Sometimes no plan is a good plan

We started our ride this morning with GPS running for a route that wasn’t what we wanted but we hoped would kind of put us in the right direction. We had been thinking nice roads heading north to Le Moule would be fun but soon found ourselves at the N5 again. It’s a fast 2 lane road and while we know the cars would give us space it’s not the most fun to ride on that sort of road. We pondered a bit at the intersection and then decided to turn around and follow the signs to Baie-Olive as it looked like was a beach there.

Lovely back roads with some rolling hills, going past various kinds of farmland. We think this is sugarcane

As we descended on brand new smooth blacktop I was sort thinking uh-oh, this much fun usually means some real pain later. The descent ended in a beautiful lookout with a chapel and a separate small building for lighting candles. We had a nice break there and the climb back up really wasn’t all that bad! Maybe the indoor trainers are paying off.

We pulled over on the road to Pointe de Chateaux to look at one of the many little paths that lead down to the beach. There are always many cars on the side of the road because you can easily find this sort of little private beach

We decided to ride out to  the Pointe and were surpised to be passed by several huge tour buses. It was really busy when we got out there! Turns out it was cruise ships taking the passengers on an excursion. We chatted with one woman from SC, formerly from MA.

It was an excellent ride with very little traffic, great scenery and just the right amount of rolling terrain to provide a bit of a workout.

Back at the bungalow we were feeling sweaty but good after 21 miles and 1400 feet of climbing. Alas, there was NO running water in the bungalow! Something to do with the solar on the roof according to our neighbor? Not sure we understand it but when you don’t speak the language you really have to just go with what little you can grasp so we packed up and headed off to find one of those little beaches. We found a great spot and chilled out until the sky turned ominously dark. We got a bit of a shower on the way back to the car and then were very relieved to find enough water for a shower when we got back to the bungalow.

Natalie came by in the evening just to say hi. She explained that the water is occasionally cut off by the town; that made more sense! It was nice to see her. Last time we were here Natalie, Tony and daughters were living in the bungalow next door so we saw more of them. I’m sure they’re glad to be somewhere with more space!