Day 3 |
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Orléans - La Rochelle (July 6th)
After spending the night at a Vincent's house where we were treated VERY well,
we had breakfast the French way before taking off along la Loire (a river)
where all the famous castles are. After only two days of riding, it was
already (finally!!) getting pretty hot, so layer after layer was peeled off
until only T-shirts remained under our leather jackets.
We followed la Loire, crossing back and forth between the two sides.
We picked up a
baguette and some fresh cold meats in a small village and decided to find a
nice spot for lunch. Before we knew it, our small road had deteriorated
into a very bumpy gravel/dirt road, but we pressed on and were rewarded with
a nice picnic area along the river where we ate, chatted with some locals,
and even squeezed in a small siesta.
We set out again shortly thereafter but I suddenly began experiencing
problems with my bike backfiring and losing power. At a gas station, we
checked the plugs and they showed nothing so under the hot sun we pulled the
tank off to get at the air filter, which we shook out and cleaned as well as
we could even though it looked OK. Then we got at the fuel filter and did
the same thing. Thinking we hadn't solved anything, we put everything back
together and it worked great. You never know...
We arrived in La Rochelle just in time to see the sunset - what a sight!
The Atlantic at last. Vincent ahd recommended that we cross over to the
island of Ré (see map). There is an impressive bridge between the island
and the mainland, but we were disappointed to discover that it cost 110 FF
to cross. On our budget, that's an expensive sleepover! On a hunch, we
went to the booth and asked how much it cost for motorcycles. Joy! 20FF.
Gotta love it...we stopped in St. Martin to have a beer,
the place was packed with tourists strolling along the small harbour, and then
we made it to the far side off the island and found a comfortable spot to roll
out our sleeping bags.
Roads: There's a road on each side of the Loire. We took the
south road D951-D751 until Tours on the advice of Vincent who said it was
nicer to ride on. However, there are many bridges and it's possible to alternate sides.
The N10 took us to Poitiers and the N11 the rest of the way to La Rochelle.
The island of Ré is a must for it's beautiful beaches and peaceful
fishing-town atmosphere.
 Day 2 |
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