Day 6: Parthenay to L'Isle-Jourdain

Yesterday evening, which was sunny and hot, I couldn't use the campsite swimming pool because I have shorts-style trunks, which are not allowed in France. (You have to wear budgie smugglers.) But this morning I got my own way. Torrential rain from 4am turned my tent into a swimming pool of my own.

It meant spending four hours decamped to the laundry room to dry my gear and sit out the rain in the warm, using the ironing board as a laptop desk, but at last it stopped around nine and I could get going.

It was pleasant rural cycling again, through Poitou-Charentes, with gently rolling farmland, much of it given to dead wilting sunflowers, a curiously forlorn sight. I visited the excellent Gallo-Roman remains (amphitheatre, thermal baths [pic], temple) at Sanxay, which are very rare in France.

I also managed to visit a boulangerie-patisserie and bar that were open on a Sunday, something else very rare in France.



This is the medieval village of Château Larcher (pic), yet another well-preserved and characterful old place, though here seen in an unusual way: there are English or German mobile homes driving through the picture.



Anyway, I finished up in the town of L'Isle-Jourdain, centred around this splendid (old railway) viaduct (pic). I was just about to camp when I heard thunder and thought, oh aye. So I'm in a lovely B&B watching the thunder and lightning from the comfort of my room with a complimentary glass of wine from the friendly hosts. I like cycle touring.

Miles today: 65
Miles since St Malo: 329