July 31, 2014
Arques le Batteile to St. Pierre du Port: Hills and headwinds
The maps I use for these tours are fairly large scale and don't show all the minor roads and besides that, they are worthless in cities of any size. They also don't give any idea of the nature of the terrain one is following. Today, I could have used a little help in both categories. I road from Arques to Dieppe and promptly got lost. Figuring that if I got to the sea front, I could probably figure out the right road out of town I headed that way, stopping to eat a croissant aux amandes (almond pastry) I'd picked up in a bakery before leaving Arques. Sure enough, I found the road signs giving directions for St.Valery en Caux, my next stopping place. Climbing out of Dieppe gave me a taste of what was going to be the rest of the day: steep switchback climbs. Once to the top of the climb the road leveled out, only to plunge into another valley and, of course, another climb awaited on the far side. I lost track of often the road did this, but it was at roughly every village along the way. Arriving in St.Valery at lunch time, I wandered around town a bit looking for a suitable restaurant. Just as I thought I had one located, a tourer on a recumbent passed me by wishing me bonne route. The restaurant turned out to be a dud. After waiting twenty minutes for service (not even a menu) I left and found another bistro where I was seated and had my order in in five minutes. The food wasn't all that good. Many of these coastal restaurants cater to the tourist trade, and I guess they figure they can serve just about anything and get away with it. Anyway, it was filling, and I left St. Valery by another climb, augmented this time by a raging head wind. My speed on the flat slowed to about 15kph, and on the climbs it was about half that. By four o'clock, I was done and I chose one of the two campsites in St.Pierre du Port, the one nearer the sea. I did a light washing of laundry, walked into town for a beer and to get some coffee as I had run out that morning, and went back to the campground for dinner at the snack shack there. Dinner was jambon frites (ham and fries) with cheap rosé. I was in bed by nine, not even getting undressed. I woke up in the night for a call of nature, gazed briefly at the stars, and went back to sleep.
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Today's ride: 76 km (47 miles)
Total: 265 km (165 miles)
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