French Atlantic Coast

A Day in Paris  |  Paris

We took off from Dulles airport with the Harpers and the Glasgows. The Harpers planned to take a rental car straight to La Rochelle while the Glasgows were planning to spend a day in Paris with Kathie and I before taking a train to La Rochelle. We landed on time at the CDG airport after a red eye where Kathie and I got little sleep. After getting through customs we found the baggage claim area. It didn’t take long for our luggage to show up, always a tense moment on these trips. Without our bikes this trip would lose allot. The Harpers bike bags did not show up right away but before we left the baggage area someone had delivered them.  

We found our way from the baggage area to the main part of the terminal. I had made arrangements for a shuttle to pick us and the Glasgows up to take us to our hotel in the St. Germaine area of Paris. We got out to the main terminal area where there were many people with name signs to pick people up but I could not find our name on any sign. We searched adjacent areas in the terminal but could not find our driver. We were just trying to figure out our contingency plan when a guy with a Paris Shuttle card with our name on it showed up. Soon we had our luggage loaded and were on our way into Paris.

The Taxi dropped us off at the Agora Hotel in St. Germaine. We dropped our bags into the baggage room in the angora, asked the woman at the desk for a place to eat breakfast and were on our way to find it. The distance to the recommended restaurant proved to be too far for us so we stopped at a café on the way.  We ate and then realized that we were a short walk away from the Musee D’Orsay. Soon we were in front of the museum and finding the advantage of buying advanced tickets. We got to slip around long lines and enter right in. After dropping off our back packs at the bag check, we started our tour. We started visiting many of the galleries in the museum. They have and incredible collection of impressionists painting including Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas and Cezanne.

After seeing about 80% of the museum we realized that absorbing so much art in our sleep deprived state was a tall order. Soon we left D’Orsay and started the short walk to the Louvre. The Louvre was even more overwhelming, but we had a simple mission. The mission was to see the Mona Lisa.  The trip from the main hall of the Louvre to the Mona Lisa was a relatively long trip that took us past a many pieces of art. I started to realize that the Louvre was the place most textbooks on art went to, to get there examples. It was great to see so many of the world’s greatest pieces of art. Unlike Musee D'Orsay, the Louvre allowed non-flash photography. We got to see and photograph the Mona Lisa and continue exploring the museum for another hour. We then gave up on touring and walked back to the Agora.

At the hotel we checked in and moved our luggage into our room. We took about an hour to rest and shower and then reconvened for dinner. We again asked the woman at the  hotel desk for a recommendation for dinner. This time we were pointed to a restaurant across the Seine from Notre Dame Cathedral. It took a bit of time to find the restaurant but we arrived at about 06:30.  The matter Dee met us at the door and said that they didn’t open for dinner until 07:00. We killed the extra time by walking along the Seine. We returned after 07:00 and were the first people in the restaurant. We had a delightful meal, including my salmon dish that was great and then we returned to the hotel to a well-earned night’s sleep.

Getting to La Rochelle  |  La Rochelle

We got up and met the Glasgows for breakfast at the hotel.  After breakfast we called a cab to take us to the Montparnasse train station. We were able to get a cab large enough to get us and our luggage to the station. We moved our luggage into the lobby of the hotel and soon the cabby showed up. Because we were carrying our personal bags plus each of us had 1/2 of a Tandem Bicycle in another bag, getting our luggage on and off cabs and trains always required an extra effort. We were dropped at the station and soon figured out what track the train was leaving from. My assumption about train seating was that even though the tickets had seating assignments, the seating wasn’t enforced. I was wrong.  In the rush to get our entire set of  luggage on the train Kathie and I ended up on a section of the train where we could not access our assigned seats. We were able to find open seats and made it to La Rochelle without getting kicked off the train.

We arrived in La Rochelle, were we got the luggage off the train without much of a problem. Our hotel for the first night was the Mercure and was only a few blocks from the train station. We wheeled our luggage to the hotel and checked in.

We met after checking in to have lunch and found a place in the tourist area near the harbor. I had more salmon and Ross, Donna and Kathie had moules and fretes (mussels and French fries).  After lunch we walked to find our hotel for the start of the tour (the St. Nicholas). There we ran into Rich and Ina (tour leaders) and several other tandem couples (Jeff and Alice, and Dave and Cory) that had arrived and were starting to assemble their bikes.

