Day Sixty One: Soulac to Marenne

May 27, 2017

So many times now on this trip and others I have noticed how different things look in the morning. Big puzzles, like where is that darn hotel, are shown to be easy and obvious. And glitzy streets which the night before were obscured by crowds and lighting are revealed as simple lineups of normal buildings.

So it was this morning again. A lady yesterday, guiding us to our hotel had said it was by the church. Somehow last night that had only confused us. This morning we stepped out and said "Oh look, the church". And yesterday we had seen people with breads but did not spot the bakery. This morning - "Oh look, the bakery". And the crowded pedestrian street? Just a ragged line of buildings. We loved it.

We slowly pedalled down the walking street to the now empty beach. Beautiful, muted, calm.

But of course, we had places to go, in fact, ferries to catch. The ferry in this case crosses the Gironde estuary, linking Soulac to Royan. Before rushing to the ferry, though, there was one more interesting thing to see. At the end of Soulac there is a miniature Statue of Liberty. It was put here to commemorate that in 1777 the Marquis of Lafayette sailed from Bordeaux and headed for America to support the fledging democracy there. Of course much later the Americans came back to help out here, during WWII. Notwithstanding, the town of Royan was basically destroyed, by the British.

According to a web source called the Axis History Forum: "In all, according to the Air Force Historical Studies Office, "1,161 heavy bombers destroyed 22 defensive installations consisting of AA and arty positions and strongpoints covering the Gironde estuary"..

On a darker note, the bombing of Royan would be the Eighth Air Force's only use a new weapon in an attempt to kill Germans in their bunkers: napalm . Known as a Class-C Fire Bomb, each napalm bomb contained 108 Gallons of the petrolium substance, and they were only used in a few missions. A B-17 only carried 4 of them ...

As a result of the conventional and napalm bombing of the city of Royan, the city was totally destroyed, with one report citing that only nine houses remained standing . Among the destructive figures is cited that 1,700 French civilians were killed."

For that reason almost all of what we were about to see on the other side of the estuary dates from after 1945.

Our hotel in Soulac, was one of those Belle epoque designs

We found the bakery! Look at the rack of goodies!

The glitzy walking street is very calm in the morning.

The ferry was quite a large ship, for just a 30 minute crossing, but I guess lots of cars need to use it. The public seemed to be in good spirits on this sunny day, going for a little sea cruise. In the lounge, lots of little coffees were being served up, and the counters had lots of pastries. Many people sat out on the front deck, to watch the lighthouse at the dock quickly recede and Royan quickly approach.

Our bikes also had a good spot, and a good view. Tie down straps that were sort of provided for them were way too short, but no matter, the ride was smooth.

As predicted from the history, our first view of Royan was not particularly interesting. Certainly no giant churches, or even pink hotels. But once ashore we did see the first of what were to be hundreds or thousands of cyclists. This was not a cyclist convention or anything, just zillions of people using bicycle to enhance their vacations. The next flashy (literally) thing was a lineup of 30 or more identical brand new Porsche cars. I think this, actually, may have been part of a Porsche convention.

Within Royan we did actually find some houses that could have been originals, or maybe reproductions, but they gave the place a little charm. Mainly, though, Royan marked the beginning of yet another beach area, filled with ice cream and postcards, and as I say, people on bikes. The reason for all the excitement, the beaches, really are phenomenal though. They are totally sandy and extensive. One time I was in the Cayman Islands, and the big thing there was something called Seven Mile Beach. Seven miles is nothing compared to the beaches here!

Royan appeared very quickly, but was not so remarkable

We resumed the now familiar chore of cycling up this beach coast, but there was a little more excitement immediately in store. Vi and Jack, the tandem riders from Lantzville had taken the ferry an hour and half after ours. But it did not take them very long to catch us! So we got to enjoy some further chats, many while Vi and Jack trundled along behind the slow moving Grampies. Their destination for today was only the relatively near Marenne. On the other hand we were targetting the distant town of Rochfort. We released Vi and Jack to zoom on, while we plotted our assault on Rochfort.

at least 30 brand new Porches. Not much use, without bike racks!

The story of the Frankton expedition. In 1942 12 British commandos got off a sub and paddled right up the Girone to Bordeaux. Six drowned, and four were captured and killed. But apparently the mission succeeded.

A man's home is his castle. But here you could have an actual miniature castle

A lady in an interesting small wheel low step through ebike passed us. So I chased her down and got the specs on it.

The lady let me give it a try. Like almost all european ebikes it is pedal controlled (no throttle). I thought it took off rather fast - but I must have pedalled too hard. The lady seemed able to go very slow on it.

Again, we are on a beach coast, with lots of ice cream and post cards.

These traditional fishing huts and nets catch all manner of seafood. The nets are called carrelets.

Actually it was fun - lots of short steep ups and downs. Little kids of four or so were riding it no problem.

Here is a fun park/water park? The good bike path, beach, and stuff like this make this a good holiday destination for families.
This park is called Youpiland!

Vi and Jack. They came specifically to do the Velodysee.

Rochfort for us would have been a total of 80 or 90 kms for the day. That's possible, but this was a day of broiling heat. with only about 30 kms on the odometer, Dodie was already flagging. So we planned to use the secret weapon - ice cream. We stopped at Ronce les Bains, about 8 km from Marenne and ordered up a Strawberry Melba for Dodie and a Banana Split for me. Normally that would have kicked our little caravan at 20 km down the road. But in this heat, it only lasted the 8 km, and that just barely.

Much to our chagrin, we had come to appreciate the effect of the Ascension Day long weekend on (not) finding places to stay along the coast. But we were feeling pretty smug. with our booking in Rochfort we had Saturday covered. Then on sunday, presumably, the hoards would drain away back to their homes and jobs, and leave the place to us.

But how about now, wth our booking clearly out of reach? By some miracle, Tourist Information was actually open, and they found us what they assured us was abolutely the last room in the town. With Marenne unlike the soulless modern Lacanau Ocean, and unlike the elegant Belle Epoque Soulac, we have a return to the classical crumbly white French village. Our room is in a highly authentic crumbly white building. It's a bit higgledy piggledy, with cheap old finishings, but it has a certain charm. It also has five beds! So presumably if we could have done better marketing than the owner, we might have sublet and made a profit!

directly across the street from us is the back end of a C Leclerc store. We have seen these all around France but never been in one. I strolled over. It's basically a Walmart Supercenter, but a little smaller. It has all the expected clothing, household goods, etc. departments plus a grocery. since I had left Dodie behind, I showed amazing restraint and bought only one thing, a package of cheap chocolate eclairs. Useless really, since this place is a B&B. I guess I will have to eat them tonight!

Dosie speculatively eyes the maps while attempting to stoke up for some futher grueling kms.

The restaurant where we got the ice cream. This is a nostalgia shot, since we dumped in here three years ago in a pouring rain.

At Marenne, oyster beds. I had been trying to claim them as Gambas beds, but everyone knows this is the oyster capital of France.

Today's ride: 60 km (37 miles)
Total: 2,768 km (1,719 miles)

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