bilboburgler

Back in the spring I began planning our annual bike tour. We looked at Magdeburg to Prague and also at Prague to Salzburg but what with the cheepo airlines moving their destination flights and Mrs Bilbo only having a week for a break, we decided on cycling La Rochelle to Bergerac. (thanks everyone for their advice on the Czech trip)

For those who do not know where this journey will pass, it includes coming south down the Atlantic coast of France to Bordeaux and then heading inland.

It makes most sense because our local airport (5 minutes away) fly to both airports and there are a bunch of trains along the route we can fall back on if our aged knees cannot make it. The route is mainly flat and with a a lot on bicycle paths or very quiet French roads. It was June and the meteo suggests 26C so we packed our lightest clothes and broke our bikes down for the flight.

stevelyon

Thanks bilbobugler, my tennis partner is a Francophile and I am always tapping him for information. He reckons this area which seems off many peoples radar is one of the great areas of France. This said, another friend who is equally knowledgeable about France is always suggesting the Vin Route (Alsace area of France) - did you consider this .... can you get done for drinking and cycling?

bilboburgler

Steve, please see my little website http://www.mybikeguide.co.uk/Alsace_Guide.php . We've almost done every one of the routes described. Yes you can be done for dangerous biking. Best to drink in the evening , though with a lot of water wine may be needed at lunch to slake your thirst. Alsace is a pretty good visit.

stevelyon

Nice website - not just for cyclists. Good advice about dangerous biking - so as long as I am not dangerous ....

bilboburgler

Day 1: our first day required us to get up at 4am. We finally flew into the little airport of La Rochelle at 11:00 and by 11:30 the customs officers were helping carry our bikes through the terminal so they could close up for the morning. After rebuilding the bikes in the car park we headed into town down the local bike path which took us into the ancient city of La Rochelle. We had two problems to overcome 1) our new GPS was proving useless and 2) Mrs Bilbo was in a lot of pain from an eye problem that started this morning.

We bought figs and water at the first food shop and cycled around the port area which is very stylish with a lot of money being spent (time to buy a flat in the docks?). Still we ended up at Tourist Information and asked about any information on the Velodyssee EU1 bike path. Well they had very little but the town cycle paths were good enough to get us to the first nights stay so we headed south. http://www.velodyssey.com/

Some Fodorites claim that Europe has no fine beaches. Well as we followed the coast through the empty countryside they were there day after day. We managed to avoid the oyster and mussel shacks and ended up in an odd little seaside resort called. Chatelaillon-Plage (just too late for lunch but the town looked busy.) Then we headed inland to Rochefort across marsh and forest bike lanes, we missed the hotel as we passed it on the bike path but finally tracked it down (GPS working now). Yes we were staying at an Etap (now a Budget Ibis), very much a small room but so clean and the staff were very helpful. That night we ate at a “Pataterie” which is basically a Spud-U-Like with good cold meat selection and the world's biggest potatoes (the size of a swede) wonderful with a goat's cheese salad and plate of dried meats. Just what you need after 60km. Mrs Bilbo points out that we paid more for the meal than the hotel room (sounds about right).

FrenchMystiqueTours

Looking forward to more bilbo.

Coquelicot

Me too.

bilboburgler

Day 2: we started late as we had slept pretty well (and after another eye problem for Mrs Bilbo) we spent a lot of the morning riding round Rochefort. The place had been a naval base (in the time of wooden boats mainly fighting the British) and when that closed down they opened a Gendarmerie school. As a result the buildings are wonderful, the rope walk is pretty big and there is a wooden frigate in a dry dock but the big excitement is the bridge.

In order to provide a bridge and yet allowing wooden masted boats up the river they built a Transbordeur http://www.pont-transbordeur.fr/ with the carriage moving at a high level while the passengers are carried at river level. The bridge starred in the film “The Young Girls Of Rochefort “ and until you have seen Catherine Deneuve starting to dance on that bridge you have not lived.

After crossing the river we headed south picking up a picnic on the way, meeting large flocks of bicyclists along the way, until we hit a little canal going to Marennes (well of the EU1 now). All the way we saw only a couple of cyclists and so many wild birds. Marennes gave us a bit of extra picnic and then we crossed over the Marrenes bridge to the Cote Sauvage. Looking down from the bridge we could see oyster stakes, Ile d'Oleron in the west and oyster boats racing in with the tide.