We walked back to Mercure, where we assembled bikes then rode them to the St. Nicholas. We then ran into Dave and Julie and others where we made plans for dinner. We walked back to the Mercure got ready for dinner then walked to a restaurant outside of town for a great dining experience. On the way back from dinner we stopped at a glacier (ice cream) shop for the first of many deserts to come.

Touring La Rochelle  |  La Rochelle  |  Map

On the next morning I got up early and met Ross to carry the bike boxes over to the St. Nicholas. The boxes were mostly empty so they weren’t too heavy. They were however a bit awkward to pull down the streets especially the small alleys around the St. Nicholas. We dropped the boxes off in the garage of the St. Nicholas and ventured out to find pastries for Donna and Kathie.  We didn’t find much but brought some croissants back. After eating the croissants we checked out of the Mercure and took the rest of our luggage to the St. Nicholas.  After dropping the baggage off we took off with Ross and Donna to tour the towers in La Rochelle

As we toured we started to run into more of the Pennywise participants. The three towers were very interesting and offered great views of the town, the harbor and the Atlantic. After taking our tour we grabbed sandwiches and returned to the hotel were we ate and waited for our rooms to be ready for check in. Soon we moved into our room and got ready for a quick shakedown ride. The Glasgows joined us on a quick ride where I found that I had not threaded my rear chain properly. Ross helped me fix the problem and we made our way back to the hotel to ready for the first ride meeting.

The ride meeting started out with an introduction to the tour and welcoming us. Rich then made the surprise announcement that they were handing Pennywise over to Steve and Karen. They announced a transfer and how it would work. This was a surprise and a relief that they had formulated a way to continue these tours in the future. 

While the meeting was in session, Ed and Laurie Barr arrived. We were concerned about them since we hadn't seen them until then. After the meeting was over we had someone from a local vineyard give us a tasting of wine, pinot and cognac.

After the tasting we went out to the parking area where the Barrs were assembling their tandem. We “helped” them put the bike together while we talked. We arranged dinner with them and the Glasgows and went to a creperie for dinner, grabbed another glacier and returned to the hotel for bed.

Ile d'Re  |  Ile d'Re  |  Map

The next morning we got up for breakfast and started preparing ourselves and the bikes for the first serious ride of the tour. The first day of riding is always exciting as we made sure that we had everything we needed for the day on the bike.

As was the case for most of the tour we rode with the Glasgows for most of the day. On the first day we were touring the Ile de Re. Rich gave us a queue sheet to get us to and from the island and left us with a map to explore the island as we wished. Ross had mapped out a course on his GPS so we followed the course.  Kathie liked having someone else navigate for us so this set up a pattern for the rest of the trip.

As we arrived on the island we rode along the northern shore of the island and were greeted by little sea side villages with spectacular views. We continued on to the town of La Flotte. This was a small harbor town with quaint shops and a fortress wall. We were in hopes of finding a place for a morning latte but arrived too late to be served drinks at the restaurant that we chose as they were opening for lunch.

We visited the town for about 20 minutes then pushed on. Outside of the next town was a super marche (market) that offered goods that we would use to make  lunch. We pushed on until we arrived at the fort walls outside of Saint Martin. There we ran into the Bill and Karen and Paula and Ray. So we joined them along the walls of the fort to take in lunch. From the walls we could see workers harvesting oysters.

After eating we rode into the town of St. Martin which was another beautiful harbor town that had interesting shops and restaurants and a great collection of yachts in the harbor. After a short visit we continued our travels through the island. Following Ross through the island we were soon approaching the entrance to the bridge to return to the mainland. Since our original goal of reaching the western extreme of the island was scratched for time, we took on one last adventure. We saw a lighthouse on the southern side of the island so we ventured down some back roads to see if we could reach it. We got to a beach on the south side of the island to find out that the lighthouse was off shore. We did get a great view of the south side of the island and I was able to get some sand for Rachel’s sand collection.

We found our way back to the mapped route and then back over the bridge where we took a break and let some other riders get caught up with us. With about 5 other couples we returned to La Rochelle. Getting into the town was a confusing maze of one way streets and shared bike and walking trails with a large number of tourists. I managed to make a wrong turn and Kathie and I ended up touring a less tourist centric section of the town. Soon we found our way back to the hotel.

