Day 10 - Hourtin to Saujon

Distance cycled today 39 miles
Distance cycled since Modbury 400 miles (exactement!)

Day 10 takes us halfway through our trip in terms of time and, if my planning was right, mileage too. (We have planned 17 cycling days and 3 rest days). We've been exceeding planned theoretical daily mileages overall by about 15 percent (except today!) so I think we'll do nearer 800 miles than 700 on this trip, which doesn't come as a surprise. We do detour slightly each day to shops, viewpoints etc and we've got mildly lost a couple of times (but barely by more than a quarter of a mile). Cycle paths are affectionately known by some as "psychopaths" as they meander and are not as direct as the roads they shield us from, so this accounts for some of the extra miles. We won't have seen all the sights, for sure, but it's providing ideas for places for Rob to revisit in the future. Incredibly, the hotels that we're finding are invariably close to our intended route so we are spending only a few minutes each day getting back onto the right road or track.

Last night's hotel, which is slap-bang on our route, was another good 'un. We had a good evening meal of black pudding with baked apple, followed by bream on a bed of rice with a caramel sauce (sounds odd but it's really tasty) and a choice of desserts. Andi, sorry, I know you're a veggie but I'm 100 percent confident that you'd be well catered for as we've met nothing but kindness and consideration by the French (and Spanish) so far.

The hotel had an important facility which I've neglected to discuss - a multi-bar electrically-heated towel rail. This means that we could do our laundry and dry it! After a first unsuccessful attempt by Rob at drying his washed jersey in Spain, we resorted to a system that I'd read about on other tour blogs i.e. wringing out the clothes first, then wrapping them in a towel and wringing the towel (which squeezes the water from the washed clothes into the towel). It works a treat! The final phase is to hang the clothing in sunlight (fat chance!) or near/on an artificial heat source. Thus, a heated towel rail ranks as the no. 3 most important facility in overnight accommodation after bike security and free "wee-fee". Marvellous!

There is another more delicate subject that I'd meant to bring up too, that many cyclists debate - should you wear underwear beneath cycling shorts or not? Well, I do and Rob doesn't and, frankly, it doesn't seem to matter either way - neither of us is uncomfortable nor have we suffered any particular chafing. The purists would take me to task, but I wear 1 of 4 clean pants, that I have with me, each evening and then use the same one to cycle in next day. It means I'm mainly washing pants, with the shorts being washed less frequently, and with 4 pants, I'm not under pressure to wash clothes each night - it works for me.
One (related) thing that I do recommend is that, in the evenings, if you use a deodorant spray under your arms, make sure that it's NOT an anti-perspirant. If you can't perspire under your arms next day when you cycle, it's going to come out somewhere else. I trust that I don't have to spell out where!!

Re my cheap cycle gear, Gareth, the stuff that's not up to long continual usage is, with exceptions, from Lidl/Aldi/Sports Direct. Some of it is fine for day rides, but the cut/fit is not there and the materials are too thin or are of a "basic" quality.
I have other budget clothing bought in France from Decathlon over the years and that is a better quality and more durable - in particular arm warmers, leg warmers, ear muffs, shorts (and a couple of jerseys which I left at home as they no longer fit, which was a shame - remember I'd lost over 3 stone in weight to prepare).
However, I fancy that it's still not as good as some of Rob's Altura stuff and the other "quality" brands on the market.
The Cycle Show at the NEC in September is usually a good place to see the quality stuff all in one place.

Moving on, over 6 hours sleep for me last night and we had another good breakfast. We left the hotel at 8.30 aiming to catch the 1.25pm ferry across the River Gironde, 30 miles or so away. We are becoming faster by the day, it seems, and we reached the ferry after just a smidge over 30 miles cycling, at 11.10am so we caught the 11.55 sailing (4.90 euros per person incl bike, one way. Anyone planning a similar trip to ours can find sailing schedules and tariffs for this ferry and the little Santander/Pedrena one that we used on Day 1, on the internet - the Pedrena ferry was about 2.60 euros each if I recall).
Our average speed today was our fastest at 12.76mph including slow cruising around the ferry port and is a continuing reflection on the flatness of the roads and our increasing fitness.

After a 20 minute crossing, during which we escaped a very heavy shower, we disembarked in sunny Royan, cruised until we found a boulangerie and ate our lunch on a grassy area in relative warmth. The Charente Maritime is one of my favourite parts of France and it was very welcoming today!

We arrived at tonight's hotel, Hotel le Commerce in Saujon (105 euros for dinner, B and B, plus tourist taxes, for us both) at the earliest time that we have anywhere - 1.30pm. If we arrive any earlier, we're going to have to pay for the previous night too!
The bikes are cabled together in an open garage and we've been assured that the access will be secured overnight.

The weather starting today was cloudy again, with temperatures of just 9C at 8.30 and 11.5C an hour later and it really only started to improve when we reached Royan and headed inland, with our first TAILWIND of our trip which lasted about a mile. I know it was a tailwind because we were going past Royan aerodrome and the wind socks were blowing our way. It was bliss!

Sorry to hear from the Comments that the weather's so bad in the UK but, for May, it's rotten over here too and the resulting lateness of crops is making the French newspapers. I'd hoped to get a bit of a tan whilst cycling but it hasn't happened yet (is that tempting fate?). I'm just thankful for having had one decent session of sunshine last week! Let's see what the Charente brings.

Thank you, Ellie, for your kind donation and also to Steve. Thanks also for the continuing Comments and, Rob H, my legs are indeed like steel pistons but hardly bronzed. I was wearing arm warmers, leg warmers, ear muffs and a buff along with my wind-proof-ish jacket today and I still stopped to put disposable gloves on under my fingerless gloves!
The one thing that makes me chuckle is when I start to dress in the morning. I'm standing there in my underpants, with just arm warmers and leg warmers on and I feel like an extra from "Gladiator" ("We who are about to cycle salute you!!). Try it and you'll know what I mean.

Best wishes for a safe journey to Seitse whom we met on the road and who had cycled down from Paris and was going on to Nice. Seitse said that he was Australian ...... but you don't fool anyone with your Dutch accent, Seitse! I hope the disposable gloves that I gave you helped to warm your fingers up a little and I know you'll be warmer where you're headed than we will be.

Photos:
Rob on the long but not so winding road this morning.
Our ship comes in - the ferry to take us across the Gironde
Rob catches up with work in sunny Royan - no, he's not having a wee!