September 13, 2016
Pont d'Ouilly: Our difficulties of yesterday are behind us and it is Tuesday
We knew that today was going to be a short day so rather lazily we slept later and tarried over breakfast.
Fortunately the signage out of Flers was very good and we got a much better impression of the town today. First we were led past a Chateau with the most impressive moat then on through many small villages. The route was through hills all the time but they were all ridable so much to my amazement I enjoyed them (I must be getting fitter). We were travelling through the typical rural areas of Suisse Normandy. I love the smell of Normandy. It is a mixture of silage and half fermented apples. Somehow it makes me feel extremely peaceful and underlines the fact that this is a gentle part of the world. Ken was in his element observing the agriculture. He stopped for ages talking (?) to a young farm worker who was teaching his day old calves to drink out of a bucket in the way Allan Kerr said his father did. The boss came out of the shed and and shook his had, I thing rather puzzled by this ancient cyclist so interested in what was going on.
Today was Tuesday so as if by magic all the Boulangeries and the Bars were open in the little villages we passed through so we were blowing the budget by stopping for coffee in these tiny places. We came to one slightly bigger town Conde sur Noireau. We went in and I couldn't help thinking about Dianna Owen - in most of the towns there are masses of petunias but here there were begonias. They were magnificent and just as good as Diannas and they were absolutely everywhere. We had the compulsory coffee and got talking to a young woman from the Netherlands.going to Santiago. It was 11.30 and she was peacefully sitting drinking coke and doing a puzzle, she said that today she would get to Mont St Michel - it was still 100km away. We left her doing her puzzle and pressed on.
The last part of the day followed the Norieau River, you would think that would be flat or slightly downhill - it isn't, the up and down continued. Pont d'Ouilly when we got here was a lovely little riverside town. It was particularly fortunate that we were able to get inner tubes to fit our bikes here - we thought we had them with us but NO. Now it won't matter if we get a puncture.
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Today's ride: 38 km (24 miles)
Total: 2,102 km (1,305 miles)
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