourselves cycling past the beautiful old buildings of the ‘Corderie’ in Rochefort, the old ropeworks, based in the town that would have provided the miles of ropes needed for the tall ships of years gone by.

It turned out to be a lovely ride through and we eventually found our way onto the old (rather rickety) suspension bridge at Tonnay Charente, where we stopped to do Our daily update

We had ended up crossing there about 15 minutes before the Transporter Bridge reopened and had seen a beautiful part of the Charente Maritime that we had normally hammered past before.

Once across the bridge, we were able to rejoin our original planned route, following quiet back roads through acres of golden wheat and barley & the first real vineyards we’ve seen too.

The roads were peaceful and just enjoyable to ride along, passing through quiet villages, with pretty churches

And the pale stone houses with hollyhocks sprouting from the bottom of the walls, with swifts screaming along the streets and around the rooftops

116km.later, See the route here

We finally arrived in Pons and found our Chambre D’Hote for the night, a beautiful place, with a peaceful garden and an incredible 13th century, vaulted chapel building, which is where the bikes are safely stored for the night … Certainly the best bike storage we’ve had so far!

And were welcomed with a cold drink in the beautiful garden

We’ll head in for supper shortly and chat about our next options. I know people have been worried about us cycling in the heat, but more of a concern for us is the forecast of severe thunderstorms in the Massif Central, and in fact most of the south of France for the forthcoming week or so.

We need to be sensible about the route, as the thought of being on a bike in the mountains in a severe storm and heavy rain, isn’t really filling us with much joy.

The route is therefore a bit of a work in progress tonight and we may have to save some of the places we wanted to visit for another time.

The good thing though is that we are both happy to say that there will be another time …. This trip is whetting our appetite for more!