Day 1 - La Rochelle

We arrived in La Rochelle last night, it's a 4 hour drive southwest from Paris.

La Rochelle is a coastal town, northwest of Bordeaux, its a lovely place with a lot of history.

In the 17th century the original settlers of Quebec left from La Rochelle, and Quebec is remembered in various ways, from the flag at the forts at the entrance to the harbour, to street names:

Sadly, so are the Nazis. La Rochelle was a German stronghold and was the last French town liberated in World War II, and there are also signs, from concrete bunkers to sad commemorations:

We toured the town, Serge (pictured below) and I had great oysters for lunch, and in the afternoon cycled to a very picturesque île de Ré for a warm up.

Tomorrow we leave, and cycle down the coast. The real work begins!

For those of you who haven't yet donated to our research fund, please remember why I am here (see the next post below) and donate at www.stemcellchair.com

Thanks - together we can cure Leukemia.