Marans to Niort 38 miles. Running total 610 miles

Here is todays route. https://ridewithgps.com/routes/42317990

We loved staying in the neat apartment within a court yard of a traditional French town house. It is a sunny morning, and the weather forecast predicts it should stay that way. The first job I have to complete is to cycle to the Boulangerie and get our petit dejeuner and lunch while my compatriot readies herself for the off. It is another long cycling day. The second job is to get us out of town onto the cycleway as we can’t see any signs close to our accommodation. The quayside where we had dinner last night looks attractive in the morning sun, as does my compatriot, of course.

The cycleway follows The Charente River, and the only downside is we have a stiff north easterly wind against us  The river is famous in the area for fishing and all along the river bank we come across people fishing. There are also small plots of land with huts or caravans on them, which we assume are for keen fishermen.

The route is constantly being improved, and today was no exception. We were suddenly faced with two directional signs. The old faded one pointing in the direction Garmin expected and a bright new one marked option 2 going in the other direction. After some deliberation we took this new route in a leap of faith. Garmin was not happy, and I eventually lost the original route from the screen. We had to trust the signs, which very worryingly did occasionally disappear and need searching out in the undergrowth

It turned out to be a good decision, and after cycling along a few roads that went through farms, we picked up another riverside cycleway. This went along The River Sevre, through a few nice villages, that were potential tourist attractions with punts, other boats for hire, and a number of riverside restaurants. We came across an incongruous beach bar on the riverside which we felt we should stop at for refreshments.

Todays ride was excellent, flat, and with interesting colourful riverside houses and lots of flowers in full bloom. All was helped by the blue skies and sunshine.

We diverted into most villages looking for cafes or bars, but the only thing we found were churches.

We had met a French cyclist yesterday who said Noirt, where we are tonight, did not have much going for it. When we arrived we started exploring and found it to be a lively and interesting place with lots of shops, cafes, bars, and history. It is now the centre for insurance and has a young population, but it has a long history. While sitting outside a Bar/Tabac by the huge indoor market enjoying the sunshine, an English lady on the next table engaged us in conversation. It turned out she had stayed at our accommodation for tonight when first moving to the area and fully recommended it.

After exploring the town with quaint old buildings and streets, we eat with mine host tonight, who turns out to be a local tour guide. We find out this was historically the centre for tanning leather, first for gloves, and then for chamois leathers, along with more of the areas history with links to England through Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Mine host left for a jazz concert, and we wacked into some Ricard and water in the coronation chalice before retiring to bed. My compatriot would have preferred a bar of chocolate, but as neither of us are prepared to cycle to the shops, beggers can’t be choosers.