Hitching France Pt. 13 – La Rochelle

I relaxed in a cheap hotel room, showered, got a good night’s sleep and woke up early to snag some free breakfast on the way out of the hotel. I walked alongside the busy road through business lots and around a roundabout to reach my launch point. It was another great spot with a good sized pull off area and the traffic was somewhat slow so everyone could see me well. It was only about ten or fifteen minutes until an older lady had pulled over and we were cruising to La Rochelle. She had been visiting some friends in Bretagne and was going to stop in Rochefort to visit someone else before heading home in Grenoble. It was a pleasant ride. She had a lot of questions about my life and what I was doing. She dropped me off just before her exit, to catch the road heading to Rochefort, which turned out to be around two miles from the city center for me. There was a lot of traffic and I walked alongside the cars until some space on the side of the road opened up to patches of grass and parking lots to walk through before the sidewalk started. It was a really nice stroll into the city and I followed the signs for the centre-ville until things began to look familiar. I was really excited to be back to La Rochelle, the city where I had studied for six months two years prior. I came to an open air market as I approached the outskirts of the city center and I felt welcomed with the fresh sights but I continued on to my main destination: the old port. I was getting kind of hungry so I stopped at Monoprix and bought cheese, lunch meat and a baguette to make a sandwich while sitting out by the old port. It was great to be back and see the old towers, the port and la grosse horloge (the big clock).

The nostalgia came on and I reminisced outside in the warm weather. I walked around the centre-ville for awhile and found old places I used to frequent when I studied abroad, letting the memories come pouring back to my mind. I started to get pretty tired so I took a nap on a bench in a big park for a bit and then walked back to the old port and took a couple beers at Le Phare Café for old times sake. Afterwards I continued on to explore the other familiar part of the city. Particularly my old house and the old school. I was disappointed to find out that the bakery which was less than a five minute walk from my old house was no longer there. It had been awesome to be able to quickly pick up fresh baguettes, pain au chocolat, croissants, chausson aux pommes or whatever else for breakfast in the morning. I definitely took full advantage of that luxury during my time there. I walked all over seeing if I remembered the ways to different places while also taking some streets that I hadn’t gone down before. I caught the sunset over the beach and then went to the Mcdonald’s close to where I had lived before. I spent more time in McDonald’s while hitchhiking than I care to admit. Often times I would just use it as a place to go to the bathroom, charge my phone and check in on the wifi. When you’re traveling and don’t have a place to hang out then fast food joints are a readily available solution when you want to kill some time in a place where you don’t have to be too self-conscious about taking power and wifi for a minimal or non-existing fee. If I was hungry and wanted a full meal, I’d go to a nice café but I sometimes felt rude making myself at home there. Oh well. Anyway, I waited there awhile for it to get dark because I didn’t have anywhere to go and I didn’t want to pitch my tent while it was still light out.

Around 8:30 p.m. I began to head to the park at Pointe des Minimes to find a place to pitch my tent overlooking the water. There are some nice residences behind the park and it was quiet, empty and still when I arrived. I walked past the port along the path just above the water as I entered the park and once I was hidden from the entrance I climbed up a hill, that had no path to the top from either side, and pitched my tent perfectly concealed by some bushes and trees with the opening facing the water for a nice view in the morning. It was a great spot and I slept well that night. I woke up early in the morning with a full 8 hours or so of sleep. The sun was just about to rise when I packed up my items and I got to watch it rise while I continued down the path above the water. It was an absolutely beautiful morning. While I was walking down the path I found a small staircase winding down to the rocks and water below. I went down and sat on the rocks looking out over the water with the rising sun. It was moments like that which made the journey so special. I even brushed my teeth with the amazing view. Once I had soaked it all in, I pushed on heading south out of the city. I stopped at a Carrefour for breakfast on-the-go and walked on to find a spot to hitch from.