After returning I showered and Kathie went out for a run. I took the down time to finish assembling my bike as I didn’t put the back fender on during my first pass.  After Kathie got her shower we got together with the Glasgows, Harpers and Borers for dinner.

Getting to Fontenay  |  Fontenay  |  Map

We got up and got ready for the first transfer day of the tour. This includes packing our bags and making sure the bike has everything that we needed for ridding. On this day we also need to make sure we have everything out of the bike bags that we need for the rest of the tour. We leave these bags at the first location until we return 10 days later. Part of our duties includes getting your luggage to the luggage truck and help where we could to load the truck.

At the ride meeting Rich suggested that because we had a short day of riding and not many sightseeing opportunities on the way that we take some time to visit the market in La Rochelle before we leave. The Glasgows and the Brumbaughs took that advice and took in the market. While there, we picked fruit and cheese for snacks and afternoon happy hours.  We also stopped at a place for sandwiches that we would eat along the way of our ride.

Soon we departed from La Rochelle where we would return 10 days later. We stopped at the first town, Saint-Xander, where we found a cafe for lattes. This is always a fun activity. We get to meet local venders and explore the town that we stop at. As lunch time approached we started to look for a place to eat the lunches that we packed. As we came to one intersection out side of Sainte-Radegonde-des-Noyers, I saw a small park behind hedges and several fellow tandem riders that arrived before us.  We joined the others for lunch and then were on our way to Fontenay le Comte.

There we checked into the hotel took our showers and rested. We went to the first happy hour and shared our stories of the day with the other riders while partaking in our favorite snacks and drinks.

We had dinner at the hotel and sat near the Glasgows and the Cosyns.

Chateau and Hills  |  Fontenay  |  Map

Today we got up and had breakfast with the other riders and prepared for a loop ride from our hotel. Soon we were off to our first tour location that was less than 2 miles away from our start. This tour was of the Chateaus de Terra-Nueve. This is a 16^th century chateau. We were greeted outside by the current owners and given a tour by a young French girl who spoke fair English. Fair is being much better than my French. The chateau contained furnishings and clothes from the 17^th and 18^th centuries. 

After the tour we moved out for what promised to be a scenic ride. There are two clues that a ride will be hilly on these tours. One is when it is called scenic and the other is when it’s shorter in distance.

We soon found ourselves descending into a valley that contains a good size reservoir and we stopped to take in the view from the dam. After the stop we started out again and almost immediately encountered a hill that made me utter an expletive that my mother credited to the French language.  The hill didn’t appear that long so Kathie and I pushed on to the next bend were the hill continued and we pushed on. We reached the next bend to find the hill got steeper. This is where I bailed and we pushed the bike up the rest of the hill.

We were soon looking for the town of Mervent, were the prospect of food was promised. Before we climbed the hill to Mervent there was a nice restaurant on the road. Unfortunately it was closed so we pushed to the top of the next hill. There we found a latte bar that was not serving food. We stopped just to get a drink and scrounge our bags for power bars. The latte bar was on a cliff and the views were incredible. So we took some outdoor seating to take in the view. While doing this we saw a biking group leave the town. They looked like a relatively serious group and they even had one tandem in their group.

We also got word from other members of our group that there was a grocery store just up the road in the town. We got to the store just minutes before it closed for lunch and we grabbed some cheese and bread for sustainment.  About 6 or seven couples gathered around a topped off well outside the store and shared our food and utensils to have lunch. This town had more great views and a small church to explore.

Our next stop was Vouvant. This was a quaint little town with a beautiful church (Notre Dame), a tower from an old chateau, a small restaurant and some attraction to bicycling. There was a landscape hedge in the shape of a bicycle and they had children’s bicycle strung up as a banner along with a king of the mountain jersey. We visited this town and the church then moved on to finish our ride for the day.

When we got back to our hotel, I took a quick shower then walked about 8 blocks to get into town to find some food or wine to contribute to the night’s happy hour. I couldn’t find food but found a wine shop that offered and acceptable bottle of wine. I returned as Kathie was finishing her shower and getting ready to join the group for happy hour and dinner.

