Off on my bike : Poitiers to Bordeaux

There are worse riding surfaces than grass.

I depart Poitiers, on my own route along minor roads, it mostly works well although sometimes a minor road on the map turns out to be a dirt track on the ground.  Not terribly exciting mind, although there is exciting weather, it becomes clear I am heading towards a massive thunderstorm.  I manage to skirt the worst of it, and hit some fine scenery at Verteuil-sur-Charente, with its mills and château.  From here it is a short ride down the river to Mansle, where I camp and enjoy a proper four course meal.

Verteuil-sur-Charente.

I decide to stay a day in Mansle, it's a nice spot by the river and I have just done eight days on the trot.  Shame it rains pretty much all day, still I guess hanging around the campsite beats riding through it.

Sadly next day that is what I have to do, the weather is not letting up.  It's nice enough country, I continue along the Charente, crossing it several times - in this area, the river divides into as many as six or more arms, I ride over a lot of bridges.  The water looks high, unsurprising as it just keeps getting wetter, I am soaked by the time I reach Baignes-Sainte-Radegonde, where things just get worse.  My poor old tent pole, repaired many times, just disintegrates, I guess fatigue, or else the sheer weight of water is too much for it.

Mansle.

The campsite warden says I can sleep in the toilet block, yay, well I have slept in worse places.  I find a bar to drown my sorrows in, me and a few elderly French people.  The local paper has 'vineyards count the cost of exceptional storms' on the cover.

At least it is a short way from here to Bordeaux, and by some miracle the rain holds off.  I check into a cheap 'Formule 1' hotel in an industrial estate, it has a somewhat custodial air, but it's a bed at least.  The nearby Decathlon doesn't have a pole of the right size, but they suggest a bigger store near the airport which I'll be passing tomorrow.  If all else fails I will just buy a new tent...

Last pitch of the tent before the pole disintegrated.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.