Total distance: 339.5 km

Nantes to Saint-Brevin-les-Pins 71.5km, Saint-Brevin-les-Pins to Les Sables-d’Olonne 155.5km, Les Sables-d’Olonne to La Rochelle 112.5 km

Phew! Just like that, the biking portion of our trip has come to a close. Well, the more serious biking at least, I’m sure there’s a few more inner city rentals in our near future. Coming in at a solid 1000km, we have arrived at my second cousin Eddy’s home, just outside Biarritz.

We left Nantes a few days ago now. The night before leaving we made friends with the bartender of a small place that we had tucked in to later in the night. We chatted for hours and before heading home for the night he asked us to meet him for breakfast before we left the next morning. Julien (that’s his name) swung by our hotel on his longboard and the three of us walked to a small coffee shop nearby. He obviously knew the owner well and had come prepared with a cornucopia of french pastries and treats, that we spread out across the table to share. We drank fresh pressed juice, strong americanos and listened to Julien talk about his time as a pastry chef, his obsession with all things active (he plays practically every sport known to man), and the small region of Verdeé where he grew up, and incidentally we were headed directly for. We hit the road one friend richer and ready to see the ocean!

After leaving Nantes the landscape changed drastically across a relatively short distance. Leaving behind the dark stone homes that populate the Loire Valley, we saw the river widen as it began to feed out into the approaching Atlantic and began to notice fishings posts at every turn. Lush and dense forrest gave way to coastal pines and palm trees. We were pretty elated when we hit the coast and in a bittersweet farewell, we traded the “Loire  a Velo” for the “Velodyssey,” a similar path that stretches 1200 km travelling down the Atlantic coast.

We snagged a room at a hilarious spa/casino on the ocean and due to a aggressive storm that rolled through the next morning, we ended up having a day off of cycling and spent the majority of our time in St Brevin les Pins, alternating between  the Hammam, the hot tub and sensory showers at the Hotel’s spa.  We sampled a local seafood platter that was so fresh it was cold and uncooked and remnants of the ocean floor still clung to its various shelled creatures. After dinner one night we waltzed into the casino and in a matter of minutes after pulling a total of four slots, we walked out with more than enough the cover the cost of the hotel room. I don’t think the casino staff were big fans of ours, nor the man who had been tirelessly playing the slot next to us without a win.

From St Brevin we headed south for another coastal town on the Velodyssey called Les Sables d’Olonne. Having lost a couple days on the road we decided to throw caution to the wind and have two hardcore final days of riding. The terrain and path along the coast were built for us though. We cruised alongside miles and miles of sandy beaches, choc-a-block with cheezy resorts frozen in time somewhere around the year 1980. We cycled 155km that day and made it into the town just in time for dinner before the restos closed fort the day. Unfortunately this meant don’t pass go, so we ate at one of the nicest restaurants in the town… in our bike clothes…sweaty and sunburnt. I don’t even care if the whole staff hated us for a) being inappropriately dressed and still noticeably sweating or b) ordering the full meal deal three minutes before the kitchen closed, because it was hands down the best steak both of us have ever had…if not the whole meal experience itself!

We set La Rochelle as our final riding destination for its accessibility to Bordeaux and onwards. Our final day on the road was sunny and clear and we had such a great day of riding, both because we knew our little legs would see some rest after, but also in a bittersweet way to say goodbye to the incredible experience the past ten days have been. We passed hundreds of fishing posts along the way as well as small wooden shacks where locals harvested and sold fleur-de-sel, and similar products. Obviously we had to buy some.

La Rochelle did not disappoint. We ate local oysters and mussels and walked the vibrant and bustling sea wall around the town’s port. We made friends with an incredible artist named Etienne —who we’ve arranged to buy some work from—and bopped around town with him and a small group of his friends. We hopped on a train yesterday morning and headed to Bordeaux, where we had an accidental but lovely five hour layover and were able to bike around most of downtown. After our brief visit and one last short train ride, we arrived in Biarritz and were greeted by Eddy. We were welcomed with a feast of foie-gras, oysters and a whole guinea fowl roasted with olives and roasted chestnuts.

So that’s that. We put ours whips away. Now its time for some reading and beaches and normal calorie consumption. Merci pour le bon moment, France!