La Velodyssee- Day 8

I’m beginning to think my tent is too big. I have met (and seen the tents) of 2 other touring cyclists and, to be honest, each of their tents could fit in mine at least 3 times! Pascale’s tent is a case in point.

I accept it is hard to make a comparison when they are not in the same picture but I did take one at another camp site with both in the picture. This tent was slightly SMALER than Pascale’s!

I don’t think I know what to make of it…I’m not even sure I would get one my Jack Russells in that one!

Anyway the day started slowly…I didn’t get away until 11:00 am. So as the route was very flat I tried to push on as best I could. The Achilles is still playing up so I can’t push too hard on the pedals. I made decent progress nonetheless. The area I cycled across today is a huge salt marsh that has irrigation channels all over, they must have been used to reclaim the land from the sea in the distant past. (I will, at some point, do some research, honestly).

I didn’t quite finish the Stage yesterday which was supposed to finish in Bouin, so after completing that this morning I was glad I stopped when I did. Whilst Bouin has a rugged beauty about it I’m not sure it would have been great to camp there.

Most of the rest of the day was spent on the marsh with oyster farms and salt basins at regular intervals. There was a diverting 10 kilometres on a pine forest trail that made the day a bit more exciting!

Then suddenly after the sublime forest trail we found ‘kiss me quick land’. Oh dear! From the rugged to the sublime to the ridiculous in one day on a bike!

I didn’t even stop to take pictures and I don’t want to check the name of the town! It knows who it is and I hope it’s ashamed of itself.

I’m sure there will be more of the same but let’s hope for more rugged…more sublime and less ridiculous!