27.06.2026 Day 17 - Rieux - Les-Moutiers-en-Retz. Sarting with a blunder, crossing the Loire and nice cycling weather again.

Plan was to pick up the Eurovelo 1, Atlantic Coast Route, towards Nantes, but took the French cycle route 2 to the west instead  🫣. So the trip became a bit longer. Still a nice route through the French campagne, crossing the Loire with a ferry and then back to the Atlantic coast.

I had different choices for the route. I could go to Saint Nazaire and ride the Pont de Saint Nazaire. This has similar challenges as the Pont de Normandie, and the bike lane looks even more narrow. Or I could go to Nantes. But as I need to be in Niort Tuesday night, this is too long if I continue on the EV1, and too short and boring if I go directly to Niort. I chose the third option, the Loire ferry between Couëron and Le Pellerin and then took a shortcut to the west.

Blue lines are the GPX tracks in my app, red is what I actually rode

I had to ride a little to the west to cross the Villaine, but didn't think about that I had two GPX tracks, and took the wrong one. Stupid. No sunshine, so I didn't realize I went in the wrong direction. Found out after 7-8km, and instead of going all the way back I made a new direct route instead. A little advantage was that I only got paved roads, while the cycle tracks are often unpaved. Very good, but still less than a pavement, and dusty!

Some light rain showers, rain jacket on and off. And a thunder storm when I took a break with a heavy shower. After this the rain stopped and it became warmer and sunny.

Arriving in Couëron around 13:00, here is the ferry over the Loire. Here I made a new mistake, had plotted in Couëron and not the ferry, so some additional km again (and ascent). 

On the ferry over the Loire

Shortly after Le Pellegrin, the two channels Canal de la Matinière and Canal de Buzai cross, and the flows are controlled by locks. One just opened when I crossed, and you can see the water with more sediments flowing into the other channel.

Inflow of "fresh" water

It was difficult to find a place for the night, several campings were full and hotels were from 300 Euros and up. Saturday night and I was a bit late, want to know how much I can do before I book. But I found a camping in Prigny, close to Les-Moutiers-en-Retz. Not too fancy, but with a pool 🙂.

A bit more up and down again, but nothing hard, apart from the last one

110 km today, included the "extras", which took 9 hours, 6:20 cycle time. Total distance 1470 km.