Tour de France - Heading North.

So we'd ridden to France, diagonally across France, all that was left, was to ride North up the Atlantic coast to get a ferry home. A mere 1000 kilometres.

A mate had told me that there was a traffic free route called La Vélodyssée that went North along the Atlantic, so we set off following that.

Biarritz

In the trees, there was lots of riding in the trees.

In the evening, Tom loved playing on the beach.

The massive dunes near Arcachon.

Now what you can't see in any of the pictures above are people. Be assured though August on the Atlantic in France is heaving with holidaymakers. This was a bit of a shock after the quiet villages we'd visited earlier in our trip.

The signposts we followed.

Below is how sweaty my hands were in the late afternoon.

We took the ferry across the mouth of the Garonne river.

Below, Tom taking a mid morning shower in La Rochelle.

 Tom putting more air in the rear tyre to minimise rolling resistance.

Whilst mentioning tyres, the tread had all but gone on both by now.

After La Rochelle we abandoned the Vélodyssée route, and took a more direct line towards the ferry, as we had the promise of a lift home if we made Portsmouth on Monday.

This also meant that our days would have to have more riding. Essentially in the last 3 days we squeezed in 4 days riding. There was still plenty of time for pictures though.

We sat on the wheels of these guys for a while.

 A really pretty canal that we followed towards St Malo.

More cake.

 Tom laughing at my beard.

Turning the bike round after one of many wrong turns.

 Then 3,226 kilometres after leaving Bromsgrove, we arrived in St Malo.

....and then next day the ferry home.