Conac to  Saint-Georges-de-Didonne 33 miles  Running total 464 miles

Here is todays route which should appear if you click on the link now I have sorted technology https://ridewithgps.com/routes/42317260

A beautiful morning, we head off on cycleways of various quality that pass around small ports and villages alongside the Garonne Estuary. We could take a more direct route on the road, but the weather is great. We are retired and in no rush.

The cycleway is remote, and we see no one all morning until we arrive at a pretty port in time for coffee.  We go uphill to the centre-ville to get the makings of a lunch before we head off back onto the cycleway.

The cycleway suddenly became very hilly, which, although it gave us great views of the area, was a bit of a wake-up call for what is to come later in the trip. I put in a couple of extra hills just for practice when I admired the views and forgot to look at the map.

A little further on, we came up against another  unsigned diversion. There was no getting around this one, and required some careful navigation through a park, up someone’s drive, and across a footpath got us back on the route. The lorry that arrived at the same time as us was not so manoeuvrable and was last seen backing down the lane.

We stopped at a quaint tourist town called Talmont sur Garonne to explore and have an ice cream. It had a massive carpark with only a couple of cars parked there, so we were pleased it was out of season. I took the opportunity to lubricate the bikes as my compatriot had clean legs, so the oil must have worn off the chain.  She took up her usual bike maintenance position.

At the next town, we lost the cycleway signs and followed Garmin the wrong way around the one-way system. Afterwards, I remembered I had reversed the route, which would account for Garmins’ indiscretion. We were lucky we were out of season, and the French visitors that were there just drove around us.

The end point today is a seaside town with a lovely beach. Much like the UK when out of season, restaurants and shops are closed and there’s an unkempt feel about the place. Luckily our hotel is great with its own restaurant. Madam has placed our bikes at the end of the restaurant as a feature. It had just started showering as we arrived, and she wanted to keep them dry for us. She has also put us in a suite, so I assume they are not busy. However, it does help with the laundry with plenty of drying space.

It is now pissing down outside, so we eat the plat du jour in the hotel and are not disappointed. The French know how to do it.