Had crazy thoughts of going to Biganos at 35.5 km (22.2 mi), but then I found out while walking that my lodging there was not available. So a fallback option was to walk a reduced 24 km (15 mi) and find lodging in Marcheprime or take the train to another place. As luck would have it, I found a chambre d'hôte in Marcheprime through booking.com (it's the French equivalent of a B&B) and 24 km was just right.
It was a fascinating day--comfortably warm. Very straight country roads that went from asphalt to gravel, my biggest concern being what rocks to avoid. The frequent railroads passing within 15 meters of me interrupted the boredom of the straight path. I picked and ate blackberries and looked for shade to rest, but only found a trailer-mounted large, automated hose reel that pulled the sprinkler as it very slowly wound up a 5-inch hose. Not much shade, but it did the trick. And then there was this truck that you barely see in the picture coming up the same gravel road. He stopped and warned me to cross over now to a parallel road because of the bees ahead--all in near-perfect English. And lastly, there was a superb bike path for about the last 3 miles along the highway. It all made for a fascinating day with a promising B&B experience ahead.
