This turned out to be a long, adventurous day. We headed south along the coast. At a morning stop Roger suggested we ride
across a causeway called ‘Le Gois’ to the fishing and resort island of
Noirmoutier. The approximately 2km
causeway, which is underwater when the tide comes in, used to be the only way
on and off the island until a bridge was built in the early 70’s. The causeway turned out to be difficult for
bikes as it is composed of rough tiles which make bike riding very
uncomfortable. Next to the causeway are
a string of wooden towers that provide refuge for persons caught by the
tide. [Apparently cars which can park
just off the causeway while people dig clams or hunt for shells, are regularly caught by the
tide.] The first two photos are from a website about Le Gois.
 |
| Le Gois as the Tide Comes in |
 |
| One of the Rescue Towers Next to Le Gois |
 |
| David Just off Le Gois Before Discovering His Tire was Going Flat |
 |
| Le Gois After Crossing |
Upon getting off the causeway onto an approach road that was
still subject to inundation, I discovered that my back tire was going
flat. I quickly used an aerosol can of
compressed air and sealant that I had brought for just such an emergency. It did inflate the tire but it became
apparent that air was still escaping somewhere.
I quickly hopped on my bike to get somewhere where we could obtain
assistance and not be subject to the tide.
A mile or so down the road I found a tourist office and the helpful
young woman there gave me a flyer for the bike shop in town. My ‘phone French’ is not good so Roger called
and was informed that the shop was for renting bikes and that they did not work
on other bikes.
We had been provided with spare ‘linear’ tubes when we
picked up our rental bikes, so we turned the bike over and began to remove one
side of the tire from the rim so we could remove the bad tube. [Because this was an electric bike, with the
motor and electric and gear connections on the hub, removing the back wheel is
difficult and requires more tools than we had.
The ‘linear’ tube is a tube sealed at each end so it can be placed in
the tire while the wheel remains on the bike.
A very neat solution!]
 |
| Changing First Tube in Front of Tourist Office |
Very soon a very helpful couple on bikes stopped to assist. We were having problems because Roger’s pump
would not fit well on the type of valve the tube had. After pumping up the tire, the couple
left. We then overtightened the stem nut
causing the new tube to leak! So, we
started the process over, with another biking couple stopping to assist. The replacement tube was smaller in diameter
than the bike wheel [it was for Tom’s bike.], so where the linear tube overlapped
there appeared a small bulge in the tire which caused the bike to bump slightly
on a smooth surface. I was sure it would
work for a while, and some of our riding was on packed-earth trails, so the
bump was not very noticeable.
We finally got underway after 1-1/2 to 2hours, and left the
island via the bridge. We had to ride in the traffic because the bridge was being repaired and the dedicated bike
path on the bridge was closed due to the placement of the machinery being used
in the repair work.
We stopped in the
small town of Fromentine for lunch.
We also found a bike shop where I bought another tube [only circular
tubes were available, but that would work on the front wheel.] and another can
of compressed air and sealant.
The last part of the day’s ride
was by dedicated path through the woods and on roads by the sea. This is a big resort area where the French
‘camp’ in trailers, small cabins, and sometimes tents, all very close together,
during the summer. Not a lot of people were at the resorts while we were there.
 |
| Roger and Tom on the Way to St-Gilles |
We stopped for the night in St-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie at a great B’n’B run by a charming
couple. The man poured us all glasses of wine
and sat and chatted with us for a while.
Roger and Gérard went out in Gérard's car and purchased bread, cheeses, saucisson, and wine for dinner as no one was feeling particularly hungry nor did we want to go into town to find a restaurant.
 |
| Finishing our Impromtu Dinner |
We did about 66km for the day, but because of
our repair adventure, it had been a longer than expected day.
No comments:
Post a Comment