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The beach and The Atlantic

7th August - Saint Symphorien to Bordeaux
Having cycled so far the previous day, I only have 35 miles to Bordeaux so I'll get there relatively early which I'm glad about because I'm only staying there for one night. The forest continues for about 25 miles and then suddenly ends with two chateau and their accompanying vineyards covering the land. I can tell I'm approaching Bordeaux. 10 miles later in Bordeaux, I find the youth hostel without too much trouble, have some lunch and then wander into the centre. I'm not too impressed so far but I never seem to like anywhere so much when I'm really tired. Will carry on wandering...

P.S. Supermarket update! Jonny has suggested "Carrefour" and Charlotte Willsher "Mammoth" though she's not sure that its French. I've not seen one yet. I think "Ed" is a supermarket. I keep seeing it advertised but haven't had the chance to go to one yet. What fun. Is this really boredom relief?

So I really didn't find much to see in Bordeaux. There seems to be a lot of building and road works going on at the moment which doesn't help. I went back to the hostel to have some food and when I went into the eating area with my usual bread, cheese and pate, a guy asked me (in English) if I wanted to share a bottle of wine with him. Not a problem at all! His name was Bruce and is from Rhode Island. He studies Chemical Engineering there and was telling me about how he earnt money for his trip. He spent 1000 dollars on equipment (syringes, a pressure cooker, petr dishes, a glove box to use things in a sterile atmosphere) to grow his own gourmet mushrooms to sell. He says that it is really easy to buy mushroom spores on the internet. Unfortunately, this wasn't very profitable but it was really just practice for when he grows magic mushrooms which would definitely be profitable. A crazy guy.

Anyway, we had finished eating and just chatting when two girls walked past. Bruce heard that they were speaking English so just called out to them, asking where they were from: Laura from London and Robin from British Columbia. We chatted to them for a short time but Bruce had to go to bed to get his train at 5am the next morning so I went with Laura, Robin and two italian guys that they had met, into town for some food and drink (mostly for me because I had already eaten). We found a restaurant that looked alright but it was only when we had been there for a while that we realised it was an Italian restaurant - at least the italian guys felt at home. All four of them were really nice and we got on really well. Robin had the most interesting/crazy stories because it seems British Columbia is quite a weird place with a lot of cults including a vegetarian Russian one called the Sons Of Freedom and a branch of that called the New Settlement. Of course there are some Mormons around as well(!). We eventually made it back to the hostel at about 1am and it just so happened that the three people I was sharing my room with were Bruce and the two italian guys. A good night - my time in Bordeaux wasn't so bad after all.

8th August - Bordeaux to Maubuisson (via Le Porge-Ocean and Lacanau)
Had breakfast with the italian guys (Bruce had left very early to get his train) and then cycled round Bordeaux for a while and then to this internet cafe where they are playing a Billy Idol album.

After a few miles of ploughing through Bordeaux traffic headed west on a relatively quiet but perfectly flat road towards the beach. That and my legs feeling great after an afternoon rest I was able to keep a speed of about 20mph the whole way so made it to Le Porge Ocean pretty quickly. Once I had managed to push my bike over the sand-dunes (which is really really hard work) I had lunch on the beach. Then continued north on cycle paths to Lacanau which is incredibly touristy - mostly Germans for some reason.

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