Good to wake up to a dry morning….My clothes drying obsession had almost paid off as my running kit was only a little damp when I pulled it on. We set off just before 8.30am to discover a new route. Following the bike signs we set off up what turned out to be a long steepish hill which rose through a new housing addition to the town – low density detached with gardens. This avoided a roundabout and led onto the D39 road we had driven on the day before. Turned down the small cycle road heading to Villandry after 2.4km – wonderful! We ran past a small chateau and then through woodland crossing a disused railway track. It was a great route with few cars and we did 52mins 30, (6.5miles for me I think!)
We packed up, checked out and went into the village to the local boulangerie for breakfast – managing to confuse the assistant with our relatively straightforward ‘un croissant et deux pains au chocolat’, needless to say she arrived with 2 croissants and one pain au choc…
On the road again before 11. Heading towards Angers, then Le Mans and ultimately Honfleur, we had almost 200 miles to drive, almost exclusively on péages. We drove through intermittent showers, stopping at a very windy aire for lunch at about 1.45pm. Today we had treated ourselves to ham and cheese croissants and a tarte aux fraises (me) and framboises (Russ). We arrived in Honfleur by about 3.30pm, then decided to walk the 1km thru’ the industrial estate into old Honfleur. This took some deliberation – we had to decide where to cross the main road/roundabouts and which piles of rubble to climb over (see above) . We wandered around town (with many other tourists) looking at a few restaurants and buying then writing postcards in a café bar – with a leffe of course! I had a chat with a young French girl who picked up a sweet I’d dropped out of my bag. When I offered it to her she accepted then told me it was too strong – an after meal mint!
We were back out in town in the evening eating at one of the many fish restaurants and dodging the frequent very heavy showers. There was a rather loud, obnoxious English guy sitting behind Russ – who became more voluble as the evening progressed. I confused him by taking a photo of the storm outside – he thought the flash was lightening and was ‘tickled pink’ by his mistake. We had another chat with some French kids who were dining with their grandparents. The little girl had been singing ‘Sur le pont d’Avignon’ very loudly and asked us our names. We were the last to leave the restaurant, by which time the heavy showers had become incessant heavy rain – waded our way back to our hotel bar for a last night last drink!
We packed up, checked out and went into the village to the local boulangerie for breakfast – managing to confuse the assistant with our relatively straightforward ‘un croissant et deux pains au chocolat’, needless to say she arrived with 2 croissants and one pain au choc…
On the road again before 11. Heading towards Angers, then Le Mans and ultimately Honfleur, we had almost 200 miles to drive, almost exclusively on péages. We drove through intermittent showers, stopping at a very windy aire for lunch at about 1.45pm. Today we had treated ourselves to ham and cheese croissants and a tarte aux fraises (me) and framboises (Russ). We arrived in Honfleur by about 3.30pm, then decided to walk the 1km thru’ the industrial estate into old Honfleur. This took some deliberation – we had to decide where to cross the main road/roundabouts and which piles of rubble to climb over (see above) . We wandered around town (with many other tourists) looking at a few restaurants and buying then writing postcards in a café bar – with a leffe of course! I had a chat with a young French girl who picked up a sweet I’d dropped out of my bag. When I offered it to her she accepted then told me it was too strong – an after meal mint!
We were back out in town in the evening eating at one of the many fish restaurants and dodging the frequent very heavy showers. There was a rather loud, obnoxious English guy sitting behind Russ – who became more voluble as the evening progressed. I confused him by taking a photo of the storm outside – he thought the flash was lightening and was ‘tickled pink’ by his mistake. We had another chat with some French kids who were dining with their grandparents. The little girl had been singing ‘Sur le pont d’Avignon’ very loudly and asked us our names. We were the last to leave the restaurant, by which time the heavy showers had become incessant heavy rain – waded our way back to our hotel bar for a last night last drink!
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