Abbey and Canals to Taugon  |  Taugon  |  Map

This morning, we had are usual breakfast, ride meeting and loaded our luggage. The transfer leg that was planned for most riders was to a hotel outside Benon. We and several others had plans to go to La Vieille Ecole (The Old School) in the small town of Taugon. This was because the hotel that Rich reserved for us reneged on 6 of our rooms. We were chosen alphabetically so the Adams, Barrs, Berniers, Borers, and Brumbaughs got the alternate accommodations. Before starting our ride in Fontenay, the hotel manager had us all meet in front of the hotel for a group picture.  Soon we were on our way.

Eight miles into our ride we stopped at a 12^th century abbey that has a modern technology exhibits that explained the history and different aspects of monastic life.  Next we stopped at the town of Coulon. This town had a street of restaurants and shops along a scenic canal. Here we stopped at a bakery and bought a quiche for lunch.  We sat along the canal, and had lunch with other riders. After lunch we met a few miles outside of Coulon to start a canal boat ride.

The boat ride was a tour through the canals of the region. The lots that were formed by the intersecting rivers and canals in the area were mostly used for cow pastures.  I was happy we had guides on our boats because I would have been lost in about five minutes. The ride was very interesting and relaxing.  The highlight of the tour was when the guides stirred up gasses from under the water and lit them on fire on the surface.

Soon after leaving the boat tour we got to the point where we needed to split from the Glasgows to go to our special accommodations. We waited for the Barrs because we hadn’t brought our extra instructions on getting to La Vieille Ecole. After about ten minutes the Barrs came by and we followed them into the B&B.  We arrived at the B&B and were greeted by Allen the owner of the B&B.  He let us move the bikes into a hallway in the back of the house. Next to the storage area was a refrigerator with beer that we were given free access to. The Adams, Barrs and Brumbaughs sat at a patio and took in some refreshments and had a great happy hour of our own.

Ed and I walked around the village and took in a local park then I got back and got my shower. After the shower all the riders got together in the living area and shared the Internet service and pictures. While we were there Allen’s sister and friends showed up. Allen was English and had just had throat surgery. His sister was visiting to see how her brother was doing.  We had aperitifs before dinner that included conversations with all visitors.  Afterward, we had a great dinner and headed to bed for another night of sleep.

The Road to Saintes  |  Saintes  |  Map

Because of our special accommodations we had a longer ride than the other teams. This made it necessary to get an earlier start than normal. We packed and came to breakfast on time. During breakfast, Rich and Steve showed up with the luggage truck and Rich gave us our own ride meeting. Soon we were on our way.

Early on we caught up with Paul and Jody. They had decided to follow the Adams who were taking a short cut that took about a mile off of our trip and got us to the hotel where the others stayed in time for Kathie and me to join the Glasgows as they started to ride.

About ten miles past the hotel we stopped in Surgeres and had latte in La Grand Café.  I walked down to a pastry shop and picked a snack for later.  Later we stopped in Saint Savinen . Here we had problems finding a restaurant open so we invaded another shop for sandwiches and went to the park in the middle of town and joined other there for lunch.

Just before getting to Saintes, our destination for the day, we stopped to take in two chateaus that we did not tour but checked out from outside. We arrived in Saintes to a hotel in the center of town. From the back door of the hotel was a maze of small streets with shops and restaurants. After our showers we took in the impromptu happy hour outside the hotel. There we gathered a group for dinner that included the Glasgows, Harpers and Spillanes. We found a creperie right next to the hotel.

Exploring Saintes  |  Saintes

The next few days of this tour narrative I will describe as Man Plans, God Laughs. We got up as usual and got dressed for our loop ride out of Saintes. We went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. There Kathie was talking about our need to launder clothes and intent to take a day off from riding.  I took a mental inventory of the loop days that we had remaining on the trip and other than this days ride they had something of interest to me that I did not want to miss. So I suggested that we skip this day of riding, do our laundry and tour the town of Saintes. It didn’t take long to get Kathie’s buy in on this. So we finished breakfast, got dressed in our street clothes, packed our dirty laundry and took it to a laundry shop a few blocks from the hotel.

The language barrier at the laundry shop left us unsure of the cost or timing of having our laundry done, but we thoughts we were in for 14 euro and 1 o’clock. This would be well worth the money to have clean bike clothes and time to explore Saintes.

