The brisk morning (7am) air of Caen (or technically Ouistreham) met us as we disembarked from the ferry, and the excitement of being on the continent could begin. The first concerns was food, but this was shorty changed when the first argument came about. I had looked online and had found a cycle route that went along the river into the centre of Caen, but all the other cyclists (it was apparent there were a few more on board) had followed the flow of motor traffic. Andy said we should do what they are, like sheep. Luckily I won this round and we had a non-traffic, flat and relatively tranquil cycle to the centre of Caen.
Now for the first incident, which could prove fatal (in bike terms). A group of elderly people crossing a zebra crossing, I slammed on the brakes, Andy close behind me does the same but his panniers swing into his spokes causing a dramatic skid (on closer inspection his spokes were bent, hopefully they'll be alright!). Hunger now becoming the best of us we managed to find a newsagents/cafe and had our first piece of ham of the trip - a luxury I hear you ask? - later instalments will tell you otherwise!
Now using a map that we were using the whole trip (showed Portsmouth to Barcelona i.e. not particularly detailed) we skipped off pavements in order to go the way we needed avoiding one-way systems and getting pretty much completely lost. A stop at a supermarket revealed to me how difficult it was going to be for me to walk around hard, shiny floors. As the shoes I had were clip-in shoes for the bikes pedals and they stuck out meaning I had no grip when walking and made a very conspicuous clunking noise - oh joy. Eventually and probably more fortuitously a directional sign read Evrecy. Looking on the map it was south of Caen it wasn't Clecy (a more direct southern route out of Caen) but it'll do!
Now we practised on hills, but this has to be one of the longest gradual gradient hills I've ever come across. At Evrecy the joke about Andy needing l'infirmerie (the old joke being "I need the krankenhaus") seemed evident as we stopped for some cough medicine. Our journey carried on smoothly and we stopped again in a town called Aunay-sur-odon to get some directions from the Tourism Office just to make sure we were going the correct way. This town was at the foot of a very steep hill that went up and up and up, part way just outside a farm my clip-in shoes got stuck and I had to wrench it out. After a bodge job fix on one of my shoes we carried on until we reached such a height telecoms towers were along side us! With views looking across what seemed the whole of France.
Now finally for some downhill action, being about 1pm and many hard hours of cycling behind us, we were starving. Pulling up into a town Conde-sur-Noireau we scoured it for food places, finding an Pizzeria that was open everyday except Wednesday... the day of course being Wednesday. But there was a bakery nearby where we got a baguette et fromage et jambon sandwich and some coke. We sat on a churches steps eating the much needed food and due to it being nice and hot and sunny, we laid down and kipped in the sun.
The journey continued with the town of Domfront being a highlight. A medieval town built on a stand-out hill with high defensive walls, the road travelled through the centre of the town under castle bridges, very exquisite.
We now encountered our first straight road, and we couldn't believe it. It wasn't just how straight it was, it was the fact once we made a peak of the undulating road you could then see three more peaks. This seemed to go on and on, like an elongated sound wave. Finally however we made the outskirts of the town Mayenne, found a small campsite charging about 7 euros per night. After setting up the tent I fell asleep outside and apparently snored for a good hour, something Andy would have to get used to!! And after settling down inside the tent we eventually drifted off to the chatter of some boozed up French builder-esc men.
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