Rain, Rain Go Away ... And Stay Away

After 3 long days of rain, we finally find ourselves on the coast. The trip from Paris started out with rain and because we were making good time and all of our stuff is waterproof, we decided to make the rainy days the long biking days. Sigh, we knew that we would hit some wet weather, but to be affronted with it for 3 days was a bit rough. Lunches have been bread, cheese, tomatoes and sausage. Yesterday, Howard made us a cheese omlette in a bus shelter, and we were saluted with 'Bon appetit' by two ladies waiting for the bus. My towel hasn't been properly dry in days, although our tent is like a warm little sauna. Chasing the sun, desperate to get to the coast, we've been averaging 10 hours of riding a day and the saddle sores are flaring up.

So we busted 3 long days of riding and found ourselves 30km from the sea last night. When we pulled the tent flap open this morning to find sun, we thanked the weather gods and made our way to the beach town of Royan. It's full of beach clothing shops and creperies and tourists. I suppose this is where people come in the summer time. We're a bit worried that we haven't made camping reservations, but we'll play it by ear. Turns out, the only way to make reservations is to send a paper letter to the campsite. Oh well.

We decided to name our bikes after two travelers: Gulliver and Roland. We've christened them by breaking a bottle of cider on the frames and branding them with bright green stickers.

Yesterday morning a friendly Englishman took pity on us and offered to get us some croissants from the bakery while we packed up our wet stuff.

Hopefully we'll be smooth (and dry) sailing from now on.