St Palais sur Mer to Soulac

Monday 26th Oct. St Palais sur Mer to Soulac (Medoc region of Gironde) Having sorted out the nut problem we rode into Royan which is an entirely modern seaside resort displaying massive signs of wealth. Numerous sandy bays with smart villas, tennis, bridge, boules & sailing clubs, loads of surfers and no sign of the recession. A bit like Sydney. The temperature is 22 degs so we wandered about a bit and then sat on the beach with a cold one to wait for the ferry to take us across the estuary to our route down to Bordeaux via we hope Pontet Canet, Pauillac, Leoville Barton etc. At this point the river estuary is about as wide as crossing to the Isle of Wight and takes 30 minutes. Fortunately Medoc country is flat too (at least the top end is) so we rode down to Soulac through pine forests, found the tourist office and a B&B and went in search of supper. Madame (an English lady whose husband teaches English at the University) had recommended a restaurant where if we mentioned her name we’d get a good deal. We aren’t so sure we found the right one but we did find a place which was a deli by day and restaurant by night, sat 8 max (there was already a party of 5) and the owner (who did everything) cooked us coquilles and artichokes to die for, sold us a fruity white wine and some excellent cheese. Having thought it would be all very local the coquilles came from Galloway, the wine from Gascoigne and the cheese from Spain and artichokes from Italy. It was the most expensive dinner so far, so I don’t know what happened to the ‘good deal’ but it was worth it and we are now on bread and water. 45 minutes later we managed to find the B&B which seemed to have moved since we left it 3 hours before. And oh yes we managed to speak and see Lulu on Skype from a bar which was another first so what a day!!