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Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
Didn’t want to bore you all with a blow by blow account of my French trip, so I thought I’d pick out few of the quirkier images…
Accommodation: very good in both value and quality. Varied a bit mind. Here’s the bathroom I had one night:
And then the next, with possibly the smallest bath in France!
Food: What happens if you ask for “un assiette s'il vous plait, avec un piece de brioche, peut etre, ou gateau?” (Basically, “just a biscuit or a bit of cake perhaps?)
And may I present, the pain au chocolat, masquerading as l’escargot:
It was a delight to be at the Hotel d’Angleterre again, with its Cheese Trolley. We were humming 'Jerusalem' all evening…
Scenery: Some rather grand bits, as we crossed the Loire region:
Most of the time I was too busy keeping up, or freewheeling down hills with a big grin on my face to take many pictures of the scenery. Most of it was gorgeous. The field edges especially, with classic poppy/cornflower combinations...
Wildlife:
This chap watched us have our morning coffee one day, and only slobbered over one of us (not me!). With a suitable saddle, I could just about have ridden him, he was huge!
These were much less slobbery, being made of concrete:
Finally some actual bike action: Firstly, how to carry two trikes and two passengers. One trike and two people in the car, one trike on the rack – a very easy way to transport a trike, a four bike tow bar rack with one channel slightly adapted for width. Meant one of us had the option of bailing out when knees started to hurt (ok, it was me!)
Us on one of our ‘rest’ days. This was at the top of a 4km climb, looking forward to the 4 km down the other side!
On another rest day, just about to set off on the Velo-rail. Designed for pootling families, I think we broke the course record on the thing, having some very strong cyclists on board (I don't include myself in that category. We had two guys pedalling doing an aero tuck
). We even ‘overtook’ the one in front by swapping cars, when they realised how fast we were…
Oh, if you want to order your gravestone now, I know a shop in St Calais…
And finally. On the day we left Dieppe, it happened to be my birthday. The hotel staff overheard the chorus of Happy Birthday for me over breakfast and when we came to leave presented me with the nearest they could rustle up to a cake at short notice – an apple, with a couple of bits of fudge on a cocktail stick stuck in it, and a paper cut out of a candle. Completely impromptu, and their own idea. I thought it was lovely!
Once again, a fabulous trip, and huge thanks to Alistair and Yvonne for organising it and keeping us all in order. I'm starting to really love France - the quiet roads, the great food, the respect for cyclists. If they could just learn about needing boiling water for tea....
Accommodation: very good in both value and quality. Varied a bit mind. Here’s the bathroom I had one night:
And then the next, with possibly the smallest bath in France!
Food: What happens if you ask for “un assiette s'il vous plait, avec un piece de brioche, peut etre, ou gateau?” (Basically, “just a biscuit or a bit of cake perhaps?)
And may I present, the pain au chocolat, masquerading as l’escargot:
It was a delight to be at the Hotel d’Angleterre again, with its Cheese Trolley. We were humming 'Jerusalem' all evening…
Scenery: Some rather grand bits, as we crossed the Loire region:
Most of the time I was too busy keeping up, or freewheeling down hills with a big grin on my face to take many pictures of the scenery. Most of it was gorgeous. The field edges especially, with classic poppy/cornflower combinations...
Wildlife:
This chap watched us have our morning coffee one day, and only slobbered over one of us (not me!). With a suitable saddle, I could just about have ridden him, he was huge!
These were much less slobbery, being made of concrete:
Finally some actual bike action: Firstly, how to carry two trikes and two passengers. One trike and two people in the car, one trike on the rack – a very easy way to transport a trike, a four bike tow bar rack with one channel slightly adapted for width. Meant one of us had the option of bailing out when knees started to hurt (ok, it was me!)
Us on one of our ‘rest’ days. This was at the top of a 4km climb, looking forward to the 4 km down the other side!
On another rest day, just about to set off on the Velo-rail. Designed for pootling families, I think we broke the course record on the thing, having some very strong cyclists on board (I don't include myself in that category. We had two guys pedalling doing an aero tuck
). We even ‘overtook’ the one in front by swapping cars, when they realised how fast we were… Oh, if you want to order your gravestone now, I know a shop in St Calais…
And finally. On the day we left Dieppe, it happened to be my birthday. The hotel staff overheard the chorus of Happy Birthday for me over breakfast and when we came to leave presented me with the nearest they could rustle up to a cake at short notice – an apple, with a couple of bits of fudge on a cocktail stick stuck in it, and a paper cut out of a candle. Completely impromptu, and their own idea. I thought it was lovely!
Once again, a fabulous trip, and huge thanks to Alistair and Yvonne for organising it and keeping us all in order. I'm starting to really love France - the quiet roads, the great food, the respect for cyclists. If they could just learn about needing boiling water for tea....
It sat and watched us for a bit and then wandered off to make friends with a cat sitting nearby. Needless to say, the cat didn't hang about!
