September 21, 2017
Day 3 - Marennes to Rochefort
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Another beautiful morning! We ate breakfast in the restaurant and headed off after enjoying the spectacle of a bunch of kids learning to sail in the estuary in front of the hotel.
We traversed Marennes, where a street market was in process, and headed out into the marshes toward the historic town of Brouage. Unfortunately the turkey who routed the trip put us on some dodgy roads.
Brouage was beautiful - an old citadel created in the 1630's by Cardinal Richelieu as a bulwark against La Rochelle (a protestant town at the time). It's the hometown of Samuel de Champlain, who is famous for founding Quebec.
After Brouage, we struck out across the marshes towards Rochefort. We wanted to enter Rochefort via the "Transbordeur" but it was out of service, so we took a long loop to the east towards Tonnay-Charente.
The route crossed the Charente river on a huge bridge that has been converted from (I guess) a railroad bridge into a pedestrian/bike bridge. Pretty spectacular.
We rode into Rochefort and found our hotel, the "Hotel de France". They stored our tandem in a disused ballroom - very chic! We cleaned up and went out sightseeing.
Today's ride: 48 km (30 miles)
Total: 185 km (115 miles)
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