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Cycling to the marshes north of Les Sables d’Olonne (Pays de la Loire, France)

June 24, 2018 by Maria Fernandez

Marshland, Salt marshes, Les Sables d'Olonne, France - www.simonking.bike

Ride to the marshes: map & data

© OpenStreetMap contributors
Total distance: 28.34 mi
Total climbing: 1271 m
Total time: 06:43:28
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There’s an imaginary 300m spike and drop on the graph above. Please, ignore it.

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Exploring the area around Les Sables d’Olonne wasn’t part of the plan when we left Edinburgh two days before.

Our original idea was to laze around until we got to Douarnenez the following week. But, as we were walking to our accommodation when we arrived on Friday, we saw a bike hire shop, and then another. So we said: “Perhaps we could hire a bike for a day – or two”.

But the bike hire price for the week was almost the same as for a couple of days. Also, by then, we’d seen cycle paths all over, and the bike-only streets, and we’d spotted on the map all the places we could go to on two wheels.

Off to the marshes

So we got two bikes for the whole week, and off we went to the marshland north of Les Sables d’Olonne, on this beautiful summer’s day.

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Marshland, Salt marshes, Les Sables d'Olonne, France - www.simonking.bike

Our superb cycle path

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Click to see the photo gallery
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To get there we cycled along the rocky coast for a bit. Looking at this photo, it now reminds me of what we’d see in Brittany a week later, but at a modest scale.

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Marshland, Salt marshes, Les Sables d'Olonne, France - www.simonking.bike

One of many rocky spots in the area

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We also cycled past a couple of sandy beaches, and a few swimmers roasting under the sun.

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Marshland, Salt marshes, Les Sables d'Olonne, France - www.simonking.bike

Plage de l’Aubraie, just outside Les Sables d’Olonne

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It wasn’t long before we came across one of my favourite vehicles. I wonder how many of those toys feature on this blog by now. Obviously, not enough.

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Marshland, Salt marshes, Les Sables d'Olonne, France - www.simonking.bike

A splendiferous French toy

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Just before we got to the marshland, we stopped by this sign to immortalise our bikes.

The Tour de France was due to start not too far from here on 7 July. Do they let you join with a team of two on a granny saddle?

It’d be a lot more fun for the spectators.

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Marshland, Salt marshes, Les Sables d'Olonne, France - www.simonking.bike

On the right spot, two weeks too early

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The weather forecast was for sun all day, coupled with no wind, and no chance of rain.

We sprayed on our factor 50 sun cream and, instead of helmets, wore our explorer hats. Between the sun cream and the hat, I was drenched in perspiration by the time we left Les Sables d’Olonne.

I couldn’t care less, though. I was a happy bunny on a French bike.

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Marshland, Salt marshes, Les Sables d'Olonne, France - www.simonking.bike

Simon showing off his cool hat

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Before you get to the main marshland area, there’s a patch of forest, and that’s basically all the natural shade you get all day.

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Marshland, Salt marshes, Les Sables d'Olonne, France - www.simonking.bike

The hot path to the marshes

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The sun hits the marshes and they often look strangely green.

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Marshland, Salt marshes, Les Sables d'Olonne, France - www.simonking.bike

One of many marshes in the area

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Or not very appealing.

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Marshland, Salt marshes, Les Sables d'Olonne, France - www.simonking.bike

A less attractive marsh

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Or spectacularly blue.

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Marshland, Salt marshes, Les Sables d'Olonne, France - www.simonking.bike

Passerelle du Marais Moizon

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We’d left Les Sables d’Olonne with a just-in-case packed lunch, but mostly hoping that we’d find a nice little restaurant somewhere near the marshes.

Soon we saw a sign for the bistro “Au Bout du Monde”, and got all excited. Grilled scallops, barbecued ribs, a juicy steak, I was picturing them all in my mind when we arrived at the spot.

But alas, the place had been abandoned and was no more. The juicy steak would have to wait.

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Marshland, Salt marshes, Les Sables d'Olonne, France - www.simonking.bike

A fabulous lunch that never took place

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We cycled back into the forest area and had our not-very-French lunch in the shade.

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Marshland, Salt marshes, Les Sables d'Olonne, France - www.simonking.bike

Looking for an alternative lunch spot

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These marshes north of Les Sables d’Olonne used to be a sea salt production area since Roman times.

Today, only a few of the marshes are salt marshes, the rest are a refuge for a wide variety of plants, fish and birds. The whole area covers hundreds of hectares, and everywhere you go there are paths crisscrossing the marshes.

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Marshland, Salt marshes, Les Sables d'Olonne, France - www.simonking.bike

More marshes

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One place worth visiting when you’re in the marshes is the Bird Observation Hut.

It’s a wooden structure that gives you not only a well deserved shade, but also a great view of many of the birds that nest in the area.

According to the information board, these are some of the birds you can see: northern pintail, common tern, common kingfisher, peregrine falcon, dunlin, European golden plover, and many more.

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Marshland, Salt marshes, Les Sables d'Olonne, France - www.simonking.bike

A farm next to the bird observation hut

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Most of the marshes are privately owned and are now fish farms. Eel and mullet are the main species. If you get close to the water, you can see them swimming around.

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Marshland, Salt marshes, Les Sables d'Olonne, France - www.simonking.bike

Bridge over a marsh, and a cycle path

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This was a great excursion with what at times looked like a surreal landscape, and the farm machinery made it even better. As you know, I’m a sucker for tractors and other toys.

By the way, if you’ve noticed the spike and sudden drop on the map above, ignore it. For some reason our gps decided to draw it, but in reality it never happened. By our standards, this area is as flat as a pancake.

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Marshland, Salt marshes, Les Sables d'Olonne, France - www.simonking.bike

Another splendid toy

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Looking at the map we discovered that the fantastic cycle route we were on is called “La Vélodyssée”, and we’d only covered a tiny stretch.

The whole route is 750 miles (1200 km) long and goes from Roscoff, in northern Brittany, to Hendaye, on the border with Spain. Apparently 70% of it is on paths with no cars.

Will we do it one day?

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Marshland, Salt marshes, Les Sables d'Olonne, France - www.simonking.bike

We can cycle all the way to Spain!

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A few days later Simon had the afternoon off. We jumped on our bikes and went inland to a small town called Sainte Foy.

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Our 2018 holiday in France

A week in Les Sables d’Olonne (Pays de la Loire): from 22 to 29 June, 2018.

Cycling from Les Sables d’Olonne to Sainte Foy (Pays de la Loire): 28 June, 2018.

Walking around Douarnenez (Brittany): 30 June, 2018.

Day 1 walking on the GR34 (Brittany): 1 July, 2018.

Day 2 walking on the GR34 (Brittany): 2 July, 2018.

Day 3 walking on the GR34 (Brittany): 3 July, 2018.

Day 4 walking on the GR34 (Brittany): 4 July, 2018.

A visit to Quimper (Brittany): 4 & 5 July, 2018.

A tour of Nantes (Pays de la Loire): 5 & 6 July, 2018.

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I took all the photos with the Panasonic.

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Filed Under: Abroad, Blog, Day ride Tagged With: Cycling, France

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