Last Leg.

What a great conclusion to our cycle tour.  The weather was very kind.  We didn't have breakfast at the hotel but we cycled back up to the coast to Blonville-sur-Mer and had a double coffee with pastries.  We sat out in sunshine and I could see a temperature display click over to 18 degrees....very pleasant.

We chose to cycle inland along a cycle route and soon regretted it when we had to get up the longest hill of the trip.  It was good character building stuff though.  Thankfully we managed to keep the pastries down.

We carried on back to the coast to Dives-sur-Mer....the place where William the Conqueror's fleet set off from to attack England.  Our historical knowledge may be a bit sketchy because we had a disagreement about whether William brought his cavalry horses over in ships with him or not.  By the time we finished the discussion we agreed that he must have brought the horses...and...Hannibal joined him with his Elephants and Noah brought the 'Ark Royal' as back up!

The picture below is the harbour at Dives.

We found a pedestrian bridge over the estuary between Dives and Cabourg.  It saved a few kilometres of cycling and was probably more scenic too.  Cabourg has a street plan shaped like a semi circular cart wheel.  Maybe it was an early 'new town'?  It was a favourite holiday destination of Marcel Proust (a French author, not a Formula One car driver!).

We had a nice fish lunch and received complimentary Calvados (apple brandy), probably the only Normandy delight we hadn't tasted on the trip, so all boxes are now ticked.  Those glasses were tiny!

Having completed another 60km we separated with David at Pegasus Bridge.  After an emotional waving of hankies he cycled back to Caen and Peter and I headed back to the Ferry Port at Ouistreham.  Perfect timing for our ferry.  We were picked up by Janice for the long, late journey back north.

Thank you for bearing with my poor proof reading of the blog...I have suffered technical problems with my ipad....it may be given the order of the boot.  It has travelled many miles with me and as far as a tech device goes it has had a long and good life.

Well.....we have covered 463km in 6 days, not bad going for oldish chaps.....I'm glad that I haven't calculated our calorie intake, I suspect it may be in the 50,000's.  We have certainly had some lovely food and drink which is a prime objective of the trip.  The weather has been certainly better than expected, we have stayed dry all week.

The route was perfect with a balance of cycle routes on old train tracks, lanes through beautiful rural countryside and villages.  We have had a bit of history and then headed to the coast for harbours and large sandy beaches.  It is certainly an area that warrants further exploration.

Big thanks to my brothers...we had a fantastic time.  Now, its time to diet!  Thanks also to our wives for holding the fort in our absence and also to the brave people who actually read this twaddle! 

Au Revoir till next year.

Beside the Seaside.

 Unfortunately I forgot to take my cheese out of the fridge at the gite.  The owner will get a 'nice' surprise when he cleans up.

It was a grey and cool start.  We quickly warmed up with a tough climb shortly after starting our journey.  We headed for the coast and cycled up the Seine estuary and under the Pont de Normandie.

Our lunchtime stop was at the delightful harbour of Honfleur.  It is probably the most touristy place of our whole tour but lovely all the same.

We had the sea food experience.  Soupe Poisson, and Moule Mariniere.  We do like to be beside the seaside, so we should eat the food of the sea.  We also had a couple of oysters each.

Onward to Trouville and Deauville, both nice seaside towns on opposite sides of an estuary.

The weather had picked up and we had a superb ice cream, described by Peter as the best he had ever had, so it must be good.  The ice creams were eaten too quickly for the photo!  The beaches were lovely...no sun bathing but there were plenty of people about walking and playing.  

We arrived at Pont L'Eveque and were again a little disappointed by the quality of the bridges, we awarded them 'nil Pont'!  We did go and buy some Pont L'Eveque cheese.  It might be our last cheese of the trip.  The hotel is again out of town so we bought some provisions for the room in case we were caught without a restaurant.  It was a nice hotel, quite large and part of a chain.  David has done a good job with booking the hotels.  65 km today on the bikes but the legs are keeping going ok.

Here is sample of our feast for this evening.  Note the cheeky Chateau David wine.

Cheesy joke of the Day

What do you call a smelly cheese in a a church?  Stinking Bishop.

Plague of Locusts!

I am likening the Vernons tour of Normandy to a plague of locusts who scour the land for food and eat everything that is available.  This mornings breakfast included cereals, yoghurts, fruit purée, cured ham, cheese, croissant, breads, jam, honey and Nutella.  We cleared the decks and swiped apples for later in the day.  I must admit to being rather stuffed.  I'm sure word is getting around Normandy that we are here, so much so that today was a public holiday and many food establishments were closed...just so we couldn't clear them out.  We did manage to forage for supplies....see later in the blog.

The cycling was superb again.  Fairly flat compared to other days and we visited smaller villages rather than chateau and towns.  An early visit was to Marolles, pronounced 'marlwa'.  It is the location for another cheese!  Again a small place without much sign of cheese production, maybe they make it elsewhere?

We did make a purchase......it was this unidentified cheese.  We had some of it with bread and late at lunchtime and it went into my pannier (in a plastic bag), however, I think it needed triple bagging to keep the smell in.  It is the kind of smell that grabs your nostrils and won't let go.  I have brought it to tonights accommodation and slammed it into the fridge.  I may accidentally leave it tomorrow!

The whole of France seemed closed for the public holiday.  No-one was around with the exception of a small town that had a table top sale.

We called in at Pont Audamer, we needed a quick beer.  The town has lots of half timbered buildings but is a bit short of a decent bridge.  We carried on to find our overnight accommodation in a village about 7 km away.  We expected a small hotel but the area was really quiet and we couldn't find the place even with the help of Google Maps.  It turned out to be a gite in the grounds of a larger house behind a locked gate...with no signs.  We managed to see a man in the garden. He confirmed he was expecting us.  The gite is a nice modernised cottage.  The man later explained that he didn't think there was any restaurants open in the area tonight.  We were completely panicked!! We had a quick shower and cycled the 7km back to Pont Audemer and found a pizza restaurant....phew, panic over!

Our cycling total today was 98 km...not bad for old guys.

I missed the joke yesterday so you get two today.

What kind of cheese does a dinosaur eat?...Gorgonzilla!

What does an alcoholic cheese call for?....Morbier!