We soon realised at breakfast that we were ahead of schedule so today we took it relatively easy and completed 50k to Carcans Plage. Tomorrow the hard work starts again.

The Ferry ride from Royan to Pointe de Grave was a fresh start to the morning. We parked our bikes next to two huge BMW bikes on the ferry that looked to be the same as Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman but alas, sadly it was two large British blokes heading to Bordeaux on a wine crawl.

We decided to avoid the evil temptations of the Bordeaux wine region in fear we would never leave. Instead we hugged the West Coast and rode through a stunning forest area littered with excellent bike trails. Oh this seems so easy now compared to Normandy!

A TOUGH PLACE TO STOP FOR A COFFEE BREAK

Soon we came across a nudist colony and curiosity killed the cat. A large German lady was patrolling the camp as we headed in to observe the nature lovers, and started marching towards us so we took fear and fled. We have reverted now to shouting in German at all the dogs that bark at us on the way and it seems to work the trick. Our command of the German language seems to be improving quicker than our French...not what was anticipated.

All the villages along the coast here seem to be half dead. The coast and beaches are simply the most stunning I can ever recall with surf that would impress even the most seasoned of champions (Jabber-pay attention!). Soon we found ourselves wading into the Atlantic to try our hand at body surfing and allow the salt to cleanse the sores that our creams could not reach. Oh sweet heaven!

So tonight we shall sleep well after our relaxed day but we have about 500k still to go over the next 5 days and work still to do. Our frauleins arrive on Monday to help take us over the finish line and it will be good to have some female company again (no offense to my good lycra friend).

Justin

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