Velodyssey #3..Royan to Nantes.

This stretch took us six days leaving Royan on 9th to arrive in Nantes on 14th in mainly good weather, sunshine with some cloud at times with occasional showers; the photos tell it all really.

Fishing nets along the river as we left Royan

The route out of Royan was mainly on road and cycle track. We stopped at a cycle repair shop to get Helen's tyre inflated to 50 psi, more than we could manage with our hand pumps. The route by-passes Marennes and heads across country to find a canal track, our first encounter with the "Provisional" Velo 1. This amounted to a country lane that was rutted with tractor tracks and was hard going. The local fishermen told us it only lasted for a few kilometers but in hindsight it might have been better on the main road that ran nearby. 

"Provisional route", near Canal de la Seudre after Marennes before our lunch stop. Notice the orange/blue velo 1 sign.

After that, the track improved alongside a canal but soon it was threatening rain so it was time to find lunch in St Agnant, a creperia called "Ker Pepe", very nice too. Then we did get some rain and at the end of the ride we decided to take refuge in a hotel in Rochefort, an IBIS hotel in the centre and showing the "Accueil Velo" (cycles welcome) sign, in other words, a cycle friendly hotel with somewhere safe to store our cycles and get our clothes dry. Well, they were very friendly and offered a great buffet breakfast to set us up for the next morning.
The next day we headed to La Rochelle mostly following the coast and had a picnic lunch alongside the harbour before crossing the bridge over a canal. As there are few opportunities for refreshments before our next destination, St Michel el l'Herm, we refilled our water bottles and took off to follow the canal to the northeast through idyllic countryside.

View from our sunny picnic spot approaching the centre of  La Rochelle.

In all, this proved our most challenging day for the entire route, not because of the hills as it was mostly flat, but because of the wind and another "Provisional" section on mowed rough grass beside a canal. A few fishermen had established themselves on our track and obviously seemed a little amused that we should be cycling on it rather than driving a four-wheeled drive full of fishing gear. Anyway, there didn't seem to be an obvious way to avoid this section; the old route shown on our GPS was churned up and totally unsuited for cycles (we did divert to see this!). On reaching the road, we seemed a long way to our destination and the whole area was very exposed to the wind. Eventually we did see the church tower of St Michel and met a group of young french cyclist who asked to see our map. They were doing the same route but were heading to the coast by a short-cut on the road but going in the wrong direction! It was great to find the campsite "La Dive" just outside of the town with a restaurant on-site and hedges to protect us from the wind.
On Saturday we went into St Michel and found a coffee and croissants before facing the wind to ride back to the coast. Once at the coast, surprisingly, the weather improved and the wind dropped so we had a very pleasant ride, diverting on route to climb to Talmont St Hilaire for lunch at the Bar/Brasseria Jeux passing though another wetland area.

Helen about to speed through the wetland before Talmont and lunch,; no wind!

After that it was downhill back to the coast and Les Sables-d'Olonne with lots of weekend holiday makers promenading along the sea front and beaches. We found a campsite near La Rouliere on a peninsular but it wasn't the best choice as the site was on high ground and fairly exposed. It was more like a holiday village and we could imagine that in the summer it would be teaming with visitors eager to relax on the nearby beaches. We were able to get food at the site and also find a sheltered spot for our little tent.

Beach at Les Sables looking back along our route into the city.

On Sunday, we followed the coast catching glimpses of the sea now and again as we skirted through forest and urban areas. We had a few showers in the morning but it cleared later as we approached St Gilles. We could have stopped earlier but we decided to go onto Fromentine near the Ile de Noirmouter and camp there. The site was fine and only ten minutes walk from the centre of Fromentine and the harbour. Here we had an excellent dinner within sight of the bridge to the island, thinking "that looks exposed but that's for tomorrow". (The Velo 1 goes onto the island and then follows a road "across the sea" back to the mainland).

Our organised campsite at Fromentine, washing done and drying!

The ride across the bridge was fine, a steep uphill and freewheel down and then on a off-road track to the road that crosses the estuary or would have done at low tide. We hadn't realized that the road was actually in the sea and was expecting something like our local Dorset cause-ways over the water meadows. Anyway, low tide was a long way off so we reversed our wheels (the bridge isn't any easier in the other direction!) and devised a route to rejoin Velo 1 on the other side, basically going by road to Beauvoir for coffee and then going to the coast by minor roads to pick up the cycleway. The next section was mostly very good cycling on gravel tracks through a network of canals and wetlands. There doesn't seem to be an alternative to the official track from the island to cope with high tide for this section but it isn't difficult to figure out.

Our lunch stop in the lle de Bouin, Le Collet Port, no sign of life around here.

The route into Pornic was "up and down" and "around about", at least that's how it felt , so we were pleased to find an ice cream parlour in the centre. Then a little further on we deviated off-route to a campsite "La Ranch" near Tharon Plage and found a good restaurant in the village (a short cycle ride away) later in the evening.
The next day we rejoined the cycle route where we'd left it and continued on northwards to take a coffee break at St Brevin near the bridge over the Loire river to St Nazaire.  After this the route wends inland and back to the estuary at Paimboeuf to join the Canal Martiniere. A while after this we crossed the river to the north side using the ferry at Le Pellerin to then follow urban roads and cycleways into Nantes.

Pont Routiere over the Loire river at St Nazaire. Velo 1 does not cross this but continues along the south side of the river to Nantes. This is where the route leaves the Atlantic until Roscoff, the end of our journey.

The free ferry over the Loire river at Le Pellerin after leaving the canal to face the faster pace of Nantes. The urban sprawl begins on the opposite bank to the right side.

In the centre of Nantes, Velo 1 was not obvious but with the GPS track, we were able to find a way through the traffic and pedestrians. Amazingly, with the cycleways in the centre marked in the middle of the road and roundabouts, cars, buses and trams were not a problem but pedestrians became difficult to avoid as they used the cycleways as shelter from the traffic either side. However we found this easier than cycling in Paris.
After getting across Nantes with rain starting, we decided to have a night of luxury in a campsite cabin. Just as well as it rained most of the night and sitting with our breakfast we resigned ourselves to a wet day ahead. Luckily this wasn't to be as the sun appeared shortly after leaving the campsite bringing a pleasant cycling day in pretty ideal conditions.

Our cabin for the night at camping Nantes  which is very close to the cycle route on the way out of Nantes and would make a great base to explore the city with good bus & tram links to the centre. We'd been in Nantes before and I'm sure we'll return without our cycles.

The next stage across Brittany was less know to us as although we'd been many times to northern Brittany. As it was early in the season, I hadn't found many campsites open, "Cycle friendly" hotels or B&Bs near our route when I did the background research. So far in the south we had been able to cycle until we felt like stopping and then find a campsite or accommodation close at hand or within a few miles. Anyway, more of that to come as the journey is completed....