We stopped off at Ronce-les-Bains to see the big wheel and the kiss-me-quick attitude. Not stylish at all but I've seen worse. The route then passes through a sandy forest and we have to pump up a bicycle tyre for a french woman. As the afternoon began to cool we rode into La Palmyre and find a nice little sea-side resort with very few customers. We check into Palmyr'Hotel at a 40% discount and head into town to find supper. Mussels and Chips for me plus yet another goat's cheese salad and 50cl of cidre (plus 50cl rose wine to help it all down) .

bilboburgler

Day 3: we left Palmyra after hunting down coffee and pastries for breakfast and followed a line of great beaches up to Royan The town looks like a serious sea-side resort with some wonderful cove beaches. We got to the ferry and had half an hour to kill and since the local restaurant was offering cuttlefish (food for Budgies) for lunch we had some sandwiches made at the entrance to the ferry. The crossing was fast, very comfortable and so sunny. On the far side we did a little detour to Le Verdon where we picked up more maps and some biscuits. Then we headed off to Soulac sur Mer. Soulac is just weird. The place was built in the 1900s and all the architecture is based on what the French thought were British Colonial buildings as they wanted to attract wealthy Brits from the Colonies. As a result most of the buildings look like small railway stations. There are little red bricked buildings with white stone columns everywhere. Some have balconies and some nice little tiled plaques but all looked like railway stations with just a hint of art deco.

The choice of hotels looked good but we managed to find a cheap Games bar with rooms to sleep in and while there were restaurants and bars everywhere the local trading conditions meant that as we got to 7pm they began to close. By 8pm the place was just about asleep but we managed to find a reasonable little place. Tomato salad and salmon with pasta was so-so but helped by a jug of rose it went down.

The other interesting thing about this

bilboburgler

town (oops) is the church. It was built at the "end of the earth" circa 1200AD when the Medoc Penisula was shorter and paid for by various Emperors, Kings and even a Pope to help pilgrims get to Santiago. Slowly improved it was doing well until the Revolution which banned religious buildings at which point the sand dunes, for which the area was famous, built up around it until it disappeared.

Discovered anew in the 1850s it now stands good as new in one side of a large square.

lilyduv

it must have been a wonderful journey

bilboburgler

Day 4: now the French have been having a few rail strikes, and the weather was so hot we decided to modify the plan and catch a train. So we head off to the station which is open. Great, we can catch a train into Bordeaux despite the strike. But. But there is a problem, despite this being a railway station and the station is shown on the timetable the trains do not actually stop here. What!

If we wanted to catch a train we had to go south to Lesparre-Medoc so we re-planned and headed south along the coast and through some forests and after seeing Montalivet which turned out to a tiny place with limited lunch time possibilities (thank goodness for figs) and after passing Hourtin-Plage we came inland to Hourtin beside a large lake. Tourist Information was empty of customers but full of four female staff who recommended we stayed across the way at the Hotel d'Hourtin.

Madam was a little unsure if we should stay with her as she only had her worst room left (hey it was clean and the shower worked) and for the first time we were in a hotel with other customers (the place was full of cyclists) who were mainly 75 plus and were riding to Santiago. And the menu food was fabulous great pate and our only duck of the trip. Plus a bottle of Bourg for E13 (a steal).

bilboburgler

Day 5: we headed of to Pessac to catch a train, just 25 Km across the peninsula and a chance to visit a Haut Medoc town. After a tour aroiund the town we get on the train and slowly trundle into Bordeaux. Bordeaux station is enormous and the place is full of men in red trying to help travellers with the strike. Or in my case getting in the way, still after getting past them I managed to get a timetable for another train and some snacks from “Paul” which is the classy patisserie in town.

We pick up the Roger Lapebie bike path in town and head off to Creon. We start by passing through some pretty dossy sort of places but end up on a bike path that passes some lovely mansions from the 1900s. We've done part of this path before when we were younger and it takes its toll as it gets steeper the longer you ride it. Still the path is smooth and passes throough woods, one tunnel and we keep meeting french school kids on mass coming towards us.

Imagine 50 kids, weak discipline, whistles and lots of flag waving. Their teachers keep them roughly in single file coming towards us and we pop into single file to get by. All this jostling amongst the silly kids finally has to cause a problem and we come across a kid with the classic collar bone fracture being helped into an ambulamce while their friends look worried. Still every one else, and their are loads of walkers and riders have a great time.