While waiting for laundry to be processed we walked around the streets of Saintes using part of a walking tour map that the office of tourism gave out through our hotel. The tour took us past the Hotel Viaud which is an 18^th century hotel, a medieval half-timbered house, the Echevinage  Museum, and the market place next to St. Pierre Cathedral. It also took us past many of the quaint shops on the small pedestrian streets.

As we walked around the streets we ran into other couples from our tour. One couple, Al and Heidi, told us that they took their laundry to the same shop we did and they couldn’t get laundry done until Monday. This caused Kathie and I to doubt our understanding of the terms of our deal at the shop so soon we were on our way to check if our laundry was complete. On the way we took a small detour across the river to take in the Arc de Germanicus. This was built in about 18 A.D. by Romans as the gate into town. We got to the Laundry shop at 1:00 and our laundry was done and the charge was as advertised 14 euro. My bike clothes were never folded so neatly.

After we returned laundry to our room we headed out to find the Roman Amphitheater. This is the remains of the 1^st century that were just on the edge of town. Kathie and I got to walk through some of the less tourist centric parts of the town. After a healthy walk over the hill we found our way to the Amphitheater where we walked around the outside. We took another route back towards town that took us past the Church of St. Eutropius. This is an UNESCO heritage site from the 15^th century.  We stopped in and looked inside the church.

After returning to the area close to the hotel, we stopped for lunch at a burger joint that made a very authentic American burger and fries. We returned to the hotel for a nap but I noticed some commotion in the main street up from the hotel. There was a fashion show in the street that included about a dozen classic cars. I took picture of the show and return for my nap.   After the nap we went to happy hour.  We took up with Dan and Heather, Steve and Karen, Bill and Karen for dinner at a wine shop near the hotel that had a single menu item each night. The dinner was excellent and after  we went to bed.

Surprise Ferry, Detour and Head Winds to Royan  |  Royan  |  Map

At our hotel we were on the third floor and there was no elevator.  This morning we were to have someone take our luggage down to the van. We put our luggage out before breakfast; we had breakfast, went to the ride meeting, and started to get the bike ready for the day of riding ahead. As we were in and out of the hotel we noticed only one person moving luggage so we thought we would help by bringing our own luggage down.

Early in the ride we passed a couple on bikes out for a Sunday ride. The wife looked like she was trying to keep up with her husband. I couldn’t help think that they benefit from a tandem. We passed the couple and they soon disappeared from our rear view. At the ride meeting we were promised a small surprise in the ride. The surprise was a ferry ride across a small river.  This is always a fun interlude for a bike ride. It becomes a rest point where everyone gets to pull out their cameras. We crossed the river then soon saw the couple we passed earlier approaching on the other side of the road. They must have known where the bridge was.

Soon we hit the open road and significant head winds for the day. As we struggled against the wind, we had a group of rider out on their Sunday ride pass us. At one point on a long stretch of road we could see 4 or 5 clumps of riders, both tandem and single bikes lined up like a caravan.

We stopped in Pons which is a quaint hill top town were we explored and had latte and hot chocolate. After our stop, we hoped to have a better tact on the wind, but our hopes were dashed. We continue west to the shore were we finally got a tail wind. We soon were at a small harbor town (Mortagne le Port) were we stopped for lunch at a small park with a place that offered food from a small shack.

Just before entering Royan is the small tourist town of Talmont Sur Gironde. We stopped here and explored the quaint shops and beautiful church along the sea shore. Soon we were back on the road and entering the town of Royan. We entered the town in front of all the other riders in our group and were confronted with a detour around our prescribed route. I took the detour and found my way back on course but notices huge storm clouds coming in off the Atlantic. As we approached our destination I got impatient with the queue sheets and saw a sign pointing to Le Grand Hotel where we were staying for the next two nights. The signs got confusing but after asking a few locals we found our way to the hotel and got into shelter without getting wet. After getting our shower we met on the porch on the front of hotel and arranged dinner with an east coast contingent of the Pennywise tour. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant, stopped at another restaurant for glacier and finished the day.

Hanging in Royan  |  Royan

As foreshadowed in a previous narrative, Man Plans and God Laughs, my well thought out strategy of resting on Sunday so that I could ride on Tuesday was shot to heck. We woke up to rain and 40 mph winds. For the first time in my Pennywise experiences I got up and nobody was dressed to ride at breakfast. We had breakfast and met for the ride meeting, where we were told much about the attractions in the town and told that we would get a refund for the ferry ride planned for the day.

