Saintes

September 17, 2019

Double the miles and halve the fun

In my non-planning for this tour, the planner in me couldn’t help but map out the first ten days – from Angoulême to Cognac. I wasn’t sure where I would go next, but felt that the planned time and distance for each day would give me a sense of where I was with respect to recovering from shingles and getting into bike shape. Overall, I believe that I am heading in the right direction on both counts. The first days have been a bit hilly for an Iowa woman, but have been manageable due to the low daily mileage. The curve ball in everything has been the heat, which has worn me down. Based on the advice of many, I am now headed to the coast where I plan to spend three nights on Ile-de-Ré.

The next stop on my way to the coast is Saintes, which on google maps is between 17 and 19 miles from Cognac on D24, a fairly busy D route. Another option is to take the Flow Vélo bike route, but this section of the route has received mixed reviews. I also had the option of following some of the Cognac touring routes – this would be more hills but better scenery. In my indecision, I mapped out 3 options on Ride with GPS, ultimately deciding on a mix of hills and river, about 28 miles in all. Though longer than the “hilly” route and the “flat” route, I figured that it included the best of the other two options.

Messaouda brought me some fresh ground coffee at 9 am and, after a relatively prolonged farewell exchanging bike and contact info, I rolled out of Cognac about a quarter past ten. The route took me down to the Charente River and picked up the Flow Vélo heading back toward Chateauneuf-sur-Charente. I planned to cross the river near Boutiers-Sainte-Trojan and head north to Sainte-Sévère before turning west towards Saintes. Unfortunately, the bridge to Boutiers was out, requiring me to either backtrack the two miles to Cognac, or continue on in the wrong direction to the next bridge crossing. Never one who likes to backtrack, I continued eastward using google maps for routing back to Boutiers. Only a 5-mile detour, it didn’t seem like much at first - until the heat really began to bear down on me.

Compounding the heat was the fact that I had committed a major sin of cycle touring insofar as I had set off not well-provisioned, having only my trusty Château cheese and some energy gels. My food destination was Sainte-Suplice de Cognac, which looked big enough to have some sort of food and/or eating establishment. However, it really was more of a crossroads than a town. I did go by one bakery that looked closed, and headed down a fairly busy road for the closest restaurant identified by google. However, the road was too busy and I turned back, looking wistfully at the closed bakery as I passed by. But wait! A woman was exiting the establishment with a baguette. I quickly pulled in, bought some bread, pastry and cold water. Although I soon was ready to move along, I was seriously reconsidering my route. I’d seen enough vineyards and it was time to get back down to the river for a more leisurely ride into Saintes.

The Flow Vélo runs along the Charente River as it head east out of Cognac

Does this look like an open French bakery to you?

I plotted another route on google maps, which to no surprise led me up a hill and onto a dirt track. I went back down, and up again to my original route trying to enjoy the views that I was paying for. I realize that the hills are pretty modest, but the heat and lack of pre-tour biking was taking its toll. Thus, I was elated when I came across a D route heading for Dompierre, which I knew was on the river. As I turned south, the road flattened a bit and then headed downhill. I passed a sign welcoming me to Charente-Maritime and knew it was basically a flat ride from here to the ocean. Soon I was in Dompierre, where I began to see bicycles tied up to trees, fences, lampposts, and bales of hay. They even had a bike made partially out of large hay bales. I felt as if I was on RAGBRAI, but it was likely a more modest local celebration of bicycles.

It was not a complete surprise that bike route selection by google maps leads to unsurfaced farm tracks

Treetops beginning to show their fall colors

This would be at home on RAGBRAI - the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa

At Dompierre, I opted not to take the direct but busy route into Saintes but instead to follow my “flat” route. Don’t’ ask me why. The route took me farther south along small roads, so by the time I arrived in Saintes I was nearing 40 miles. My lodging was at an abbey, Les Chambres de l’Abbaye, a former Benedictine nunnery where the convent building housing the nuns “cells” have been turned into hotel rooms. Sounds like just the place for the product of a Catholic education!

It was a bit difficult navigating my way to the abbey, and even more challenging finding the entrance to the hotel. Finally, after hauling my bike up several sets of steps and across a gravel courtyard, I arrived hot and sweaty at the desk – only to learn I had to haul everything back down the stairs to the underground storage room for bikes. By the time I made it to my room, I was physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted. I plopped on the bed for a cool down. It was a rough go at first, but eventually I accepted my penance for being poorly provisioned and found solace in the music and singing flowing up from the courtyard. I walked across the river for some tasty Indian food and began to appreciate my surroundings on the way back to my “cell”. The vows I said that night were to get an earlier start in the morning.

The hallway of the former convent building now serving as a hotel

The abbey church, Sainte-Marie-des-Dames

Looking across the Charente at Saint-Pierre Cathedral on the way to dinner

After dinner view of Saint-Pierre Cathedral from a bridge across the Charente

The Arch of Germanicus, an ancient Roman arch built in AD 18 or 19

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Today's ride: 41 miles (66 km)
Total: 282 miles (454 km)

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