Dave and his Bike

July 16th 2022

Awake by 0700 after a mixed night. Jane slept really well, I didn’t. No idea why as it was a really comfy bed. It was also huge. 

The buffet breakfast was excellent, and I had to drag myself away as (particularly when I’m cycling) I find it difficult to leave a table where food is still being served. Especially croissants.  We left bang on 0830am and rode back into town. Again I forgot to set my Garmin going and missed off the first 3km of the day, which is really annoying as by the time we reached our destination it was showing 99.1km. 

Today started as yesterday finished, and we picked up the ‘voie verte’ along the old railway line for the first 35km…

…to Partenay where we stopped for our routine coffee. Steady gradients and shade, and covered us and the bikes in a fine layer of dust. Small price to pay.

Post-coffee we popped into a supermarket and picked up lunch provisions, at which point Jane realised that her bike computer was missing. It had fallen off a couple of times previously but this time she didn’t hear or see it go. She’s a bit gutted as it had her cumulative mileage on it.

From there we ventured on to proper roads with good surfaces and not too many hills, and got to St-Maixant-l’Ecole in quicker time than we thought we would. The market was just finishing but the live band was still playing Clapton and Van Morrison stuff, which accompanied our lunch as we sat in the shade next to the fish market. More romantic than it sounds. 

After a reasonable time off for lunch the navigation was simple and we pedalled on to Lezay in building heat, with a crosswind (again) which we occasionally appreciated for its cooling qualities, or cursed for its negative effect on our speed. A couple of decent long drags and some uber-straight roads, with a short break in Lezay for as much ice cold water as we could drink (about a litre and a half each!)…

…and we made it to our planned overnighter at the B&B Le Pommier in Clussais. Owners Carl and Alex are excellent hosts, and left snacks and a bottle of wine in our room.

Dinner was also provided for a very reasonable €10 each which we had after a dip in the pool. Home cooked pork in cider was absolutely perfect following the accumulated mileage we have ridden over the last ten days. 

Looking forward to tomorrow and a planned stop in Nontron. We will actually be in the Dordogne with any luck, and almost home!