Geetika

Couldn’t recommend it more.

Yes, I agree that Bordeaux to The Dordogne is a long, long day. We’ve done it but never again!

There is so much to do in both areas. So far we have spent two weeks in The Dordogne, a weekend in Saint Emilion, I’ve cycled for a week and we have two weeks booked just South of Cognac in July.

During two weeks, we just about scratched the surface of The Dordogne. It’s a really odd geography, in that you can visit some flat wide expanse areas and see for 30 miles in all directions. The Dordogne consists of many, many small hills which makes it time consuming to get anywhere but also there’s hidden nooks everywhere. Just a magical place, it’s also by far the friendliest place I’ve encountered as much of their income is derived from tourism. You have to be tres jolie to deal with tourists and the area is very multi cultural.

I’d either suggest two centres, a week in each place or just base yourself in either Bordeaux or The Dordogne and skip the other. Essentially, it may be down to how much you love the sea and wine, there are some excellent coastal areas around Bordeaux and you could spend years visiting the best vineyards in the world.

BritishCaicos, our next vacation in France will be the Bordeaux area, vin rouge being the draw, as you’ve probably guessed, lol!

As for your cycling trip I must say again that there’s no way I could even contemplate this, was telling DH about it and he was just stunned. Like janisj says I’m also living it vicariously. I do so love your breezy style, keep it coming...

I had a quick nap and went out into La Rochelle old town, just such a party place even for Sunday evening. Restaurants everywhere in the harbour front, good weather and lots of people not taking selfies but just enjoying themselves. This isn’t a tick box tourist honey pot, just somewhere to eat, drink and hangout, I loved the vibe.

I ate here

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restau...Aquitaine.html

which was on the sea front and had really high quality sushi. No idea how much it cost as I had a bottle of wine with the meal and after a long days cycling struggled to get up out of the chair.

I wandered round the harbour past the famous towers at the entrance and the sun was going down, rung home for the n’th time that day, they knew I was either getting bored or homesick. I can only cycle on my own as you just find your own rhythm, the downside is not being lonely but after being married for 24.75 years it’s just having nobody to share magical moments with like sunset over La Rochelle. The town reminds me of Charleston so much, vibrant, confident and booming.

It’s at this point that I realise I’ve got a bit of sun stroke, a bit p****ed, no battery life on my phone, lost and couldn’t remember the name of the hotel I was staying in. I was convinced it was SAS Radisson. Asked many people but just got blank looks, after half an hour I found the hotel and bed.

Monday : La Rochelle to Angoulême (120 miles) (the second hardest day of my life) (hardest day was taking my driving test and A level Economics in the same day in 1988).

Checked the weather forecast when I got up and it stated all sun, no wind , all good, all day.

Looking out the window told a different story, it was pretty obviously blowing 20 mph from the NE, exactly the direction I was heading. As any long distance cyclist will tell you, you usually fear nothing : hills, rain, cars, potholes -you can cope with. The one thing you fear is wind.

I got going at 7am, after a really good quality buffet breakfast, I learnt another lesson. For two days, I just assumed that SW France was a sleepy place where nobody owned cars. Monday morning told a different story, it was pretty clear that the French laze about all weekend and on Monday all hell breaks loose.

The traffic getting out of town was biblical. Roundabouts were like something out of the Indy 500.

My first stop was Saint Jean D’Angeley a really nice looking market town which was around 35 miles away. As I cleared town, the wind kicked in, no clouds just wind and really blustery. I was making around 10mph compared with 18 mph the day before. Its then that the psychology sets in at 8am. 120 miles at 10 miles an hour, I didn’t need to get the calculator out.

After 10 miles the countryside changed, no more vineyards or marshes. It opened up into ENDLESS agricultural fields just bare, featureless and very windswept. It took me 3 and a half hours to get to Saint Jean. It is a pretty, unassuming, typical French market town but what I wasn’t prepared for was the change in culture. No tourists, just agriculture and a population battling against climate change and EU grants in order to make a living. It is isn’t the happiest place I’ve ever had the pleasure of but Boulangerie in the main square did incredible pastries and strong coffee.

I had had a meeting with an estate agent near Cognac and was beginning to wonder whether I was going to make it.

A mile outside town, I felt a hand on my shoulder and a large “hello”. A cyclist called Jean Claude appeared, he was about 55 and a lovely bloke. So far, in about 150 miles this was only about the fifth cyclist I’d seen, at home you’ll see 5 cyclist every mile. Probably goes someway to explaining why Britain is dominating world cycling, we love it.

We chatted for 10 minutes, first thing I asked was why I looked so English for him to say hello. He said only Brits ride Bianchi bikes because we have this strange love affair with Italy, he’s right.

I moaned and moaned about the wind, we stopped and he showed me a route to go dead South and the follow the leeside of a hill range which was dead East. He said over 25 miles in was 5 miles further but far, far easier in these conditions. He was right I made the appointment with 2 minutes to spare.

The house to view at was just a chancer, dirt cheap, huge, tons of character and looked a really good prospect.

