First day of riding! Wow, riding with 20 extra pounds is tough. The course was a bit hilly and very windy, and the temperature about 60 degrees. I averaged a whopping 12 mph. Is this what riding would be like if I was 20 lbs heavier? I now see why those guys on the tour must be so skinny. I realize I could do a trip like this with my mom -- I'd carry her luggage and we'd go the same speed.
Like Greg said, there's a town about every 10 miles. These towns are very old -- the churches and such are from around 1000 AD. Here's a fort in Conches.
The first part of the ride was through the forest. The ground was covered in ferns and gigantic trees shaded the road. It remind me a bit of the Pacific NW.
Cars are very respectful of bikers. They move entirely into the next lane when passing. Given, there aren't many cars on these roads.
I had lunch at a cafe in Rugles (the one with the red awning on the right).
I ordered a vegetarian salad (that came with a pile of small shrimp sprinkled on top) and a plate of Normandy cheeses. Mmmmm. Normandy is famous for creamy cheeses, milk, and butter.
People eat a lot of baguette. I had some left over so I stuffed it with cheese, wrapped it in a napkin, and put it in my bag for on the road snack.
All of these small towns have gothic churches.
Around mile 50 the road began to narrow -- it wasn't much wider than a sidewalk. I was deep in the country surrounded by fields of wheat (for the baguettes?) and cows (for the creamy cheese). My GPS took me to my hotel that I would have never found otherwise. Some people feel nervous in the city, I feel nervous in the middle of nowhere. Not sure there were any other guests, but they served me a huge salad and wine for dinner and asked ne lots of questions (in French) about what I was doing. Needless to say, I was exhausted.
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