Estuary Ride ???? Fishing Huts & A Ferry – Cycling to BORDEAUX

Day 52. 73km (86107kms 8yrs)

Another double sunset and sunrise camp at the duck hide. It even came with a drop toilet if you don’t mind clearing the cobwebs and shooing away the odd spider or two.
With a break coming up in Bordeaux I aired my camping gear, removing a surprising amount of snails from under the ground sheet.

Back over the walkway and bridge to the road I continued south along the eastern edge of the estuary. A tractor carrying concrete breeze blocks dropped one, driving immediately over it which sent it spinning; I froze unsure which way the parts breaking off it would fly. With good fortune - because what I didn’t do is protect my eyes in any way - they mostly settled in place.

Where the road meets the water there’s lots more of those lovely fishing sheds on stilts - ‘carrelets’ - which I find very charming. It’s still utterly flat and a little windy but I got my bare arms out today on the first day of the year that could be reasonably described as warm. So I couldn’t really complain when at Blaye I had to pay the new April spring price for the ferry (though I never paid a winter price for anything in March - it was just all closed!)

Having deciphered the timetable I used the hour or so before the next boat to explore the citadel a bit before descending back to the river. 20 minutes of boat trip later we were deposited (disembarking from the *side* of the ferry) onto the west bank.

The road to Bordeaux cut scenically through vineyards, though regrettably I had no time for a tasting in order to reach my hosts on time.

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