It it has been in the market for 4 years and when I turned up and greeted the lovely agent, I felt sorry for her. This was the dog on her book of property. It was all it looked on the internet other than a few very large issues like structural instability, a series of electricity pylons on view at the back and a very strange deal for the land which just had to go with the house to make it workable. The owners had obtained planning permission to build 5 houses in the grounds, they wanted more for than the for the grounds than what they were asking for the house. Bonkers.

I looked the agent honestly in the eye and said “ I’ve seen a lot of property in my time, done many renovations, you do know that all this is unsaleable ? “. She was a really lovely English lady who had retired to the area, after many, many viewings on this property I think reality was setting in for her. She looked totally fed up.

Anyway, it was way past time for lunch, next stop Jarnac and it’s Cognac houses. The wind had swung round, I had a slight incline for 15 miles down into the Charante valley. I was hitting 25 miles an hour with panniers on. Just not safe but I achieved my all time dream, overtook a Citroen 2CV on the open road, admittedly the driver was around 107 years old but still one for the record books.

The only ambition I now have in cycling is to set off a speed camera, that’s a sort of urban myth as to whether it’s possible, one day maybe.

I arrived in Jarnac at 3pm to find a ghost town, no cafes open, no mini markets, the petrol station sold petrol only and as I stopped I realised that I had no water and the rumblings of sunstroke even with factor 50 sunscreen. It was 27oC !

It was so bad, I followed an old lady who pulled up outside her house and asked for cafe / restaurant. She just said “ici , a six heures”. That’s great but I need to be 44 miles down the road in Angoulême “a six heures”.

I also realised that I’d no food, in England convenience food is everywhere and I mean everywhere. This wasn‘t England and there was no Tesco Express to download Cadbury’s Dairy Milk and Coke.

She really kindly filled up both water bottles I carry and gave me two bananas which I suspect was the only food she had in the house. I set off towards Angoulême under a large sign which said 59km, I think someone had put it there on purpose just to wind me up, so far in rural Charante there’d been road signage at all. This one was just positioned to finish me off, along with the large digital read out in the petrol station which now said 28oC.

I slowly my followed the course of the Charante and it is beautiful. Just one small village after another with scattered grand Chateau producing Cognac. Totally different to the toy towns of the Medoc, these were working little places with real people.

Just the France you dream about



The next two and a half were not pretty , knackered, psychologically done by the wind ( it had turned again) , too much sun, not enough water and hungry .... I crawled into Angoulême at just after 6pm. Anyone that’s been knows the town - it’s on a large hill, I’ve never pushed a bike but I really came close.

Worst day on a bike I ever had.

Just poor planning , not enough water/food, in unexpected wind all combined.

I checked into this lovely hotel (again e90 bargain )




Did something stupid : just went to bed a fell asleep for 3 hours!

Good grief Joannyc

We fell in love with The Carolinas , I hate to own up but on rainy Saturday mornings in winter in Scotland we would watch trashy Dawson’s Creek and just sit in awe.

God, I’ve just realised that was 20 years ago. We had just bought our first big house and had absolutely no money or furniture, we begged and borrowed enough for the airfare and flew into Dulles. We then drove down the Smokies to Asheville, down to Savannah up to Wilmington and up the Outer Banks. Greatest time ever! Young (ish) no dog, no kid . Just two weeks but I could write a trip report 100 pages long.

Something memorable happened every hour.

Never forget driving on the road through Camp LeJeune. In the morning we rolled up to the sentry box and stoppped, the guard was asleep, got annoyed and asked what we wanted. Just to come through to go to Wilmington ? He just waved us through and I heard him say “f***ing foreigners disturbing my Zeds”.

In the afternoon, we had to go back the other way, I thought “ah well they not interested” and didn’t stop at the sentry box. The guard instantly jumped out pulled up an M16 and I’m sure he was about to fire. The next 20 minute interview started with “are you f***ing stupid son?” and was conducted with the M16 aimed at my head.

He was even less impressed when said how much I enjoyed “Full Metal Jacket” sometimes you just know it’s time to keep your mouth shut.

Good fun.

We love Beaufort NC (and Beaufort SC).

Been back 6 times and probably heading to Bluffton SC in October. Autumn in the Carolinas is too good to miss.

Where are you going in France?

Hmm, I, too, live in NC, although in the Raleigh area. Temps have already hit 35 Celsius, with humidity, and it's still May. Spring and fall are gorgeous, but short and getting shorter. Am seriously considering moving back to England!

Oh no !

Don’t even think about it.

I’ve spent 50 and a half years trying to get off this island , hate to think someone would want to come back.

You think life under Trump is bad! try the prospect of Boris Johnson and Brexit!

Sometimes think Johnson is Trump’s love child via Margaret Thatcher.

Ideally when we retire we would love to move to Charleston but our entire life savings would probably cover 3 months healthcare.

Sorry I missed that .....

35oC with humidity isn’t possible.

I once had 32oC with humidity in Singapore and was unbearable and yes it’s May !

Anywhere in the southeast, including Charleston, will be miserable in the summer.
Also, if you're on the coast there is the issue of hurricanes. I'm far enough inland they haven't historically been too much of an issue (but see Fran), however ask joannyc about what happened to Wilmington last year. Then think about sea level rise.

Be thankful for the NHS. Although I am now on Medicare, my expenses for additional insurance are still high.

l've been to Toulouse before. Only going there this trip to fly home.