Day 15 - Pornic to Camoel

Distance cycled today 35 miles
Distance cycled since Modbury 594 miles

Nice meal again last night but in keeping with the hotel's room rates, a bit pricy. Rob had baked camembert, I had an assortment of prawns, salmon and ham and both of us followed that with beef brochettes (and chips) with a beautiful compendium of little desserts to follow.

We got away today at 9.15 and the rain, which had held off over breakfast, started again ....... and the wind blew.
As our hotel was just a couple of hundred metres off our route, we quickly got back on track. We wanted to tackle St Nazaire bridge while we were fresh and when the traffic was light, as today is France's Whitsun Monday and a bank holiday. We duly arrived on the south shore of the Loire at 10.

Then something happened. "Someone up there" decided that we had clearly suffered enough over the last few days and gave us a break. The rain stopped, the headwind eased a bit and the sky became brighter. Thank you, whoever was responsible!

There's no doubt that the bridge is spectacular and we felt that we had an advantage over the motorists using it in that we could stop and take photographs ........ whether the authorities liked it or not! It was certainly an experience .... and a good climb to mid-span. The cross-wind was easy as we ascended as our bikes are heavy when loaded. However, the "wobbly" moments when we really felt the cross-wind came on the fast descent, particularly over one or two of the bridge joints that have been plated over for the 1m wide cycle lane. Nevertheless, the traffic around us was not intimidating albeit that you had to concentrate on keeping in the cycle lane and couldn't enjoy the views. We did stop at the top though, and at each end, and took some photos.

Rob had suggested a route which missed out the city and we passed the big Airbus factory, east of the city, and then headed north towards the Marais, a large area of marshlands, and Herbignac.

The weather held, my mood lightened (Rob's always so damned happy!) and it was glorious - not warm or particularly sunny, but dry and bright. We had a hot chocolate stop in a bar in Roze then ambled along the road through the Marais, stopping frequently for photos. The Marais is teeming with wildlife and beautiful to look at and is what I would think would be a French version of the Everglades.

We got to Herbignac at 1 and, knowing that our hotel was relatively close, stopped at a creperie for gallettes (goat's cheese, smoked duck and onions/salad), washed down with Breton cider, served in cereal bowls. Did I say cereal bowls? Yup. Rob assures me that this is traditional in Brittany, whereas I'm only used to cider from Normandy where they've moved on to glasses.

We had pre-booked a room at the Hotel du Littoral in Camoel for tonight at a rate of 72 euros, B and B for us both, having been reassured again that parking of our "velos" was "pas probleme". We've really had no issues with this, yet it was a major concern of mine during the planning stage. Camoel, which is about 3 miles NW of Herbignac, is a little further than we wanted to go today, but our choice of exact destination does tend to be influenced by hotel availability. Notwithstanding that, our final mileage for the day came under what viamichelin.co.uk predicted (eh?)

We arrived at the hotel at 3 after a bit of deliberate dawdling and the owners have been helpfulness personified. There's no restaurant at the hotel and the only one opposite is closed tonight. The owner has offered us 2 alternatives: one is a takeaway pizza from a vending machine which the owner says we can eat in our room and he will supply the cutlery. The other is an offer to run us into the next town to find a restaurant. Really, so kind. I have chosen the former knowing that the pizza won't be up to much but not wanting to mess up the guy's evening......especially as we ate pretty well at lunchtime.

Last night, I also rang ahead to tomorrow (Tuesday) night's pre-booked hotel, La Voltige at Locqueltas (N of Vannes and near the aerodrome), to confirm our arrival because they're normally closed on Mondays, and they had expressed incredulity that we would actually make it to them from Spain by bicycle. I had spoken to "Madame", the owner, just a few weeks ago. My wife and I and our 2 sons have stayed there before several times over a 27 year period, most recently in 2008, so I was really looking forward to a reunion and "catching up".
Perhaps, I wasn't as popular as I thought as they sold the hotel on 1 May ....... 19 days ago! Surely they couldn't have found out about my cycling socks in that time.

Yesterday, I commented on the fact that we didn't stop to taste wine when we came across a "degustation" vineyard, and this has prompted me to review the expectations of our trip as we start to draw near the end.

In planning this journey, I set a daily mileage target (what I call a "progress" mileage) at what I thought was a modest 40 to 45 miles. I believed that we'd do most of that by lunchtime and spend the rest of the day sightseeing. I had visions of warm sunny weather, meandering through little villages, stopping at several locations each day, as anything took our fancy. (A bit like today in some respects).

The progress mileage targets have worked out fine. 40 odd miles a day often increases to nearly 50, as theory and practice are different, but we have found it manageable. The targets "contained" this journey into a 3 week period, which was important for Rob, and also important for my budget.
Our records so far indicate that we have pedalled a minimum 3.75 hours each day, rising to 5 hours exactly on 2 days. To this must be added time when the bikes are at rest - at road junctions, traffic lights, when we stop for a rest, lunch, make a phone call (Rob's work) or to take photographs. Typically, we have therefore been on the road each day, largely aiming to get from A to B (i.e. with no significant "tourist" diversions in mind), for 5.5 to 7.5 hours (as yesterday).

Have we seen what we expected to see? No.
Has it been as leisurely as we expected? No.
Would we have wanted to divert more to explore (we have done quarter mile diversions) and therefore increase our time on the road? No.

We continue to enjoy ourselves (we have many giggles along the way) and we stop to take photos when we can, as these are our journey reminders and prompts, but the journey is arduous, due in no small part to the poor weather we've been facing. Nevertheless, what we are doing is right for us and represents the challenge that we wanted.

If the sole objective of the trip was to explore and see the sights, I now know that the progress mileage targets that I set would have to be reduced by a half or even more. I think that the trip duration would then become at least 2 months, possibly 3. This is a big country, after all!

From chatting to fellow long-distance cyclists, that we've come across, and who are fully laden, like us, I am amazed at the daily progress targets that some have set themselves.........and their apparent lack of enjoyment is understandable. 80 miles a day leaves no room for anything else and would be physically too much for us!

One or two others have travelled for the sole purpose of getting to a particular destination to meet a friend or spouse, so are not interested in exploring.
Then there are the younger ones who are properly touring, camping on the way and taking as much time as they need. Their route varies as they feel.

If you plan a journey like ours, you need to consider your aims before anything else, as this will be the framework that dictates progress mileages, trip duration, accommodation and budget.

Thanks for the continuing comments.
Justin, in answer to your question, when you set up a Google blog, they supply you with an individual blog e-mail address, such that if you compose your post as an e-mail and send it to the blog e-mail address, the e-mail title becomes the post title, the body of the e-mail becomes the post and any photo attachments are uploaded. Unfortunately, the photos are always positioned first on the post. I put the photo titles at the end to encourage people to read the intervening post text! Hope that explains.
Rob H, thanks for your flattering comments re the wind. The truth is that we have no choice but to endure it. As we're now so far west, I did toy with the idea of ringing Julia to ask her to pick me up at Dover so that I could cycle to Calais with a tailwind!

Photos:
Our compendium of desserts last night.
The bridge at St Nazaire (photo looks poor quality on my BB so apologies)
Mid-span showing the cycle lane
The Marais