Vendee, France, May & June 2018

We headed back to France again for the early summer holidays - this time to an inland chateau campsite, in the North Vendee region. As luck would have it, parts of the routes of the 1st and 2nd stages of this year's Tour de France were within easy striking distance of the campsite so I took in some of those when I got the chance. I took the SS again, as its grand for pootling with le famille, can handle a bit of track plus can easily take the knocks of being transported on the bike rack. No hills to worry about either, so multiple gears not needed.

2018 TdF poster

The Vendee region is brilliant for cycling! For one thing, it is mostly flat so there's no pesky hills to negotiate. Secondly, they have miles of really good and well-signposted bike tracks. Mostly these follow coastal routes, but there are some inland ones too. There's a whole host of info online about the different routes, such as this site here.

On the day I did a longer ride, I switched between these bike tracks where I came across them, and bits of the TdF Stage 1. To be honest, after the novelty of being chased by an imaginery peloton began to fade, the bike tracks were more fun and definately more interesting than plodding along busy roads! It felt easy to rack up the distance, with the scenery always changing and new things to see round every corner.

Just a month too early!

St Hilaire de Riez on Stage 1 of the 2018 TdF

There's a good variety of cyclists of all levels zooming about the Vendee, from caravanners on electric bikes right up to Froome lookalikes with full tri-bar set-ups. Overtaking one such time-trialler whilst on my single-speed was quite amusing, although I had to keep going to stay ahead of him, at least until the next roundabout!

Plenty wildlife along the way too, with black kites, exceedingly large longhorn beetles and this fine Fire Salamander all encountered by bike.

A fire salamander out for a walk

Here's the route I did from the campsite to the coast and then down to Les Sables D'Olonne, taking in part of Stage 1, and also a good deal of the bike tracks.

Clon Bike Fest 2017

This weekend was the 6th Clonakilty Bike Festival and the whole town was hooching with bikes from Friday to Sunday. We only managed to attend the Meals on Wheels event on Sunday pm, but it was great fun! There were upwards of 40 cyclists/diners with a variety of bikes for the ride. I chose to ride the single speed for the occasion, and it proved a worthy steed.

Out the road to Ring was the first direction, the hefty following wind blowing us along nicely, for a starter stop at Darrara Hall for some delicious breaded risotto dumpling things. Then it was back into Ring to Deasy's Bar for the main course and a welcome glass of wine.

On the road to Ring

With the worst of the wind and rain over, we scooted back along the Ring road to Clon, for a couple of laps of the town centre before heading up the Community Gardens for open air coffee and sweets & treats.

The peloton arrives back in Clon

The final spin back into town was followed by olives, cheeses and another glass of vino in Molly's Wind Bar. Then the festival party kicked off with the Clonakilty Jazz Collective providing the backing music for the night. I also discovered they had Belgian beer in stock, which was nice!

More highlights here

Holiday interlude

It wasn't meant to be a cycling holiday but somehow I returned from Brittany with some 350 km under the belt - bonus! The cycling was largely on the flat, mostly road-based but with some good tracks and boardwalks thrown in, for good measure.

Benodet waterfront

Pootling about the campsite accounted for some mileage everyday, but I was able to escape most evenings for a longer ride. The bike of choice was the old hybrid, recently converted into a single-speed (more of that in future posts), which proved a very suitable option given the terrain and the cycling companions.

Beached

Abandoned!

France does do cycling and bike-trails well. There was very little issues with traffic, and the scenery was very pleasant. Would definitely like to explore a bit more. And maybe do an Alp or two!

Boardwalk and trails

Deux bagettes s'il vous plait

Here is the strava track showing a ride I did from the campsite in Benodet out west via the road bridge and then back by the beach track as far as possible. Note, the morning pootle is also included!

And here's the track for a ride to the east, again using road and trails where available. This one included some dodgy stretches of sandy track that I just about got through ok!