Broke tradition this morning and took advantage of the hotel breakfast - French Inns have a practice of providing a buffet but only if you preorder the night before. Barry usually makes our breakfast - coffee, porridge or baguette. I think he enjoyed a break from his usual efforts. Today: fresh croissants, yogurt, toast, cereal, coffee, etc. The trail from Sourdeval heading south has a better and harder surface than yesterday. After an initial gradual climb of a few km., the day was mostly downhill or flat. The trail protected us from the ever present wind, the clouds remained threatening, the temperature had dropped, yet the rain stayed away. Knowing the popularity of cycling in France, we have been surprised not to encounter any bike shops. Today we found a very interesting and helpful shop in Sainte-Hilaire-du-Harcouert-Web Cycle, the first bike shop since Crawley in England. Of course we made a stop and were able to replace some bottle cages. Many cyclists were on the trail today enjoying a Saturday ride. Just as we arrived in Ducey the market was wrapping up for the day - the weather looks pretty threatening, so we booked in to a hotel. Unfortunately Barry had a bit of a mishap with the bike and has reinjured his elbow. We'll see how he is tomorrow. Once again we are lucky at being in the right place at the right time. Tonight and tomorrow is the annual summer fete for Ducey. We were lucky to get a hotel room. As we walked around the town, the streets were lined with food vendors, beer tents, entertainment and a brass band in full costume performing. While enjoying the scene, the skies opened up and it rained heavily for some time. All of us, including the brass band took refuge under a small beer tent. Intersting evening! Glad we're not in our tent tonight.
This donkey startled us - as we rode by he brayed so loudly that we jumped. We were told that he is upset that the other donkey is in another enclosure across the path and has become very unhappy. We did our best to cheer him up.
The brass band who were performing in the streets. They would play and move on to the next beer tent, have a beer and then move on again. A really festive mood in the streets.
