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!