Kathie and I relaxed for the day. We walked in one direction that took us past the point where we made our navigational error the day before. We got chased back to the hotel by rain. Later we went a pizza joint not far from the hotel for lunch and met Deke and Jayna who were already eating. We sat next them and talked while we ate. Kathie and I walked out to the point just north of our hotel. We passed these fishing shacks that we found were privately owned and used for dinner parties where the catch of the day would be caught, cooked and served all in one place. We got toward the point and the sea spray turned us back and we returned to the hotel.

Later we had a happy hour in a meeting room in the hotel. This day was our 29^th wedding anniversary so Steve and Karen asked us out to dinner. Dave and Julie joined us and we wondered the streets behind the hotel were we ran into a Moroccan restaurant. It was our first time eating Moroccan and the place was run by one person. This guy spoke little English and many of the initial menu items we wanted were not available that night. Steve and Karen bought us wine for our anniversary and we truly enjoyed the meal. After the meal we returned to the local restaurant for glacier and then went to bed.

Another Abbey and a Transporter to Rochefort  |  Rochefort  |  Map

This morning we got up, packed, had breakfast, had our ride meeting and loaded the luggage truck. We got the bike ready and were soon on the road. Early on in our trip we found a pastry shop and we stopped for some goodies.  We had full rain gear on ourselves and the bicycles and we hit a few showers along the way. We left a bit of a mess on the floor of the pastry shop.  We stopped at abbaye de Sablonceaux along the way to take pictures and do some exploring.

Our next stop was for lunch in Pont l’Abbe d’Arnoult. Approaching the town the Glassgows and the Brumbaughs were negotiating whether this would be a picnic lunch or a restaurant lunch. As we arrived in the town we experience the heaviest rain so far that day. We turned onto the main street in the town just looking for shelter when we noticed a heavy concentration of Pennywise tourist at a café. We stopped there and Steve told us that we needed to hold up for an hour because the bridge ahead was closed. I was curious what would cause a bridge to be closed in mid-day but we parked our bikes and went to the local butcher shop. There we bought lasagna that they had packaged for lunch and microwaving which they did for us. We returned to the café and bought drinks and ate our lunch. The place was packed with members of our group.

We waited out our time, the rain let up, and we started back on our trip, increasingly curious about the bridge we had to cross. Soon we arrived at the “bridge” that was not a bridge at all. At first look, the structure over the water looked like a big erector set that had to be five stories high. We were all trying to figure out how this worked. The most common guess was that the top of the structure was lowered to make a deck to cross. We found an informational plague that described how the apparatus worked. To our surprise this was a large crane that carried a gondola of sorts over the water. The platform of the gondola was the size of a small  house and could hold a dozen cars or so.

As we waited for the gondola to start toward us the rain started and it continued to get heavier as we waited.  Soon word came that the transport would be delayed waiting for a ship to pass. The Wilson Sky passed under the structure and soon the gondola was on its way to us.  By time we loaded onto the transport it was raining heavily. Luckily there was covered seating on both sides of the gondola. We crossed and exited the transport and started the last three miles of the ride on a packed stone trail. This was not a good combination in the rain. By the time we arrived at the hotel our bikes were covered in grit.  Surprisingly this hotel wanted us to store our bikes in a conference room. After parking our bike and showering Rich and Ina were buying drinks at the hotel bar.  Dinner that night was at the hotel and we had another fun night of dining.

Touring Rochefort  |  Rochefort

This is the final chapter of the Man Plans, God Laughs portion of my narrative. We got up this morning to scattered showers. During breakfast a shower moved through followed by bright sunshine. I got the idea that if I cleaned the bike and got Kathie to see the sunshine I could convince her to ride.  I took the bike out behind the hotel where others were already cleaning their bikes. I worked diligently cleaning the bike only to have another shower hit before I could get it back into the hotel. Needless to say any attempts to convince Kathie to ride failed.

We decided to take in the Corderie which was a museum about the rope making industry that was housed in the very long warehouse during the hayday of  the ship building industry in the town of Rochefort.  After the Corderie museum we moved on to a tour of the building of the Hermione. This is a replica of the ship that Lafayette took to and from America during the American Revolution.  This was a great tour explaining the mission of building this ship. The ship is scheduled take a voyage in 2014 that will stop in Boston on or about July 4^th.

