June 18, 2017
Day Eighty Three: Lisieux to Bray
We woke up with the realization that not only did we not really know how to get out of town, we had no maps and no tracks for getting anywhere beyond town anyhow. This this was Sunday, France was closed - resting up for being closed Monday. That meant no tourist Information and no Librarie-Tabac, for getting some kind of maps.
The day got saved when it turned out that bikemap.net woud work with our tablet. we asked it for a track to Evreux, dumped that into Osmand, and pedalled blithely off into the never never.
A track in a smart phone is cool, but it has some drawbacks. The first is being able to see it in the sun. The second is the chewing up of your battery. So unlike in a car, you can not really (or at all) set a GPS to go somewhere and then sit back and just go.
We did have some kind of tourist map of the area, which actually helped a lot. We used a combination of all that plus the road signs.
None of these aids could change that fact that for a fair bit of the day we were going up and down ridges. We also spent a fair bit of time in a deep forest. In the forest I commented that unlike in Germany the forest was probably not populated with woodcutters, witches, or fairies. However when we came out of the forest and checked the GPS we found that the entire thing was shaped like a dragon!
About mid-day we straggled into the town of Thiberville. We were pleased to find there a monument to the Candadians, who had liberated the town on the 24th of August, 1944. That is three months after landing at the coast.
The monument had two small Canadian flags and one large one. Dodie went and straightened out one that was askew. Then we set up our camp chairs in the deep shade behind and ate some of the items squirreled away from the morning's breakfast. We felt like we had a bit of a special claim to this little ad hoc picnic ground.
Aside from the very small roads that comprised our track, we occasionally found ourselves on slightly larger ones. These had no shoulder, but were still fairly ok, given light traffic. By the way, the road recommended by Google Maps (bicycle mode) was the D613. The girl at the desk in the hotel back in Lisieux had told us that they call this one the "13", that it is the old main road to Paris, and very busy and dangerous.
By the time we reached Bernay (about half way to Evreux) we were almost ready to call it a day. We told ourselves if a suitable place jumped up, we would take it. Bernay was a surprising town, with a large commercial centre and lots of restaurants and ice cream. But no obvious hotels.
No matter, we would just press on to Serquigny. Nope. But Beaumont looked pretty big on our map. On we went.
At the entrance to Beaumont we spied a billboard for a hotel called the Lyon d'Or. It was part of the Logis brand, which usually means a 15 euro surcharge, but we were hot and tired and resolved to go for it. Once in town we found no further evidence about the hotel. When we had almost passed through the whole place I convinced Dodie to turn around and try a side street. We backtracked and asked two ladies in the street. We found we had almost been there, so we turned around again. At the very farthest edge of town was the very handsome place. It claimed to be on the site of an Inn founded in 1686, and it claimed a high Booking.com rating of 8.0.
We went to the reception door - locked. The restaurant door - locked, and the laundry door, locked. However we finally did locate one lady on the property, the owner, we think. she said she had no other guests, would not be able to get a cleaning lady to do the room up after we stayed, so get lost. asked about another hotel or place to stay, she flagged the one at the train station. we had seen the turn for that, but did not know how far way it was. It was a couple of kms. We went down there and found a man sitting in front of the rather shabby place, drinking a beer. The place as closed, he said, and the boss had just left for a couple of hours. we could wait and talk to him if we felt like it. We didn't.
On the way out of the rather large town we asked one more person and confirmed it - those two non hotels were the only possible places to stay. Next stop - Evreux, 30 kms away, starting with a long uphill.
We set off, and began to discuss what seemed perversely like a fun prospect - a wild camp with no equipment. Actually, we do have some stuff - sleeping bags and inflatable pillows, and the two large bags we bought for the bikes in Spain. We could even cook up soup with the stove and gaz we were still carrying. Dodie favoured finding a cemetary, which would be peaceful and could have a bench - better for her knee than a bike bag on the ground.
We would not want to actually make it to Evreux, because it would be too late for a hotel to be open and then we would be homeless in the streets of a town. Better to quit while still out in the country.
That's how we were thinking when Dodie spotted a sign for a chambre d'hote. We pulled in to a farm yard and were greeted by a quite lovely young blond woman. Yes, they had a room. Actually, it was a Grampie heaven, with a kitchen and lots of space.
Later I met the girl's Mom, an older version of the same blond design. Then I met her brother - more of the same. Then three more similar brothers. There are six kids in total living here. All are blonds. Maybe tomorrow we will meet Dad.
We are not sure what this farm raises, but no doubt we will find out. Right now from a day in hills, on highways, in the sun, and yes, with a head wind, we are not really in research mode. Nor are we 100% sure about where we are. But, we'll sort it out.
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Today's ride: 65 km (40 miles)
Total: 4,131 km (2,565 miles)
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