| Day # | 9 | State of Legs | :-) |
| Distance (miles) | Distance (km) | Ascent (feet) | Ascent (metres) | Punctures | |
| Today | 59.3 miles | km | 1161 feet | metres | 1 |
| Trip Totals | 458.7 miles | km | 14055 feet | metres | 1 |
| Today's Route |
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| Route So Far |
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Travelogue
We continued our journey along the Atlantic coast this morning, stopping to photograph and admire the carrelets (fishing huts with suspended nets) nearby.
The forecast for the weather had been good for today but in the event it was overcast and there was often a very chilly breeze. M2 had been sensible from the outset and was wearing long trousers and her rain jacket to cycle in and so was warm from the outset. M1 was not so wise and spent a fair amount of the first few hours moaning about being "almost cold" but not cold enough to be motivated to stop and dig out his jacket from his panniers!
We passed through a few small coastal towns and villages. Almost everywhere was closed and eerily quiet to begin with. By about 10:30 though, arriving in a town called Pornic we finally found an open bar and stopped for coffee.
We cycled for a while by what appeared to be numerous holiday homes, out of sight of the sea. It was a little dull to be honest and M1 may have mentioned this once or twice.
The route passed over a variety of surfaces; sometimes a dedicated, concrete or tarmac cycle path, sometimes a cycle lane at the edge of the road, sometimes a gravel or sandy trail.
We eventually escaped the Land of the Holiday Homes and were pleased to find ourselves cycling through a very large expanse of wetlands. This was a really good part of the day. Wetlands tend to be full of life and this was no exception. We saw all manner of bird. Ones we saw and recognised include Grey Herons, Cattle Egrets, Little Egrets, Swans, Coots and Black-headed Gulls. Best of all, we saw a few birds that were until today not on M1's bird spotting "life list". We saw many a Pied Avocet, with its curved bill, numerous Black-winged Stilts with their incredibly long legs and a pair of beautiful Redshanks. There were also various birds of prey but these can be hard to identify. We saw one hovering and assume this was probably a Kestrel. Some in the air were almost certainly Black Kites. But there was a very large bird that looked very like the ones we'd seen in French woodland earlier in the trip that still defies identification.
Somewhere in the wetland we passed through a small settlement that happened to have a restaurant. We screeched to a halt and not wanting to stay too long, ordered deux frittes and took on board some welcome salty carbs.
With not a little amusement, we watched a very cute calf being aggressively warned off by several Avocets! Apparently its presence was not welcome. The calf didn't seem remotely perturbed by the flapping and screeching of the birds!
As always, we hit the supermarket nearest to our campsite and bought provisions and then headed to the campsite not far away. We've pitched the tent, showered and moaned about how the water wasn't really hot, eaten, almost got in trouble for being very naughty (I'm not documenting the sordid details here!) and are now relaxing for the evening, Kindles fired up and ready.
That's it! Here are some photos.
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