Richard Coeur de Lion

I had decided to take advantage of the Marinas bike loan facility and elected to ride a circular route to the nearest town of any size Talmont-Saint-Hilaire. Lynne declined to accompany me, which turned out to be a clever move on her part as the initial part of the journey was along main roads with heavy traffic. Not something Lynne is fond of, It also proved to be a surprisingly long way!

The town is famous, (I use the term loosely), for being linked to Richard the Lionheart, who was prince of Talmont among his many other titles. So there is a castle or Chateau de Talmont in the centre of town.

The castle is liberally decorated with ' three lions ' there is a fabulous view out over the town which I am guessing would be even better from the battlements.

It seems rather dilapidated on first inspection but is in a very good position strategically being on a hill, the rest of the town is nestled in a natural dip, all roads out of town lead uphill as I was to discover.

It is possible to visit the castle for a small cost and in the high season there are usually displays of jousting ,falconry etc. unfortunately I didn't have the time to spare, being expected back for lunch having been to the Boulangerie on my way back. However I did have time to admire the castle from the outside and also to wonder at the miniature Cog in the canal in town.

Only a proper sailing nerd would be aware that this was a reasonably authentic if much smaller scale replica of a medieval sailing ship, a Cog, usually used for trade and carrying cargo, this would have been very similar to the ships the Normans would have used to invade England in 1066.

All to soon it was time to consult the map and find my way back, I climbed out of town and headed for the small village of La Guilletre near to where the oyster farmers on the estuaire de payre were based and where I had enjoyed oysters for lunch the day before. I soon intercepted cycle path no 4 and was  crossing the salt marshes back towards Bourgenay. There are lots of Heron, white Egrets and even the occasional Kingfisher to be seen............

I called in at the Boulangerie and was back in time for lunch, as I grabbed my stuff for a shower Lynne was just emerging from the showers herself and after we had eaten we decided to go for a walk to investigate getting the bus to Talmont -Saint-Hilaire for a better look around. This proved to be rather problamatic so I suggested we could possibly walk there tomorrow. Meanwhile we had happened on some large groups of cyclists who were obviously doing an organised ride of some description following some blue and yellow arrows, having nothing better to do we followed on foot.

Once again we were surprised to find a whole new world just off the beaten track and we spent a very enjoyable afternoon exploring yet more delightful countryside.

The photo above is of a restored ruin of a windmill, the vines in the foreground were heavy with grapes.

We were only occasionally disturbed by groups of cyclists, however we got a little tired of nodding and going through the pleasantries of " bonjour " to groups of twenty or more as we stood aside!

Good French practise though, eventually we rejoined route 4 that I had cycled that morning and returned to town. A very enjoyable day.