DAY 9: BOURCEFRANC - MONTALIVET-LES-BAINS: 79km
SUNDAY 7 JUNE



What a glorious way to start the day

I sat up in bed writing my diary and watching the sun rise. It was so nice to wake up in a hotel and not in the tent. As the trip progressed I was coming to the conclusion that although I love cycle touring I, not unreasonably, much prefer to stay in a hotel at the end of the day than camp. Camping is great in nice weather for a couple of nights but any longer than that I have to admit I prefer to stay in a hotel.

We ate a disappointing breakfast in the hotel, as we had anticipated it would be, but we were unsure whether there would be a baker's on our route so decided that it would be better than nothing. At least the view was good from the hotel dining room.

Before we left we had a walk round the harbour




It was interesting to see the oyster boats




Maybe the forecast was wrong about the rain - although it was windy




Unfortunately it wasn't




Everything looked dismal




Rain was never far away

We battled on all morning against the rain and the headwind and longed to see a bar where we could have a break from the elements but there was nothing. We passed a baker's but decided it wasn't worth buying a picnic to eat out in the rain so hurriedly ate a cereal bar to keep us going and got back on the bike. We were heading for Royan and we could get something there while we were waiting for the ferry.

Suddenly the sun started to come out




However we still had the wind to contend with

Before we left home I had tried to find the timetable for the ferry that would take us from Royan to Point de la Grave in the Gironde but couldn't seem to find any definite times for this. However for some reason I thought that there would be a ferry at around 2pm and so we aimed to get to Royan for this time. It was a bit of a struggle against the strong headwind and even on the flat it felt we were climbing a steep hill. My knee was hurting slightly but we didn't want to run the risk of missing the ferry as they were not very frequent.

We didn't have long to wait - there was a ferry at 2.30pm




The ferry was bigger than we expected



We sat out on the deck and enjoyed the crossing




We had made it to the Gironde




The cycle path was beautiful - it felt very Mediterranean




It was just how I had imagined it would be

We decided to head for Soulac-sur-Mer for lunch as it was late by this time and we were hungry. We had a pleasant ride through the pine trees on the lovely smooth cycle path although we still had the strong wind to contend with which slowed our progress.

When we arrived at Soulac there was a Victorian festival going on so the town was packed with people and there was street entertainment everywhere. It was a bit of a shame as we couldn't really see the town properly, or move around it very quickly, as we had planned to have a quick look round, find something to eat and carry on.

We would definitely come back again - when it's quieter

We half thought about finding somewhere to stay in Soulac but it was so crowded even if we had found somewhere all the restaurants would be busy in the evening. It made sense to carry on and see whether we could get to Hourtin which was our original plan. If not we would at least see how far we could get.

We picked up the cycle track and headed south




It began to cloud over

We cycled for nearly two hours through forests and didn't see one other person. As we were now further inland there wasn't the view of the sea that I thought we would get from the track and although the pine forest was beautiful at first it soon began to get very boring.

The novelty of pine trees was wearing off

By the time we approached Montalivet it was 6pm. We were still 2 hours away from our intended destination of Hourtin but we knew that the campsite shut at 8pm and we were unsure whether we could get there in time. We were also unsure whether, even if we did get there in time, there would be any restaurants open once we had pitched the tent and showered and so decided to look for a campsite on the edge of Montalivet as we approached it instead. Unfortunately all the sites we saw were shut as the summer season had not yet started.

On arrival in Montalivet we were horrified by how absolutely awful it was. We were expecting a beautiful seaside town like Soulac and what we saw couldn't have been more different. It was modern, run down, grey, cold, windswept and deserted. It was very disappointing but we had to make the most of it as we didn't have any choice.

We could've camped in the mobile home site but it was dire

I really did not want to camp as it was so cold, windy and generally miserable that I thought at least a hotel would go some way to compensate for having to stay in such an awful place. I made enquiries about hiring a mobile home for the night but that was as expensive as a hotel room so we set off into town to see what we could find.

The whole town was awful

As I was looking in the window for the tariffs of a hotel on the beach front the owner came out and asked if he could help. I asked how much his rooms were and he said that we could have a room with a sea view for €50. He had only just bought the hotel and was finishing off the renovation ready for the summer and didn't have anyone else staying there. I felt a bit guilty when I knocked him down to €45 and we were overjoyed to have a room with a sea view.

The Hotel L'Ocean was right on the seafront




Unfortunately the weather did not allow us to use the balcony




We were surprised to find a really nice bistro for our evening meal




Nice hotel - shame about the town