2014
After landing in Europe for the first time, France welcomed me with lot of beautiful routes for biking and running. I immediately decided to explore the west of France starting from Nantes. The plan was to bike till La Rochelle. I was intending to go solo, but more friends were motivated to join to explore some local bike routes along the coast. From Nantes, we headed towards Noirmoutier, it was a bit confusing start to get away from the city finding a fixed path but ‘circuit vendee a velo’ saved us by making things easier and exploring local vineyards and small towns. The outskirts of Nantes looked so clean and beautiful like a vintage painting with blue skies. Outskirts of Nantes.
The route was so scenic and enjoyable, our plan was to halt near Beauvoir sur Mer. Apparently one of my friends cycle was not a perfect fit and was encountering more punctures throughout the day. I had to fix it while others were chatting and cracking jokes on how one might encounter more flat tires. We made a stop near a traditional restaurant and started tasting the local cuisine. After a 60km ride and couple of flat tires (luckily I didn’t face any) we reached Beauvoir sur Mer.
(The first week in France with my new bike in the countryside of Bretagne.) From there we headed towards Ile-de-Noirmoutier. It was pitch dark and we were heading towards the place of stay for the night, so that we could kickstart our day as early as possible. Apparently it was a tidal island and was full of salt marsh and salt banks. The road was narrow and we could feel the wind hitting on us.
Lunch pitstop before Beauvoir sur mer. We got up early and started biking towards Les Sables d’Olonnes; pretty famous for the marathon. The next 60 km of touring began. Enroute the roads were empty and we were surrounded by marshlands. Our initial target was to reach Saint-Jean-de-Monts
Noirmoutier 
Beauvoir sur mer 
Les Sables des Olonnes 
Noirmoutier 
Yet another flat tire for my friend. I decided to replace the cycle tube for him while the others went nearby to grab some food. We were quite happy that the cycling route was not completely on tar.
Two of my friends had to return back to Nantes and I proceeded further towards La Rochelle with the remaining bikers for the night. We already had a host waiting for us who greeted us with warmth and smile. We exchanged stories about the country, culture, food, villages and experienced hospitality at its best. France was both beautiful by day and night. The next day morning we proceeded towards La rochelle and the route passes through forests and trails. It was a lovely route passing through Jard-sur-mer, La Trance-sur-mer and La Rochelle. We also wanted to end in Ile-de-Re. I took a deviation to do some off-roading and enjoyed cycling around the canals. We noticed few private aircrafts in a huge warehouse out of nowhere. After a 100km ride, we reached La Rochelle and from there we had to enter Ile de Re to find our place of stay. Both La Rochelle and Ile-de-Re was calm at night, we were excited to see how the life rolls out during the day. The next day, it was really hot and we explored the city riding around and decided to head back to Nantes, as our classes were about to restart.
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