Notre Tour de France #26 (S:106 mi / J:? mi)

Wake up, breakfast, pack bike pannier, cycle, eat, cycle, take photos, cycle, eat. The end. Nah, just kidding… I'll have to write more than that! The above is true though; that is what happened. Jwan stayed in Saint-Georges-de-Didonne whilst I set off south on my bike. I thought it'd be a nice flat journey clinging on to the coast, but how wrong I was.

Some way through the journey I came to a village called Mortagne-sur-Gironde which seemed like a nice place with scenic views of white cliffs and the port. I thought to myself it would be somewhere my grandparents might enjoy coming to on their travels, but a subsequent check of the map confirms they already know of the place as it was already circled in pen.

Today I was aiming for Blaye - another place that has been circled. I remember my grandad telling me of a citadel there and thought it'd be worth a look. I didn't realise just how far the place was from our base. After a tiring morning, I found a supermarket in Saint-Ciers-sur-Gironde (a place with terrible road surfaces, if you can even call it a surface) to grab a bit of lunch before continuing my journey. Thankfully south of this village was almost entirely flat so it wasn't too long before I arrived.

I soon found the citadel and had a wonder around. It's a beautiful place, in its own little way, and there were plenty of information points scattered around to help absorb the history. I didn't stay for a huge amount of time as I wanted to be back at base before the supermarket closed to grab something for dinner.

By the time I'd done this (got back and gone to the supermarket), I'd done over 100 miles. Whoops. Perhaps I should've taken a leaf out of Jwan's book and spent the day on the beach and wandering around town. I saw some nice places though and enjoyed myself, so all is good.

Jwan asked me last night what I thought of this town, and after a moment to think about it I replied with "like Blackpool, but better". Having thought about it a little more, I like this place because it's alive. There are people everywhere, and at every time of day. As I sit writing this sat on a bench looking out to the ocean, people are whizzing by on their bikes, others on the beach flying their kites and digging holes. Yesterday evening the town was full of people watching the live band, frequenting the bars and eating ice cream. There always seem to be something going on. While I'd usually prefer the quieter resorts, it actually makes a pleasant change after passing through village after village where we've seen not a single soul. A lot of France lays dormant, but not this place.

Tomorrow we plan to leave our free accommodation in the middle of the woods, and find somewhere with washing facilities, Internet and whatever else we've become accustomed to. There are only a handful of days left, and while we're still enjoying the trip, we're both ready to come home.