Charity Bicycle Ride: France | Olonne-sur-Mer to Saint-Andre-des-Eaux

My latest charity bicycle ride update for Wednesday, 25th June 2008, Olonne-sur-Mer to Saint-Andre-des-Eaux. 95 Miles. It’s been a hard ride today with a strong headwind, which became even more of a problem when I crossed the bridge at Saint Nazaire. Unlike yesterday when I crossed to Rochefort on the transporter bridge, today I was allowed on the main bridge. And I wished I wasn’t! It was pretty scary.

The bridge was like cycling on a motorway, on a very narrow hard shoulder, with cars and lorries whizzing past within inches of me. And with the strong wind, which was even worse on the bridge. It took a lot of concentration and strength to stay in my lane. I now know why I bought a spare pair of pants!

Much of my day is spent thinking about what I’m going to eat for supper, and today was no different. So when I stopped off at the supermarket this afternoon, I brought the ingredients to cook spag bol. And after showering tonight, I settled down to cook supper and went to grab the ingredients.

Mincemeat check, onion check, garlic check, mushrooms check, bacon check, tomatoes check, tomatoes! Where were the tomatoes? Bloody idiot, I’d only forgotten to buy them, doh! It still tasted nice, but maybe not quite the spaghetti bolognese I was expecting, more a case of mince, fried with onions and mushrooms! But it’s all good fun, and I’m enjoying myself. It certainly beats two weeks on a beach, I think!

Tour Information

It’s been years since I took this ride, but the memories (and the data) are all archived:

• Photos: See my photos on Flickr
• The route: View my journey through France
• Tour: Check out my tour page
• Book: Buy the book of the tour

Follow My Bicycle Touring Adventures

Subscribe to my blog and follow me as I continue to travel around on my bike. Plus, as a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. If you’re enjoying the ride and want to fuel my next mile, you can always buy me a beer. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where you’ll find pictures from all my tours, along with regular photo updates that I generally publish each month.

If you want to find out if I’m away touring at the moment and check my location, visit the Where’s Garry page.

Charity Bicycle Ride: France | Rochefort to Olonne-sur-Mer

My latest charity bicycle ride update for Tuesday, 24th June 2008, Rochefort to Olonne-sur-Mer. 99 Miles. What a friendly campsite last night. I met and bored several people. Rocking up anywhere on a fully loaded touring bike always makes an impact, gets me noticed, and usually leads to a conversation. Last night, even more so.

As I was pitching my tent, I started talking to a couple from Newbury, Dorothy and Colin, who were keen to know about my trip. Then, after pitching my tent, I got talking to a Dutch guy called Joost. He was also on a bike (aren’t all Dutch people!?) and was cycling around France. He never had any route and was just going wherever the wind blew him, from what I could make out. Although he wasn’t as professional as me. He was only cycling fifty to sixty kilometres a day. Bloody lightweight! He was easy to talk to and seemed to like bread and jam, as that’s all he ate!

It was getting late by the time I’d gotten around to cooking supper, and it was starting to get dark. As I was cooking, Colin, who I’d met earlier, came over and invited me to eat my supper in their caravan. What a joy to eat at a table. It’s so much easier than sitting on the ground with a plate balanced on my lap. I sat talking to Colin and Dorothy until nearly midnight, who thought I was mad for doing so many miles in a day. But they wished me luck and gave me twenty-five euros for my charity.

Today

It’s been a good ride today, but nothing spectacular. And after last night’s busy campsite, I’m the only person on tonight’s campsite. There’s not another tent or caravan in sight. They only opened today, which was good for me. I didn’t fancy cycling too much further. Random fact: Olonne-Sur-Mer, tonight’s town, is twinned with Worthing, which is just down the road from me, or so the sign said as I rode into town!

Tour Information

It’s been years since I took this ride, but the memories (and the data) are all archived:

• Photos: See my photos on Flickr
• The route: View my journey through France
• Tour: Check out my tour page
• Book: Buy the book of the tour

Follow My Bicycle Touring Adventures

Subscribe to my blog and follow me as I continue to travel around on my bike. Plus, as a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. If you’re enjoying the ride and want to fuel my next mile, you can always buy me a beer. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where you’ll find pictures from all my tours, along with regular photo updates that I generally publish each month.

If you want to find out if I’m away touring at the moment and check my location, visit the Where’s Garry page.

Charity Bicycle Ride: France | Lacanau to Rochefort

My latest charity bicycle ride update for Monday, 23rd June 2008, Lacanau to Rochefort. 97 Miles. More long, boring straight roads through the pine forests of Aquitaine this morning. But thankfully, by midday, I was out of them and had reached the ferry at Pointe de Grave.

I never thought I’d say it, but, yay, roads with hills! I’ve had enough of those pine forests and their long straight roads, that seemed to go on forever. Although at one point, when I rode through the pretty village of Brouage, I wished I was back on the smooth roads and pine forests of Aquitaine. Brouage had cobbled streets! Which, after having already cycled eighty miles, hurt. However, it was a very picturesque and pretty village, full of tourists, unfortunately.

Bikes Not Allowed

Before reaching my campsite in Rochefort tonight, I had to cross the river Charente, but the bridge was out of bounds to bicycles. Not being allowed to use the bridge meant a great big detour in land to continue going forward. Just great, I thought. I did consider dashing across the bridge. Luckily, though, I found the old road. I assumed it was the old road. I really didn’t know. But I decided to follow it and see where it led. What a good move that was. It led to an old cable transporter. It was a bit like a cable car, except it ran from one side of the river to the other.

Tour Information

It’s been years since I took this ride, but the memories (and the data) are all archived:

• Photos: See my photos on Flickr
• The route: View my journey through France
• Tour: Check out my tour page
• Book: Buy the book of the tour

Follow My Bicycle Touring Adventures

Subscribe to my blog and follow me as I continue to travel around on my bike. Plus, as a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. If you’re enjoying the ride and want to fuel my next mile, you can always buy me a beer. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where you’ll find pictures from all my tours, along with regular photo updates that I generally publish each month.

If you want to find out if I’m away touring at the moment and check my location, visit the Where’s Garry page.