Postcards from Provence and beyond

After a wonderful couple of days, staying with friends, in the Marais Breton, it was time for us to pedal on again. Tonight, we had planned to be back in the tent, staying on a small camp site in Les Essarts, as we made our way across to Parthenay

That was the plan anyway. But what do they say about the best laid plans of mice and men? Oh yes, they often go awry! And that was the case today.

When we woke, we checked the local weather, just to see if we would need to have our waterproofs to hand, only to see that the whole of the Vendee, and wider area had been put under an Orange Weather warning for thunder, wind, rain and hail (with hailstones expected to be up to 5cm diameter)

Now I know we’re on an adventure, but the thought of sleeping in a little 2-bed tent, under just a millimetre of fabric, while being bombarded with small, icy cannon balls,  with a storm raging, was’t really giving me a good feeling.

So at 7am, we were looking at what options we would have, that would allow us to stay somewhere, a little bit more sustantial, whist the storm passes through.

Unfortunately, the only option we could find in Les Essarts was to rent a bigger tent, on the site we had planned to visit.   But even that didn’t fill me with confidence, and checking the places just before and just after the town, didn’t give us any options either.

The forecast was showing that the storms would start to hit in the afternoon, with the most significant one arriving overnight, so we didn’t feel that it would be a good idea just to keep cycling, to see what we could find.

It was time for a little rethink, as we have a little apartment booked in Cognac, this weekend, so need to make sure that we’re there in time for that.

After poring the maps and accommodation sites, we decided the best thing would be to change our onward route to Cognac, cycling to La Roche-sur-Yon tonight, where we had a big choice of resonably-priced places to stay, and then continue down via the Marais Poitevin, and Coulon, which is always a lovely place to visit.

By 7.45 the routes had been changed, the roads had been checked and we had booked a hotel, in the heart of the town, overlooking the main square. It really hadn’t been the most gentle start to the day.

After a slow breakfast, watching hares play in the field, and listening to the haunting calls of the marshland birds, we loaded up the bikes, and waved a final goodbye to Peter and Jo, after a perfectly wonderful couple of days, You can read about our time in this stunning, bird-filled place here

We pedalled out along the empty roads, with the sun glinting on the water-filled creeks, as we passed.

It was a gloriously peaceful, and golden morning, which gave no sign of the storms to come, and we enjoyed spotting birds, including storks, ibis and spoonbills, as we pedalled along.

Normally, every creek is filled with water, and we hear the gentle ‘plop’ of a Ragondin dropping in from the bank, to avoid being seen. But, after this summer’s devastating heat, many of the creeks are dry, so we spotted quite a few, scuttling across the cracked mud surfaces, desperately trying not to be spotted.

There were also the first signs of the approaching change of season, with the swallows and Martins staring to group together on the roadside wires, calling to each other, as they flew around our heads.

It is an incredible area, and the wildlife never ceases to amaze us. After spotting Ospreys yesterday, we had hoped to see another today, but sadly, we pedalled away without catching another glimpse.

After leaving the wetlands behind, we pottered through quiet villages, along empty, beautifully smooth roads that took us on towards our destination.

You can Watch a little video from today’s ride here

We stopped for coffee, as the sky started to get darker, with the ominous rattle of thunder in the distance. Perhaps we would be hit by storms a lot earlier than we had feared.

We watched as the clouds seem to move away from us, towards the coast, as we continued on, through the pretty, rolling countryside of the Vendee, the kilometres slipping by easily, below our wheels.

At times, it felt as if we were riding in autumn, with stretches of hedgerow, and many trees, bright orange and golden brown, with their leaves starting to fall. The sad thing is though that this is another effect of the excessive heat of the last few months, and it looks as if many of the trees and bushes may have died off too. It’s really shocking to see.

We noticed as the architecture changed, with low houses being replaced by grander buildings, sitting behind walls and lovely, old gates, before we stopped for a bite of lunch in Poire sur Vie

As we sat on a wall there, the sky grew even darker, and as we set off to pedal the last 18km, towards our night’s stop, the heavens opened; the clouds ripped apart by a huge crash of thunder. It went from dry to deluge, in an instant, but we spotted a small shrine, built into the rock, just off a side-road, so dashed to it, pulling our bikes under the lip of the small cave, as the rain got even heavier (if that was possible)

It turned out to be the Grotte de Jamoniere, with a small altar, and on the wall, a plaque with an open glass section, showing a piece of stone from the shrine at Lourdes. It had been built by the villagers in 1933, and is only one of a few to have a piece of stone from Lourdes. Each year (on the Sunday closest to September 8th) there is a pilgrimage there, which ends with a local hymn being sung.

It was a perfect spot to offer us much-needed shelter from a brief, but fierce storm.

Once the rain had calmed, and was falling gently (rather than in sheets), we pottered on again, keen to get to La Roche-sur-Yon, before more storms hit. Yet the sky cleared, and as we joined the cycle path that runs from Aizenay, into the town, we were cycling in just our jersey, in warm sunshine, enjoying the shade of the trees.

It was an excellent cycle path, with a bowling-green-smooth surface, that took us safely, into the heart of the town, where we easily found our hotel and settled in.

Ridiculously, the sky cleared even more, so we took the opportunity to wander around the centre, enjoying the stylish and slightly quirky, public open spaces, especially the Place Napoleon, with its pools housing not just Koi Carp…

But an amazing array of automatons too, that are operated from handles on the side of the pools. Great fun for young and old alike.

from Carp

to frogs

and even rather superb flamingos.

It’s 8pm now, and the sky is still relatively clear, although the friends we stayed with last night have seen a message advising people to cover car windscreens with cardboard to protect them, when the storm hits.

Knowing our luck, we will have changed the route today for nothing, and we’ll have a calm, peaceful and dry night, that we could have spent in the tent.

We’ll just have to wait and see, but at least the bed is comfortable!