After the tour we walked the streets of Rochefort and found a place for lunch. We had lunch with Cindy and Dennis.  After lunch we found a pastry shop where I bought a crème Brule for later. We returned to the hotel for a nap and happy hour and then went to a seafood restaurant on the edge of town with the Glasgows. We had glacier for desert at the restaurant.

Back to  La Rochelle  |  La Rochelle  |  Map

For the last time we packed, had breakfast and loaded the truck. Soon we were on our way for a relatively short 24 miles of biking. About 10 miles in, we found a café at Chatelaillon-Plage and many of us took the opportunity to have one last latte. Soon we returned on the road with the Glasgows. At one point our path came close to a beach, so we stopped so that I could gather some sand for my daughter. In no time we were back in the streets of La Rochelle.

We ended at the St. Nicholas hotel where we started 10 days earlier. We took some pictures, gathered our bike boxes and started to pack our bicycles for the trip home. While I was working the bike Kathie went to a local shop for sandwiches and we ate while we finished packing the bike.  After the packing was complete I took a shower and relaxed while we were waiting for dinner.

The last dinner was at Andre’s, a premier seafood restaurant in town with all of us from the tour. We all got to say goodbye to our fellow Pennywise tourist. We had a great dinner and tributes and thanks to Rich and Ina.  The food was great and the evening flew by quickly. Before we knew it, it was time to call it a night. 

Leaving La Rochelle, More French Trains, to CDG  |  La Rochelle

This morning we got up for breakfast and ran into many others on the tour, so we got to say goodbye once again. After breakfast we went through all our bags to make sure we were ready for our next leg of travel, the train ride to Charles De Gaulle. After getting the packing squared away we took one last walk to the market in La Rochelle. On the way there we looked for souvenirs and on the way back we bought sandwiches to eat on our train trip. 

At about 1:00 o’clock we called a taxi. I got in the taxi with all the Brumbaugh and Glasgow luggage while Kathie, Donna and Ross walked to the train station. We all gathered in the station and started to figure out our second round with the French train system.

We got lucky to have our first train arrive at the first track closest to the station. This meant that we didn’t have to carry our luggage up and down stairs to get to the train. Getting on was easy and we felt seasoned when we found our designated train and seat without much trouble.

Several hours later we arrived in Poitiers. We got us and our luggage off the train with little trouble. We were, however, on a platform half way out from the terminal. This required us pulling our luggage up and down elevator and stair to get to the main terminal. We then watched the information center in the terminal to find out the platform our departing train was leaving from. We pulled the luggage to the platform to find it very crowded. Ross noticed that there were three trains scheduled to leave form our platform.  One of the trains had the same departure time and we just thought this was because the trains were running late.

One of the trains arrived and cleared some of the platform congestion.  About 15 minutes later another train came in and it had the train number  for the other train that was scheduled at the same time as our train on that platform. So we sat and watched people board the train. Luckily Ross got curious and was asking train employees some questions and then ran toward with a very serious look on his face. I knew that we needed to move fast. As it turns out the train that was in front of us was one of two trains that were hooked together. The other train was our train. Luckily they held the train until we got on with our entire set of luggage.

Ross and I knew that we would have to depart quickly at the airport but we didn’t know what side of the train we would be departing from. The car that we had hurriedly put our luggage in had a door only on one side. So Ross and I spent some time and energy moving our luggage from one car to another.  We were able to rest all the way Charles De Gaulle. There we had to do some more luggage maneuvering from the train platform to the TGV Val which was an airport shuttle system. Finally we got to the Hilton and checked in. It was after 10:00 but we still had time to have a snack and drinks at the hotel bar. Sleep came easy and soon it was morning.

Home

In the morning we got up and met the Glasgows for breakfast. We were expecting to see Dave and Julie at breakfast but didn’t. After breakfast we gave Dave and Julie a call and found out they planned to eat at the airport. Soon we were all on the shuttle to our terminal. We checked in our luggage, went through security and customs and went to the gate. At the gate we bought chocolate as gifts from the duty free shop.  We waited for and boarded our plane then took the nine hour trip back to Dulles airport and grabbed a taxi back home.