Today’s ride from Rochefort to LaRochelle was entirely on the Velodyssey, the French section of the European cycle route system, so no cars at all to speak of, only bikes. The temperature was about 25 Celsius, much more comfortable. Also the ride was relatively short, only about 48kms so our legs and butts were feeling fine.
On the way out of Rochefort we rode past an interesting bridge: a platform suspended on cables running back and forth over the river. This is actually the way we should have come into Rochefort, not over the big car bridge that we did. After about 20km we came to the coast of the Atlantic ocean. We have seldom been anywhere near the Atlantic so it was exciting to see. The first thing we noticed was that there were large open sandy beaches, just like in North America. Along the Mediterranean and Agean the beaches are mostly covered with privately owned areas covered with lounge chairs and umbrellas where you pay for access. It was the perfect lunch stop.
We arrived in LaRochelle easily and located our accommodation. We have found that it is sometimes a bit of a puzzle to gain entry as these apartments are not necessarily manned, rather done without any human contact, just a lock box on the outside. This was again the situation. It is good in terms of Covid but not so good for helping people orient to the area. For this one and the previous one the hosts appear to be on site but then say that they are unable to greet you for some reason. Possibly it helps them avoid paying extra taxes if it is less like a hotel. (just our theory)
We spent the evening and the next day exploring around the LaRochelle harbour and old town. This is a beautiful city! So many tourists here and so many restaurants, all surprisingly full. There doesn’t appear to be any Covid here. 🤔
The entrance to the harbour is dominated by 3 towers, one of which is a lighthouse. There are also many arcaded streets so that the vendors could sell their goods during bad weather. We learned there is a strong connection to Quebec (New France) here due to being an eastern port of Europe with much trade back and forth (furs, wine, salt and slaves from Africa-yikes!) Samuel de Champlain was born here in 1567 and sailed from this area in the early 1600’s to establish New France. He died in Quebec. One of the streets in La Rochelle is cobbled with stones from Quebec. The stones were used as ballast on the ships sailing back to France.
The following day we rode over a big bridge from La Rochelle to the île de Ré. This island is right beside the city and a very touristy destination with several seaside towns, beaches, shops, camping, oyster farms, salt marshes and a network of cycling trails like nothing ever seen before. We happened to go on a Saturday so it felt like everyone was on a bike. This is a good thing for the most part but some riders just don’t know how to behave so we had to be alert. Nevertheless we had a wonderful day of riding around this beautiful island. It was especially nice to ride sans paniers, we felt light as a feather.
geeteetravels 
Ohhhh!! The scenery! The food! The weather! (Rain – usually we find a restaurant rather than your favoured tree 😁) Nice hats BTW. Definitely needed and welcome in the heat. While we’re at it, the humidex (with smoke) is 32° at home today. You’re not missing anything.
Katherine would love the cycle paths here.
We were also amazed at the nice Atlantic beaches in Northern Spain, lovely white sand and all open to the public. Gorgeous!
The sand isn’t white here, normal Sandy colour but open public beaches! Nice to see.
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