Bike tour along France’s Atlantic coast reveals its beauty and history

Wildly gesticulating, a cyclist swerves to avoid a group of tourists. “Ah, ces touristes” – these tourists – he mutters as he passes them. But he has a point. The coastal cycling path south of Les Sables d’Olonne in western France can get crowded. Cyclists here often find themselves stopping and starting frequently. The photo opportunities are simply too numerous. The sea view is stunning, and seabirds flit about. Some visitors are also drawn to a fortification perched on a rocky cliff with the vast ocean behind it. More than 80 years ago, the German occupiers took advantage of this unobstructed view of the Atlantic. They built fortifications and bunkers to prepare for the anticipated invasion by the Western Allies, creating what became known as the Atlantic Wall. Today, the Atlantic Coast Road, part of the European long-distance cycling route, allows cyclists to follow these historical traces. The route runs for 10,650 kilometres (6,617 miles) from Norway to Portugal. The section in France, known as La Vélodyssée, is particularly rewarding for history enthusiasts, especially the stretch between Les Sables d’Olonne and La Rochelle. The Atlantic Wall was more bluff than effective defence. Most of the fortifications and bunkers were left unfinished. However, some relics remain, including fortified shelters along the coast, a “blockhouse” hospital in the centre of Les Sables d’Olonne that now serves as a museum, and the old Fort Saint-Nicolas at the harbour entrance of the city of 50,000. The fort was integrated into the Atlantic Wall. Near the coast, vegetable gardens were confiscated and mined. “The Germans shielded themselves from all sides, but it didn’t help them,” said local historian Roland Mornet. The former captain researches maritime history in Les Sables d’Olonne, his hometown. In 2024, he celebrated the 80th anniversary of the city’s liberation from German occupation. This year, he can do the same 100 kilometres further south at his second home in La Rochelle. In the French port city of La Rochelle, the surrender was not signed until May 9, 1945. The Saint-Nazaire Pocket, 200km north of La Rochelle, remained under German control for two days longer. This fortress was the last stronghold to be liberated – three days after Germany’s official surrender on May 8, 1945. “In August 1944, the German leadership decided to abandon the coast and the smaller ports, but not the major ports like Saint-Nazaire, La Rochelle-Pallice and Bordeaux,” Mornet said. In La Pallice, the industrial port of La Rochelle, the Germans had built a massive submarine bunker that they did not want to fall into Allied hands. Thus, the occupiers created a pocket – open to the Atlantic but protected on the other three sides by troops, artillery and defensive structures. What remains of this German-French history 80 years later? I ponder this as I set off on my bike in Les Sables d’Olonne. To my right is the sea, to my left are imposing city villas, and ahead is a cycling path I occasionally share with cars or pedestrians. No additional navigation aids are needed: the long-distance cycling route has lots of signs. Pine forests take over, and the sea gives way to wetlands. In Saint-Vincent-sur-Jard, cyclists encounter war history again, albeit from an earlier period. Here, former French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau, a statesman of the French Third Republic, lived in a farmhouse with a large garden directly by the sea. Today, the retreat of the former statesman, who took a hard line against Germany at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, is a museum. From Saint-Vincent-sur-Jard to La Rochelle, it is another 70 kilometres along the Vélodyssée. I pass La Tranche-sur-Mer with its seemingly endless sandy beach, follow countless dykes and canals, and cross the estuary of the Sèvre Niortaise. This river marked the northern boundary of the La Pallice pocket. The submarine bunker that the Wehrmacht sought to protect with the pocket remains hidden. Access is prohibited, as the area belongs to the industrial port. The only way to glimpse the nearly 200-metre-wide concrete block, built by the Wehrmacht starting in 1941, is by boat. Alternatively, one can head straight to the centre of La Rochelle, to the site where Germany’s 3rd U-boat Flotilla unit celebrated when not risking their lives underwater. Here, the Germans secretly built a bunker beneath a confiscated hotel at the same time as constructing the submarine base. Today, it is a museum documenting the history of occupation and resistance. On her way to her office every day, Claudie Léger, the museum’s deputy director, passes an iron door. It bears the inscription “Teleprinter station! Access for official use only.” At the stairwell, she glances at a fresco of a black cat – the symbol of the 3rd U-boat Flotilla – which leads to a bar where German U-boat officers celebrated their survival while they could. “The average life expectancy on a U-boat mission was only three weeks,” Léger said. The bunker, along with its old technology, survived the passage of time partly because it remained locked away for decades. After the war, the expropriated owner reclaimed his hotel and sealed off the basement. “He wasn’t exactly proud of it,” Léger said. It was not until the hotel was sold again in the 1980s that the bunker was rediscovered and converted into a museum. Today, it is visited mainly by tourists from Germany. In one section on mobility, visitors learn that cycling gained importance during the occupation – due to a lack of alternatives. How fitting for this historical tour on two wheels. Nowadays, La Rochelle alone offers a 230km network of cycling paths. In the summer months, it can get crowded, and not everyone is there for a commemorative tour on a bike. This can test the patience of passionate racing cyclists. “Ah, ces touristes!” But they have plenty of reasons to visit.

Bike tour along France’s Atlantic coast reveals its beauty and history

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Enjoy great views and explore Nazi remnants from World War II on a ride along La Vélodyssée, the French section of the Atlantic Coast Road

Enjoy great views and explore Nazi remnants from World War II on a ride along La Vélodyssée, the French section of the Atlantic Coast Road