Marennes to Châtelaillon-Plage 44 miles Running total 544  miles

Here is todays route. https://ridewithgps.com/routes/42317710

Today will be our longest cycling day so far. We are in bright sunshine as we set off, which quickly turns to being overcast. We have left the vineyards behind us and cycled along the water courses that divide huge areas of meadow that were originally marsh land. The weather forecast predicts it will stay mostly dry, hurrah! My ears must stick out beyond my cycle helmet and are sore from the sun, so they get special attention today. This makes a change from the attention I have had to give to my other end over the last two weeks.

The bikes had to stay outside the hotel reception last night as the hotel hotel staff had lost the key to the garage. I suppose this is better than the bikes being inside the garage with a lost key. It did mean we have to fit everything back onto the bikes this morning.

The route today saw us winding our way across deserted fen land for miles with only animals for company. We must have cycled all points of the compass round the lakes and rivers.

We left the fens to join another disused railway, and we met some local cyclists who stopped to ask if we wanted a photo taken together on a disused raiway bridge over a large river. They then engaged us in conversation, asking us about where we had started from and where we were going to. It was their dream or perhaps nightmare to do such a trip. Fortunately, they wanted to improve their English, so the Babel app had a day off.

Having not seen any civilisation for 16 miles, we suddenly came across a fishing lake with a cafe where we stopped for coffee. This is the point I discovered that I have been standing too close to my compatriot and have acquired a greasy leg. Much to her delight, I have to borrow some degreaser, and she muttered something about poetic justice. It will not surprise the reader to know that I have never been into poetry.

It is a bit of a shock when we have seen almost no one all day to arrive in the town of Tonnay-Charente, which runs into Rochefort, both of which we circumnavigate along the Charente riverside. We passed the impressive 17th century rope making buildings, once the largest industrial building in Europe, along with the navel arsenal and military buildings that supported these operations. The buildings have been re-purposed into a hotel, museum, and other tourist and leisure facilities. We also went past a number of old dry docks originally for building boats to fight the English.  Now, they have old boats being reconstructed as part of the museum.

The sun eventually came back out, and we had a riverside picnic looking at the sight of an old transporter bridge under restoration with the modern bridge in the background.

The last 10 miles of todays ride was a bit of a slog as we were heading into a stiff north wind. As we unload the bikes at our destination, my compatriots pannier fixing falĺs to the floor. Now that’s timing. It has several screws loose or missing (no comment). I managed to reposition the remaining screws on both  panniers to make it functional again. The hotel for tonight is at a resort called Châtelaillon-Plage. It has a gym and spa, but my compatriot opts for a beer in the sunshine. She did well today it was a long day. (Did I just say that out loud?)

We will eat the plat de jour of local delicacies in the hotel restaurant tonight, and then explore the seaside town as we leave in the morning.