We've hit the grind. And this blog post, Sportsfans, is about what it's like to hit the grind in the French way. Why have we hit the grind? Well, when we left you last we were in Royan, and that was the point where we had to choose would we follow the Eurovelo route south to the warm weather, or go rogue and head north to Brittany and Saint Malo. And as you know, if you read the last blog post, we've gone rogue. To increase the rogue level, at La Rochelle we decided to go further rogue... what does that mean? Well, it means we headed off the Eurovelo across country on our own route, so there aren't many hotels so we've been relying on Airbnb, which so far has proved very successful (phew), and we've been cycling mainly on roads, which actually has been really enjoyable most of the time. As I type, from our Airbnb in Nantes after having just devoured a yum lunch of baguette, cheese, tomato, ham and followed by two different types of pastries from the incredible local patisseries...one pictured below (DIVINE)...
Thursday 13/11/25 - Today - Nantes (rest day)
We arrived yesterday after a 34km ride, and it was one of the most stressful rides into a city we've done in a long time. Bitsy, chaotic, and a little bit dangerous. I didn't like Nantes at all. Pooh to you, Nantes. Fast forward to 2.13pm today and I'M LOVING NANTES! OMG the food. OMG the old city. The weather is now cold, everyone is in their scarves and puffer jackets (except us, though we did buy ourselves chic new beanies from Decathlon yesterday with the help of the New Caledonian security guard), and some of the Christmas lights are up and lit at night, and they're currently constructing the Christmas market in the main square. SOOOOO CUTE. We also went to the most beautiful cafe I've ever been to (and I've been to a few). I'd read about it, and it just so happens to be a 5 minute walk from our apartment so down we went for hot chocolate and the local Nantes specialty Gateau Nantais - a light but dense almond cake soaked in rum with a vanilla icing. OMG LOVING NANTES. This afternoon we're heading to check out the Jules Verne stuff, he was born here.
La Cigale...so beautiful I cried. The walls, the bar, most of the ceiling are done in the most beautiful tiles.
Look at the musical cicadas above this divine three dimensional flower tile...no words
And of course the cake...Gateau Nantais...simple and DELICIOUS
Passage Pommeraye...a beautiful historical shopping centre around the corner...breathtaking...more tears were shed.
We continued walking and found all this...
Mike in our apartment...the best bakeries and cafes, and posh shops are all within 5 minutes walk...living the grind dream!
On this morning's walk to get lunch supplies...winter is coming...no more leaves
The Natural Science Museum - 2 minutes walk from our abode...
One of the bakeries - we tested the milk bun with chestnut cream there you can see at the back..AMAZING!
And frog chocolates...too cute!
So, after a week of grind, we're clearly enjoying the benefits. So, let me take you back to how we got here - I'm going to be brief and to the point - no faffing, a few words and lots of pics because well really, although it was head down bum up to get here, as usual it was INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL (even in the rain), with gorgeous scenery as we left vineyards and got back to a bit of coast to start with, then farmland as we headed inland. This is a fantastically beautiful country with spectacular food no matter where you go, even in the grind, and friendly warm people as we found out with the local Airbnbs we relied on to have a roof over our heads. The French are kind, funny, and so welcoming.
After a great night and warm hosts we left our cute basement granny flat and headed off along the coast - it took us a while to get out of town, but when we did we found ourselves on a great bike path that was just a tad inland from the beach so we were protected from the massive wind and wind gusts that plagued this whole day - we had hills, but only small ones really, but constant, and an AWFUL, REALLY REALLY AWFUL bridge to cross as we entered into our home destination - the wind gusts were so bad we walked most of it, and even then we were both nervous about being swept into the cars - it was worse than the Bridges of Death and Hell in the Netherlands. AWFUL. The rain started to fall as we finally got our new granny flat for the night in Marennes-Hiers-Brouage, a place famous for oysters. We didn't eat any.
Our Royan home. We were in the basement.
Leaving Royan on the beachfront - I was able to grab a pic of their "beach houses"!
On our coastal path
Our next granny flat.
Remember I said that Marennes is famous for its oysters? Well after we left our humble abode, we wound our way through the marsh with oyster leases all around us (and we saw swans again for the first time in AGES), then we were able to grab an old rail trail - woohoo! We found a fab bakery around the 18km mark where they had AMAZING apple tart (and cute moustache bread for Movember, pic below), then decided to boot the rail trail and get to our destination as quickly as possible. The weather was a little dodgy, and we'd decided to do a shorter day. Mike had also read about another travelator bridge (not sure if you'll remember the one we saw and rode in Germany??), well this one had closed for operations the day before, but we rode to it anyway to check it out - it was super cute, and there were 3 guys there clearly doing building checks on it, and although I tried hard with big pleading puppy dog eyes, they didn't offer to take us over as they did their inspection ride to the other side. Bugger. But never fear there was the other bridge - the REALLY REALLY REALLY BIG ONE with all the cars and trucks on it that we could use. So off we went, both of us a bit scared (due to yesterday's AWFUL experience, and Mike's fear of heights thing). For me the bridge was SOOOOOO FUN! Because of that wonderful tail wind we had, and no wind gusts in sight, it was like a giant roller coaster. For Mike, it was a pretty freaky experience, it was so high, and the bike path was of course right on the edge, but he was tough, and he ground it out. You go, Mikey! We then sailed into Rochefort, to our little hipster ground floor apartment and set off to explore the unexpectedly cute and beautiful town. Wow. Blown away.
Yay - swans are back!
