Austhot to Douvres-la-Délivrande

Friday October 15, 2010

My campsite for the night, right beside the road (which is to the left in this photo) and near  a place called Austhot.

It was a reasonably good camping spot in that no-one told me to move on, but the traffic was loud since the tent was about 5 m from the road behind a little hedge.
I reckon I packed up in record time, about 20 minutes from when I woke up. I set off without breakfast and stopped in the next town with shops, it was called Barfleur (I had to look that up because I can't remember any of these French names).
I found it a bit daunting to go into the shop when I can't speak the language. I grabbed a litre of milk and a few snacks and tried to speak in French to the check-out lady with "bonjour" and "merci". I haven't learnt any numbers yet so I didn't understand how much it cost, I just gave her €10, which was more than enough.
I ate breakfast and discovered that a litre of milk just isn't sufficient anymore. My body must be so used to having a huge breakfast that it requires and expects it now. Next time I'll have to get two litres, as I have been doing for the past week or two.

Eating breakfast by the harbour in Barfleur.

I continued riding around the coast, but mostly a little bit inland, went through lots of little towns, and a few bigger towns. I didn't see too much of interest, and I don't understand any of the signs so I don't know when I'm passing by a tourist attraction anyway.
Conditions were ideal, with mild weather, overcast without rain, there was a slight tailwind, the roads were smooth and undulating, and the legs were fresh after a few days rest. This resulted in me breaking my top average speed for the trip yet again! I averaged 23.7 km/h for the day, up on the previous highest of 23.0 km/h from when I rode out of Dublin. If I keep improving on my average speed like this, I might make it back to London in time to catch the plane after all!
I've been avoiding talking to people where possible because it's too hard to speak French. I did stop at a tourist information centre in another town I can't remember the name of, greeted the woman with "bonjour" and spoke my first French phrase: "est-se qui vous parley English" (do you speak English?). I'm pretty confident my pronunciation was terrible.
Luckily she did speak English because otherwise I would have had to say "au revoir" because of course I couldn't ask my question in French. I wanted to know which roads you're allowed to cycle on. She told me cyclists aren't allowed to cycle on the motorways, so it's just like how it is in the UK...except it's not exactly clear which roads are the motorways, since I don't understand the signs. I think they're the orange roads in Google Maps though, so that's what I'll have to go by.
The next stop was in a town called Bayeux, I was getting hungry and also needed to find some Wi-Fi to download some more tiles on Google Maps. I found a bakery and checked how to say "I want one of those" in French, and just pointed to the one I wanted.
Then it was off to the information centre, again the woman there could speak English, and marked on a map a pub where I could get Wi-Fi called "Lewis Pub". I needed to buy a drink worth €5 or more to access the Wi-Fi . I actually never drank a Guinness in Ireland, so I got one at Lewis Pub for €6.5 (not cheap!), hopped on the Internet and checked email, Twitter, Facebook, uploaded some blog posts, went on Google Maps and also downloaded some maps for MotionX-GPS.

Riding through the commune of Bayeux, Normandy, northwestern France.

It was starting to get dark when I headed off. I had no food for tea so I decided I'd just try and find a restaurant/pub/pizzeria. I stopped at one in a village but the bloke couldn't speak English very well. He got across that he was leaving and thus the pizzeria was closed but he was quite friendly and showed me on my map where else I could find somewhere to eat.
I continued on to a town called Douvres-la-Délivrande and wandered around there. There was a restaurant but I didn't understand anything on their menu. There were a few pubs but they looked like they weren't serving food anymore. There was a kebab shop and a few pizza shops, I stopped in one of them and the blokes English was very poor. Basically he couldn't speak it. I didn't know which toppings were on any of the pizzas and he couldn't help me. Then an old guy came in, and was able to translate some of the toppings to English for me. I ordered one with anchovies on it (I love anchovies!) for €8.50.

My pizza from the pizzeria on Rue du Général de Gaulle in Douvres-la-Délivrande

I wasn't sure where this old man fitted in, but he shouted me a choice of a can of beer or a coke. His wife came in too and I had a chat to her, she could speak reasonably good English, and she was quite friendly. Meanwhile the old fellow was making a few phone calls, I wasn't sure what they were about because they were all in French, but he told me he was checking with people he knew, friends of his, to see if I could stay with them, even though I'd said I would be fine to keep riding and find somewhere to camp. They invited me in to his little house, his name was Erich, and they gave me some fruit and a cup of tea, very kind if them.

Inside Erich's flat in Douvres-la-Délivrande.

Inside Erich's flat in Douvres-la-Délivrande.

With Erich in his little flat in Douvres-la-Délivrande

Erich's English wasn't great, but we could have simple conversations nonetheless, and I felt very comfortable being there with him. He was actually German, and had taught electronics and mechanics at trade school in Germany before moving here to France fifteen years ago with his wife Sylvie, who lives just down the road. She owns the house there, whereas Erich rents this little place.
Erich was a very kind hearted man, after a few more phone calls, he told me I'd be staying here with him. He was apologetic that the place was small and 'primitive", but was insistent that he look after me and that I get a good night's sleep so that I could ride a long way again the next day. So he insisted in giving me his bed, while he set up another bed for himself in a little room between the sole bedroom and the stairs, where he first had to rearrange some stuff to create enough floor space for a bed.

Erich kindly let me use his bed.

Erich relegated himself to the middle room where he slept on nothing but the carpet and a thin blanket.

Erich's little bathroom under the stairs.

I told him I was happy to sleep on the floor and that he should sleep in his bed, but he was insistent that I did. I felt guilty, but also very appreciative. He said he felt it in his heart to be hospitable.
So I ended up with a comfortable bed for the night, I'm lucky I keep coming across kind people like this!
Only thing was, the place was very dusty, and I occasionally get asthma from dust mites. I think it's the only thing I get asthma from, so I did have a bit of asthma. But that was okay, I could deal with that, I normally get over it pretty quickly without the need for any medication.
Erich made sure I was comfortable, and wished me a good night's sleep. What a kind man!

My route for the day, Austhot to Douvres-la-Délivrande.

Ride stats:
Distance: 138.37
Average: 23.7 km/h
Maximum: 55.9 km/h
Time: 5:49:16
Total ascent: 635 m
Total descent: 627 m