A Ferry, a Headwind, and a Classic Blunder

Day 38: Niort to Bressuire (60 miles / 3,800 ft.)

It was a slow-moving morning, beginning with breakfast alongside Thomas. We had bread, marmalade, honey, yogurt, and coffee, our now-familiar French breakfast. The yogurt was made from sheep’s milk, a first for us, and it was delicious.

After breakfast, we lingered over more conversation with Thomas, including a few more musical ideas for us to explore. Eventually, we said goodbye and rode to the Niort market.

We wandered among the cheese, produce, bread, and other local specialties in search of tomatoes, honey, and our favorite cheese from the night before, Cendré de Niort. The creamy goat cheese is aged on a chestnut leaf and was definitely worth tracking down. Once our bags were a little heavier, we finally pointed the bikes toward Bressuire.

We had 60 miles and nearly 3,800 feet of climbing ahead of us. The morning temperature was around 49 degrees, and a stiff wind quickly established itself as the day’s nagging little enemy.

Despite the chill, the early riding along the winding Sèvre Niortaise was beautiful. I also had a surprise planned for Lisa: a tiny self-service ferry near Sciecq. When we arrived, the ferry was waiting on the opposite bank, so we pulled a chain to bring it across, rolled our loaded bicycles aboard, and then used another chain to pull ourselves across the river.

It was something neither of us had ever done before, which always makes a bicycle tour more fun. It was even a little romantic, just the two of us hauling ourselves across the quiet river toward a ruined château.

On the opposite bank stood Château de Mursay. The château became the home of the poet and soldier Agrippa d’Aubigné during the late 1500s. His granddaughter, Françoise d’Aubigné, spent her early childhood there before later becoming Madame de Maintenon and the secret wife of King Louis XIV. Today, the remaining stone walls form a peaceful garden of ruins beside the river.

From Mursay, we left the flatter Niort plain and entered the Gâtine poitevine. The landscape changed into rolling farmland, pastures, small woods, ponds, and fields divided by thick hedgerows. It looked gentle compared with the Pyrenees, but the constant short climbs gradually added up.

That was my classic blunder for the day. I assumed that leaving the Pyrenees meant we were in for an easier ride. Instead, we found rolling hills, stiff legs from the previous days, and a chilly headwind that seemed determined to stay with us all afternoon.

Our route carried us through Champdeniers, Saint-Marc-la-Lande, and Mazières-en-Gâtine before twisting through the medieval town of Parthenay. From there, we joined La Vélidéale, following an old railway line north toward Bressuire.

The former tracks have been converted into a long, peaceful greenway through the Gâtine and Bocage bressuirais. The gradual railway grades were certainly easier than the surrounding roads, although even the trail had more climbing than we expected. We passed old stations, wooded cuttings, farms, pastures, and the occasional opening with views across the rolling countryside.

Above us, the sky was brilliant blue with puffy white clouds, but the photographs did not show how cold it felt. With the wind, colder temperatures it seemed at least ten degrees colder.

We finally rolled into Bressuire around 5:00 p.m., tired but happy to be there. We wandered around town taking pictures, visited a grocery store for supplies, and then found our Airbnb.

Unfortunately, the advertised shared kitchen would not be available to us until 8:15. The accommodations were not quite what we expected, but we made do. Eventually, we abandoned our original dinner plans, picked up a pizza and French fries, and ate in our room.

It may not have been the easy post-Pyrenees day I had imagined, but it was still another beautiful one. We explored a lively market, crossed a river by pulling our own ferry, visited a château, followed an old railway, and watched an entirely different region of France unfold around us.

Not bad for a day that began with a classic blunder.Read more