First marshes...
then the rail trail...
With great bakery en route - moustache bread for Movember
And scrummy apple tart
The travelator bridge
The other bridge
The views from the other bridge - I stopped halfway to take some pics, then rode the downhill like a roller coaster - a grin from ear to ear!
How cute is this place??
Our hipster pad for the night - washing machine and all!
Rochefort to La Rochelle 7/11/25 - 40km
It was a gorgeous day, of course a bit chilly, a bit of cloud, a few sprinkles of rain, and a lovely tail wind! We rode through some beautiful, and a bit old world charm glamour of cute seaside towns, including a major market in one of them. A great ride to our old accommodation friend (or foe?) the Kyriad! We'd left Rochefort early, and with the tail wind were in La Rochelle at lunch time - so thankfully the Kyriad let us check in early, so we showered and hit the town for lunch and explore, and then the rain came down!
Leaving Rochefort - yum yum!
En route... (fishing huts in the background)
The famous two towers at La Rochelle
Our first galette lunch - the buckwheat crepe specialty of Brittany...yeah, bring it on! (I had a glass of cider as well and got a little merry and red cheeked!)
La Rochelle shines...
And so do we!
La Rochelle to Puyravault 8/11/25 - 43km
We woke up to a BIG PEA SOUPER FOG. We didn't have to leave our digs until midday, so off we went back into La Rochelle to check it out again, and it was market day - woohoo!! We wandered around and bought the most delicious apples either of us have ever eaten. YUM YUM! We got back to our Kyriad digs, packed up the bikes and headed off on the bike path right outside our front door and rode. We spent the first half of the trip on gravel bike paths, slowly climbing the whole way, found some DELISH burgers in a random little canal village called Marans, stopped at the supermarket for supplies and headed to our next granny flat in the tiny little village of Puyravault. The second half of the ride was on very rough tracks, but we're tough and we did the grind.
Our Kyriad home encased in creepy fog.
La Rochelle encased in fog...
Market day
Mike excited to be having a bike snack - oat and honey bar - on the muddy track
Lunch in Marrans - best chips EVER
The second part of the ride was rough, but as usual, BEAUTIFUL
Our granny flat for the night - super cute!
Puyravault to La Chaize-le-Vicomte 9/11/25 - 48km
We hit the road and found a cool place for some brekkie 6km down the road - they also had the first baguette vending machine I'd ever seen! Sooooooo cool. We'd only just left the Eurovelo, and this was our first full day of following our own plan for a while - go Mikey and Bike Map! We had great small roads for the day, beautiful scenery, and a panini lunch in the park in some cute place, then we rode onto yet another granny flat for what ended up being 2 nights (for a rest day) in the village of La Chaize-le-Vicomte.
Baguette vending machine. Gold.
Lunch spot
Great riding day
Happy to be in our new granny flat. It was pretty comfy.
La Chaize-le-Vicomte to La Grande Brosse 11/11/25 - 50km
Great day on the bike!! We had a rest day behind us - we'd woken up the day before and it was pouring rain and poured rain all day, so asked if we could stay another night - NO PROBLEM! So we spent the day doing nothing - woohoo! So, here we were now, with the sun shining, a day of slow downhills, and a tail wind. It doesn't get better than that! We started out on mud paths, but that got old pretty quickly, so we changed our course and stuck to backroads for the 50km ride to La Grande Brosse - with a stop first in the town 3km before it for hot chocolate and supplies. We'd planned to buy up big at the supermarket, but had discovered that day that it was a public holiday for Remembrance Day, so the supermarket was closed. We heated up a kofta plate we bought at the kebab shop in town!Blue sky as we leave our cute little granny flat
Great riding - but at times a little too muddy for my liking
Lunch in the park - leftover baguette with vegemite and butter - nothing was open!
I discovered single sachets of good salted butter, and since it's been colder weather I'm fully armed!
We bought apples at the supermarket the day before and to our shock found them to be red inside - it really freaked us out until we found out they're a special kind of apple, a Love Apple! Freaky.
We rode into the town 3km from our village and there's a gorgeous church that had to be visited.
And the cafe opposite, where we had hot chocolates, still had its Halloween stuff up! Classic.
And luckily for us - as we had no more bread left and nothing was open, we rode past another vending machine, skipped to a stop, did a U-ie, and got ourselves some bread for the night. What a hoot.
Our very cool granny flat, and the best Airbnb we've stayed in so far.
La Grand Brosse to Nantes 12/11/25 - 34km
And here we are - yesterday. We started off brilliantly with a 4km ride to boulangerie for brekkie - and I chose the Gateau Nantais that I'd read about - OMG SOOOOOO GOOD! Then it was a fabulous ride in with A FABULOUS TAIL WIND - the only downside was the awful ride into the city. What a mess. But here we are. It's now Thursday evening, we're back from our trip to see the Jules Verne stuff, I'm about to make salmon pasta for dinner, and we're going to chill and enjoy the last of our rest day before we head off for the next leg - the week long run to Saint Malo where we'll get the ferry out to the Channel Islands - WOOHOO!!
On the road again...Nantes here come!
My first Gateau Nantais - DELICIOUS
For being so good with the grind of this post - here's a couple of pics of the amazing mechanical elephant over at the Jules Verne Le Machines de l'île. FANTASTIC.
Sophie was living in Nantes when we were there one time.She called it roundabout city
ReplyDeleteWell done...keep on pedalling.
ReplyDeleteLoving all the delishness and who doesn't live a moustache loaf
ReplyDelete