We exited Lyon by train escaping the predicted 40C of the south of France. The humidity seemed to decrease Lyons airflow and increase the air pollution so we were glad to get on a train, both struggling to breathe properly. We had settled on La Rochelle on tne Atlantic coast as a cool place to go and not too far from where we meeting up with my sister and brotherinlaw, but trying to take a bike on a train to La Rochelle was not that easy. We had to go into Paris change stations and come out of Paris again.We met a german couple with their bikes on the train also going to the coast, escaping the south.The bike carriage on the TER train was pretty good, plenty of room for hanging bikes up.The german couple only had 40 mins to get across Paris from Bercy to Montpassarne as our train was running late. I doubt if they would have made it, with traffic lights etc.

As we arrived in the station at Gare de Paris Bercy bottles of water were being handed out by first aiders, very nice seeing as we had to pedal across Paris in the heat of the day. My navigation notes were good for once and we got to Montpassarne Gare without any hiccups apart from the usual hiccups of being in a car lane not realising the bike path had flicked to the other side of the road.

The train to La Rochelle was a TGV so not particularly bike friendly , a tiny area in a normal carriage up 2 sets of steps. Still it was great being on a super fast train.I had booked an appartment in La Rochelle as it is hard being in a hotel for 4 nights, big mistake the appartment didnot even have a fan let alone air conditioning!

La Rochelle is a beautiful port , surrounded by islands off the coast.Only one hot day was forecast but it has ended up with 2 hot days , with temperatures peaking quite late, it reached 38C yesterday at 8pm and 39C today at 8pm. The owner of the appartment arrived with 2 fans today, alleluia!

We did cycle down the beach last night to cool off but forget about things like tides, so had to paddle a long way out before sitting down in the shallows to get wet. Today we were organised and set off cycling by 8am for the island off the coast Ile de Re. It was just a short trip 40kms so we could be back by lunchtime and get out the heat. An amazing 3km bridge to get onto the island, curving up and then down across the sea with the cycle path well sepated from traffic.

The island itself is a cyclists paradise with signposted cycle paths all over. We only had time to explore 2 villages with whitewashed walls and blue, grey or green shutters, picturesque. We stopped for a lovely coffee/tea in a hotel spa resort before a swim then heading back to get out the heat.The beach was lovely sandy and shells but you can’t beat australian beaches easily.Tomorrow its much cooler so a longer exploration of the island.

Lyon is still increasing in heat reaching over 40C tomorrow so glad we are not there.If we had continued south to the mediteranean on the Rhone route Nimes is now roasting at 43C!

Last year we left the Elbe early as severe storms were forecast and tbis year its been the heatwave that has stopped us cycling up the Saone through France!