Dieppe: The last of the steep hills

September 20, 2016

Last evening we called in at the Office de Tourism in St Valery and found a fantasic map of all the cycle routes in the Siene Maritime department of Normandy, they even have a summary of them in English (yes Steve and Dodie I got you two one and will send it to you when we get home). They seem to be really well marked and we have once again followed the route today and will switch to another tomorrow.

The weather forcast today was for possible showers. The route today was to take us down through the little seaside villages on the coast then of course back up to the top of the cliffs so there was almost no flat riding. Our first stop was at the Veules les Roses where we went down to the plage and found somewhere for a cup of coffee and fortunately a Depot de Pain. Then up again and the sky started to look very dark then it started just gently so we sheltered under some trees. these soon became completely inadequate and we made a dash for the close by little village of Sotteville-sur-Mer. A market was on and fortunately a bus stop. Never have I seen such heavy rain. The road soon flooded and the cars coming to the market were like motor boats. The people at the markets were sheltering under their canopies and laughing as they attended to their few soaking customers. All in all it created lots of amusement and we just stood there in our bus shelter. Eventually it past and I really couldn't believe that the clouds had any more water in them to drop on the next places.

On we went slowly drying off but quickly getting warm as we went up the steep hills. At Quiberville we found a sheltered spot with a little watery sun to eat our somewhat soggy bread. This is a fishing village but obviously no boats had been out as they were firmly pulled up on the coast.

The hotel we are staying in in Dieppe is the Egg Hotel. I had rather wondered about it as it said that the rooms were basic. They are but it is great, the rooms are huge with a double bed and a bunk, They have BBC World, good Wifi (but will wait till I try to put on photos to confirm that) it is very clean, good bike storage and a very good shower. We are extremely close to the pedestrian area of downtown and will return later for our meal