Day 25: Bourg-Achard to Rouen

September 3, 2024

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As we rolled out our bikes this morning, the hotel clerk had the basic questions about where we were off to. On learning that our destination for the day was Rouen, he became very animated and ran off to find some maps and booklets he wanted to show us. It turned out he had good reason for this, because we were sitting opposite a super bikeway and themed tourist area, and were getting ready to blast by it, based on a track from some some efficiency crazed algorithm.

Rouen, of course, is on the Seine, and the bikeway is La Seine à Vélo, which follows the loops of the Seine from Paris to Le Havre. The themed tourist area is the Fruit Route, which covers two loops of the Seine that are stuffed with apple, pear, and berry farms. These loops could be coming up for us if we would get on to them. Another booklet was about the Route des Chaumieres (thatched cottages). This covers some loops of the river more on the Le Havre direction, but actually there are lots of chaumieres all over.

This great booklet described the route, the producers along the way, the varieties of apples and pears, how they are grown, etc. It was great!

The only glitch in the man's suggestion was that to get on to the river we needed to take the road north that is easily seen on the map above. This was a no shoulder thing, with heavy car and truck traffic. You really have to be an "expert" to survive a road like this, with the ability to ride a very straight line, and to keep right but no so that you get fouled up in rough bits there and end up sprawled in the travel lane. We thought about our recent ride with the kids, realizing that here there would be no way at all they could do it here. That would have been too bad, because the actual Seine path was great.

Good thing this lady in yellow is an expert!

Things took a dramatic and permanent turn for the better when we reached Heurteauville. That's where we got on to the first of three free ferries for the day, criss crossing the river.

While we had come from traffic hell on the west side of the river (left bank) we now suddenly found ourselves in blissful rural calm. In the photo below, Dodie is beginning to ride off, past a storehouse of sorts, seen on the left of the photo.

The building is the subject of a roadside panel, and though I really did not get what the story was about, I was impressed that the illustrative drawing was so realistic.

As we now proceeded on the right bank, there was an amazing number of gorgeous buildings. Stonework is now fairly in the background, and we have buildings of decorative brick, or with half-timber designs, often with overhanging roofs, often of thatch. As we go through the remainder of the day, there will be lots of buildings pictured - most with some combinations of these features. Whatever the design, they all seem very sturdy and long lived. It made us think of our cedar clad "house of twigs" in the rain forest back home. Does it have any chance of surviving the years, as these have?

Very soon too, we encountered the fruit for which this route is named. There was a combination of trellising, with small trees dripping with fruit, and larger trees, often with smaller apples. Of course the ones most of interest to me we those that made the mistake of overhanging my path!

Our road continued beside the river, providing a blissful experience.

I like this sign, which in its best translation would be "possible potholes". But I like the idea that the holes are actively forming as I ride by. Another, though far fetched interpretation would take the fact that "formation" also means training in French. So maybe holes are being trained up here, to rattle my fillings, once installed?

The plants growing on top of the thatched roofs seem to be irises. We have a closer look later.

Duclair was an easy target, and we were excited to read in a roadside sign that it would have a market this morning.

This baking couple was really good. You can see its the same lady as in the photo!

We bought one of these wood fired sourdough breads. So good!

The lady was friendly too. See the hand on Dodie's shoulder!

While Dodie was talking to the baker, I was attracted to the cheese truck.

The pecorino with peppers is my favourite

I asked for just 3€ worth. That was a bit of a challenge since cheese is so expensive.

Those local green plums are called Renee Claudes.

This shot is for our friend Michel, who loves canned mackerel.

From Duclair we crossed the river on a ferry again. This crossing has been in existence since 1872, and there were lots of info panels all about it.

Facing the water, on our (current) side of the river.

We found a bus shelter for lunch, and pulled out some of our treasures from the market. From the cheese to the bread to the fat sweet apricots and the ultra thin green beans, and more, we could not help but think how with a lot of work we might find stuff like this in Canada, but probably not!

The shelter also had a bookshelf of miscellaneous titles. I opened a few, and was thinking that by reading I could probably improve my French a lot. But, it's unlikely I would do it. Reading is hard work!

Ok, how about the comics? Picsou is Scrooge McDuck, and Tarzan? The Grands Fauves are the Big Cats!

Ah la Bouille - here comes another ferry crossing.

Now on the final loop of the Seine, we are heading for Rouen! This is the entrance to Hautot chateau.

The chateau was not totally impressive, but it had a very very long wall, just like this section.

To further enliven our day, we found the riverside path barée. We decided to follow what turned out to be a long detour. The photo shows the other side. There is very little chance the path was actually blocked!

Being along the river we have naturally seen a few water birds. Here are some of them:

Black headed gull (laughing gull in France?)

From a distance we thought this was a black headed swan, but it is just doing calisthenics with its foot!

Now here is a strange one. In 1840 Napoleon's ashes came back from Saint Helena. The coffin (?) was on a riverboat and for some reason there needed to be a change of boats here. So that spawned the erection of this column "Napoleon's Column" to commemorate the event. The eagle was a symbol of his army.

From this point we began to see scads of industrial development along the river. This was not just one or two sites, but a real industrialization of the whole area.

Some beautiful houses remain to be seen, but they are overwhelmed by industrial ugliness.

One example of the change, in Croisset, is the former house of author Gustave Flaubert. He used to come out here on the Seine to write. But after his death in 1880, the family lands were mostly sold to industry. Today, something of a museum remains at the site.

What came next for Flaubert's country property.

Now we began to draw really near to Rouen. The industrial nature of the place seemed clear and traffic was heavy. However we did have a protected bikeway all the way in!

Bikeway into town. This is thankfully pretty normal these days in European cities.

Restaurants have taken over some formerly industrial parts of the quai.

But before reaching the old town, there was still pretty heavy traffic top deal with.

Aha, the famous cathedral at last. In this shot you see that modern development is not giving the antique building much breathing room.

The cathedral is one of those with very much carving on the outside.

From the interior you see how very long the building is.

Of course, Rouen is famous as the place where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in 1431. The statue in this chapel shows the flames. You also see the short hair and boyish appearance, which is part of the story, somehow.

The cathedral naturally has lots of quite complicated stained glass.

A unique feature is these rows of statues of saints and prophets. I have not been able to find out where they came from, but most are extremely weathered.

Now out in the street, we see the Grand Horloge.

Looking back up the main walking street toward the clock and the cathedral.

Here is the strangely modernistic Joan of Arc church.

The cross marks the spot where Joan was burned.

Our hotel in downtown, the Vieux Carre.

The day could end sleepily here, but no. Dodie has just come off another three hours with Booking.com on the phone. She tells her whole long story to them, usually gets put on hold, and then the call drops. One time they did call her back, from Hong Kong, but usually either it's them that hung up, or they must be glad the line dropped!

Today's ride: 71 km (44 miles)
Total: 929 km (577 miles)

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