Tour de Normandie 2015

What to do for three days over Whitsun? Normandy of course. The course was between two ferry ports to make the coming and going simple. Cherbourg to Dieppe in a little more than a gentle 300km (200 miles). It was also the final ride of Simon Legg’s famed FNRttC (Friday Night Ride to the Coast – or Calvados as it was renamed for this trip).

Day 1: Cherbourg to Bayeaux

We had sailed from Portsmouth the previous evening and climbed the ridge that overlooks the town. Its then you wished you had packed a little less. Settled in at the the Ibis La Glacerie we were told tales of old Tours de France that the climb had been too challenging for some!

Saturday morning we were off to nearby Brix to rendevous with those of the thirty-one that had stayed elsewhere. Brix is the highest point on the Cotentin peninsula so it was all downhill from there on. Well one big downhill and then the flattest ride you can imagine along the Utah and Omaha American Landing Beaches. We also had our only major mechanical of the trip. A brand new bike on its first proper outing shed its rear dérailleur rather spectaculary. It was converted into a single speed in minutes, shedding a few chain links which somebody forgot to pick up. Lunch was in Carentin, a small town but which sported a very fine cycle shop. New derailleur, new chain fixed in 15 minutes!

A lovely afternoon ride along more rolling but unchallenging countryside into Bayeux. The tapestry is in nearby Caen which we ignored as did the beautiful Norman town itself in favour of much drink and food.

Brix Boulangerie

German Guns

Carentan Lunch

Bayeux Diversion

Day 2: Bayeaux to Honfleur

Cool countryside from Bayeux to Ouistreham and an optional ferry from Portsmouth. The ferry claims to go to Caen but you have to take the cycle path up the river to get there. Half way there is a bridge, a famous bridge and the only way to connect the American Landing Beaches with the British and Canadian Sword, Gold and Juno. It was vital to the 1944 Normandy invasion that the bridge was captured intact. And it was in one of the most audacious operations of the war by the British Airborne Forces who suffered terible casulties in achieving their aim. It was re-named Pegasus Bridge in honour of their emblem.

This we all learnt in a little lecturette before crossing its replacement. Then we crossed – well most of us crossed before the rear were stopped for it to be raised. So we had to wait on the other side. Which was rather lucky as the reason was for the participants in this year’s Fastnet Race to pass through. Two men (and two women) crews who made our endeavours look like a ride in the park.

Things went a bit downhill after that. Well it was still flat but we were passing through the seaside towns between Carbourg and Trouville on a French Bank Holiday. Every Parisian appeared to be parading their flash open topped coupé along our route and it was getting hot. We stopped at a cafe offering moules but there were no moules and could only have what the visitors had left. This was immediately followed by the steepest hill of the trip. Eventually beyond Trouville we returned to pleasant open countryside and then into Honfleur.

I remember Honfleur as the most beautiful small port imaginable. Again most of France wanted to check it out so it was chock full. Pushing a bike through was a bit of a challenge. But we did and hid in an out of town Ibis feasting at Stetson themed French restaurant. Ah well!

PremiereClasse Hotel caters for the British …

Gathering for Bayeux departure

Our tail should have been on there

Fastnet boat passing

Norman Architecture

Day 3: Honfleur to Dieppe

It had rained overnight, the clouds were heavy but the gods were with us. Most of us expected to leave Honfleur and cross the Seine over the spectacular Pont de Normandie. But we didn’t – and I’m glad we didn’t ‘cos while you can cycle across it for free you only get an unprotected narrow ‘British Style’ cycle path alongside an autorute type dual carriageway.

Instead we ascended into the clouds and down to the old ferry crossing at Quillebeuf-sur-Seine. Thence through an amazing chemical refinery complex that hissed and spluttered alarmingly. The Le Havre area is probably not France’s prettiest but vital to her economy.

Again we ascended and onto another fine Normandy plain. The riding was idyllic, the wind behind us and Dieppe ahead. Lunch was taken in Yvetot – a town obviously destroyed in the last war and rebuilt in the brutalist style with a church that defies the beauty of almost every other ecclesiastical building in France. We were getting to the end and a certain sadness descended that the Tour and the Fridays were coming to an end.

And so on arrival at Dieppe we repaired to the Le Retro Pub to commiserate and, more importantly, plan the future. A new Fridays will emerge in September under new leadership to do new things. Though with the same old people unless you want to join in. More here: http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/the-not-the-fridays-tour-of-the-low-countries-2015.168927/

Charlie’s Brompton had the only puncture of the trip

Ferry across the Seine

Lunch

Near the end

The End by Stuart G