Rochefort, Royan and Talmont

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Wednesday 14th September – Rochefort, Royan and Talmont.
A bit of change in the weather again today with the sun shining. Headed for Rochefort to visit the Corderie Royale and the reconstruction of the 18th century ship of La Fayette – the Hermione. Good parking outside the Corderie which was free between 12 and 2pm. 14 euros each to go into both the rope factory and to see the ship. Certainly worth a visit. Nice atmosphere to Rochefort. Our next stop was Royan a seaside town just a little way down the coast with views across the Gironde estuary. Free parking on the seafront and loads of beach cafes with an excellent choice of menus. Our crepes tasted so much better with the sun on our backs and a view of the sea in front of us. Noticed a lot of motorhomers going on the ferry between Royan and Pointe Degrave. Cost 46 Euros for the trip one way. We hadnt intended going any further but ended up at Talmont a delightful little village one of the plus beaux villages of France which certainly lived up to its name. Flowers everywhere and read that it looks amazing in the early summer when the Hollyhocks are blooming. Excellent parking for a car at 2 euros a day and a motorhome stop which I think cost around 8 euros a night. Talmont was one of those places you fall upon unexpectedly and and fall in love with. Shopping night tonight – found loads of Intermarche and SuperU stores but feel none of them have food of the quality back home. Found myself missing Tesco, Sainsburys and Morrisons. Glenn has decided I must be the most clumsy of people on this earth as tonight decided to try bike riding. Having not ridden much when I was young I am not the most confident on a bike. After much wobbling fell off and head butted the wall leaving a big lump on my head, gravel rashed my right arm, cut my left little finger and bruised and battered my nose. I now have more aches and pains to go with the ones from falling last week. Luckily a nice bottle of wine before hand meant that my fall was cushioned. Lovely sunflowers still out in this part of France. The Spring had been rather dry and a good number of the sunflower seeds had failed to germinate. Easter luckily brought rain and this set the seeds off which meant that although most fields were brown and dead there were still some yellow flowers about.

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