Proposed Route: Bayeux-Caen-Livarot-St Evroult Notre Dame du Bois (note:
Fri the 13th)
Cycling time: 5 hours 07 minutes.
Terrain: Easy, flat through Caen, then quite.hilly through
the Camembert country
Weather: Cloudy with some torrential rain. Cool, pleasant
temperature for cycling. Wind SW Force 2, mainly on the
nose.
Narrative: Oh,
the joy of a steaming hot shower at the end of day's ride! When your muscles
have that hollow ache that comes from days of repeated riding, there is little
better than to luxuriate under a constant flow of almost scalding water (well,
perhaps the Swedish masseuse would have been better). We seem all four of
us to have adapted fairly well to the pattern not just of cycling, but of
living in campsites (though Harry's first experience of a French toilet last
night left him in a state of deep and worrying shock -- Hugh did eventually
manage to revive him).
We are now in L'Aigle, a small market town
in deepest Normandy, it is still raining, but we are washed and relaxing while
Nello is preparing a minestrone. We left Bayeux this morning on a day
that was always threatening rain, and cycled through the heart of the Normandy
bocage. The first town we went through was Caen, handsome with its
stout chateau and gothic cathedral, and bustling with daily French activity.
It is a lovely time of the year to be cycling across France: though the weather
is not yet settled, the Normandy countryside is beautiful, lush green with
fields of fresh, waving wheat and barley punctuated with splashes of bright
red poppies.Where the hills begin, the wheat gives way to apple orchards for
the production of cidre and Calvados as well as fields populated
by herds of brown-and-white cows, source of the rich milk that yields the
outstanding cheeses of the region. Indeed, we cycled for awhile along the
Route du Fromage, through the great cheese towns of Livarot (source
of one of our favorites, a pungent rind-washed cheese known as "le colonel")
and Vimoutiers, capital of Camembert.
The climb out of Vimoutiers, however, caught
us by surprise, a particularly long and savage rise, and from there on the
terrain remained up and down until our destination, with plenty of short,
sharp rises along the way that we really had to dig in for. All in all, though,
today's ride was not as difficult as we anticipated: our training ground in
East Devon had prepared us well for this sort of terrain, and we wholly enjoyed
cycling through the Norman countryside, that is until the heavens opened up
on us yet again in the afternoon.
A word about our support team: after a start
that was perhaps less than auspicious, Hugh and Harry have been looking after
us famously. Our cycling advisors Phil and John had stressed the importance
of keeping the riders fed and watered regularly. So, for example, today when
we met up at about 10.30 am after our first 25 miles, the kettle had just
oiled and the duo offered us the choice of either warm croissants or
warm quiche, fresh from the boulangerie: we opted for both.
At lunch just before Livarot, we sat outside in a fleeting moment of sunshine
and enjoyed a magnificent picnic of baguettes with pate d'oie
(goose liver pate), ham, and Camembert. They were always on hand to change
our water bottles. Later in the afternoon, when the rain had descended upon
us and we turned up in a lay-by like drenched muskrats, Hugh played his ace
card: yes, a slice of Anna's famous fruit cake -- made with port and brandy
-- to cheer us up before we carried on for the final wet 15 miles. So the
chaps have been magnificent, though at this rate of feeding, I fear we might
end up too fat to climb the Alps. (Come to think of it, at this rate of feeding
-- they are matching us almost bite for bite -- the support vehicle might
end up too overloaded to climb the Alps.)
Speaking of food, I must say that I am now
feeling a little peckish myself (it's about 8 pm as I write this). So I'd
better get cracking since it's my turn to cook tonight, something simple using
local ingredients: escalopes of pork flambeed in Calvados, then simmered in
cidre with apples and creme fraiche d'Issigny (Issigny is a
small town at the bottom of the Cotentin Penisula that we cycled through yesterday).
Thank you to everybody who has sent us emails.
It is really cheering to hear from you, and to know that you are behind us
and following our progress.
P.S. Happy Birthday to Bunty on Sunday!