Finally we have to split up so I can get to the TI office before it closes. Wonderfully I make it, covered in sweat and gibbering in French but they book us into the nearest transport hotel. Hotel Atena (a commercial clean budget hotel) once again I struggle to understand how the french can run nice clean simple hotels for E37 (excluding breakfast), ok they are pretty automated and a little impersonnal but on a travel holiday how can you miss on these deals. We ate at Le Cosy (by day a bakery by night a restaurant) which was pretty good plus rose and a Belgian beer. Too few staff but the stars are out and you are with me. ;-)

bilboburgler

Day 6: we decide to drop in on St Emilion and then plan to catch a train to Bergerac which will mean we can have a day and half off in Bergerac. The ride to St Emilion works well choosing back roads to avoid heavy wine transport, though Mrs Bilbo needs a short sleep by a château on the way.

St Emilion turns out to be tourist hell and the place is on top of a very steep hill (needs a strong push up). The place is crawling with visitors from all over the world, many of whom cannot speak French . (the next few years are going to be fun as the French crank up their Chinese languages in little bistros)

Still we find a few nice little places to visit including much of the wall. The wine house has an interesting smell test area, a good range of art/designers are working in the town but there are also loads of “wine experts” selling the stuff. We grab a cup of tea, waffles and pancakes in the most elegant restaurant (with extra hot water for the tea please).

After photographing a lot of hillside and old buildings we whiz down the hill to the station where we chat with a Canadian lady until the train comes.

We manage to catch a train (with bikes this means running across the platform, opening the door of the "bike" compartment, lifting the bikes above my head into the compartment, doing it again, then hurling four panniers into the compartment and finally lettling Mrs Bilbo walking the compartment. Who says holidays are for leisure?) into Bergerac and have a good chat with the conductor who is amazed that the Tour de France is starting in the UK in 2 weeks time. We check into the Spa Commercial Hotel which is just "well placed" nothing special. Then we rush off to find some food in the town of Cyrano de Bergerac. The Old Town seems to be 50% commercial with loads of restaurants in the core leading down to the river. We pass a couple of big nosed statues. We end up at an Italian as we need pasta, with goats cheese and a little salad and 50cl of red wine I feel pretty good and Mrs Bilbo manages to swallow similar with cidre.

And so to bed, no air con but a gently rotating fan for company.

bilboburgler

Day 7: a day off, means no pressure on the bottom. The market is in full swing outside our window when we wake up. You have to hand to the French, my home town has three markets a week and has three vegetable stalls each day. Bergerac, which is maybe twice as large has two markets but has 16 (yes 16) vegetable stalls. We spend the day wandering around old Bergerac, we bought a 2003 Saussignac sweet wine for E17 from the wine centre and took a picnic over the river to a park for a few hours. That evening we found a little restaurant in the back streets (Armenian) called le Kristo, which despite only having 8 tables and being run by just two people was great offering barbecued meats and a nice little Mousaka with local rose.

bilboburgler

Day 8, going home. We get up early so we can ride down the river to the nearest Hydro Electricity station (we are both Engineers) and ride around until we check out of the hotel and head over to Monbazillac (where the sweet wine comes from). Lunch is at La Maison Vari in the centre of the village. Along with their locally made wines we shared plates of cheese and dried meats. The local Sauvignon Blanc and a Rose made the meal and then the staff lead us to deck chairs so we could relax in their lovely garden for a bit.

In the afternoon we went to the Monbazillac Château spending time in both the château itself , the garden which looks down over the valley and at the château tasting. Some sort of peregrine was nesting on the château roof and their parents were soaring the edge of the ridge of the garden to bring food back for them. Great watching

Finally we rode to Bergerac airport and flew back to the UK.

StCirq

Love it, and know the area well. I've enjoyed Chatellaion-Plage on a few occasions, and of course La Rochelle and Royan (and Saintes). It's true that most people don't seem to know about the miles and miles of sandy beaches in that area. And yes, St-Emilion is tourist hell and wildly expensive!

Thanks for this.

bilboburgler

Thanks StC it was great

FrenchMystiqueTours

Excellent report bilbo. Now if only I could convince my Mrs. to get on a bike, but I know it ain't gonna happen.

bilboburgler

FMT, she could catch the train to your next stop...