Saturday, July 4, 2015
Mortain
We ended up staying two nights in Mortain, due to rain. The office of tourism was across the street, and we got great maps for the rest of our route to St Michel, which was well marked all the way. They also gave us a great walk around town and we saw an old abbey, German bunkers and an American war memorial, a waterfall (the town is situated on a steep hillside that was part of a St Michel pilgrimage route where the island can be first seen, and for German and allied strategies).
Just Glenn and I on part 2 of our trip
The day we left Bayeux we first visited the city's history and art museum, since our bed and breakfast hostess said it was very good - it was! It started with early tools, had artifacts from the Bronze Age and worked up to modern art and the area's porcelain and lace making. Everything was from the local area. It made a late start for setting off toward Mont St Michel, but worth the delay.
We rode on a very well marked bike route that day so navigation was never an issue, but it was a hard 32
Miles with heat (88 degrees), wind, hills and our load. As it tends to happen, when you climb big hills, you get good views and great descents. Normandy landscape was spectacular. Once again an office de tourism gave us good advice - green, shady camping in Cohagnes with a guy who could serve up a sandwich and beer. We left early the next day to head for Vire, not expecting to get far because of continued heat, but in Vire a couple in spandex, no body fat, riding a tandem told us that our next portion of our route to St Michel Wes's a voice verte, a greenway, with lots of shade. So we continued, and on the route we were joined by a fellow who was excited to talk to two Americans on his cycle route. He told us we had two more Kim's of gentle uphill, then could ride all the rest of the way to Mortain down hill. We ended up riding 52 miles that day and got great lodging advice from our new friend (he rode with us, speaking his bit of English, and me, my bit of French, for about 10 or 15 km).
The last few days
After a day in Tours, we loaded our bikes on a train to Caen, where we changed trains to get to Bayeux. The Bayeux Office de Tourisme helped us find a little three story house to share right in town for two nights. Our last day with Dan and Sue was spent riding 30 miles or so to see Omaha beach and the American war cemetery. The ride was through beautiful countryside , a sweet old church with beautiful music was a special unexpected discovery and the war sights were moving. Something I have noted as we come to various small towns and churches are the numbers of people lost in the First World War.
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Sunday, June 28, 2015
We arrived in Tours two days ago
We were sad to leave the great riding in the countryside, but Dan and Sue want to see the Normandy beaches before heading to Paris and home. The basilica and Cathedral in Tours were beautiful and we stayed at a nice campground. The only problem was that Saturday night we could hear two live concerts at once and got to sleep about two in the morning. Riding through Tours was fun in the morning before things got busy.
Today we took the train to Bayeaux in Normandy - not easy with fully loaded bikes that need to be taken up and down stairs. But we made it.
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