The Fridays tour - Normandy 15th-22nd June

[Aperitif]

And we wake up to a gorgeous sunny day. No wind. A bit of high cloud. I may not take waterproofs. Last night at Chez Cricri was epic. Noise. Huge portions. Vast amounts of red falling-over juice. Industrial quantities of Cidre. Four courses. €22.50 each. No wonder we're going back on Thursday night. Oh and it is downhill on the way there and downhill on the way back.

(That was not at all smug, was it?)

Nope. Perfect. In the 'Homeland' it was raining this morning...quite persistently at times. And now - le soleil. The British & Irish Lions lost, the Taliban blew up four Americans,(just after Pres. Obama announced that the US is to start peace talks with the Taliban), Charles Satchi has been cautioned by the police for trying to strangle everyone's favourite pouting cook...in public, Andy Murray won something and didn't seem to scowl, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grubb are moaning like Billy-Oh at Boris' planned fire station closures, and the owner of the Savoy has "shortlisted" London for its first one mile high building, so there might be a 'start' for Monsieur Jambe in the near future.
In short: you're missing nowt..although England are playing South Africa at 50 over cricket today...hence the rain, of course.

 

[AnythingButVanilla]

All you're missing here is the clamminess (clammyness?) and high pollen count. Just rode to Blackheath and back and can hardly breathe now.

 

[wanda2010]

ABV, I'm holding you responsible for my aches and pains. Could have done with a massage this morning.

Am losing track of the days but am still having a great time. Somehow I am unable to upload pics from my camera so Facebook is the place to go for other info on the Tour. The famous Madame continues to make a strong impression on some of the men. Mice and chocolate do not go together, I have discovered, although funny to watch.

 

[AnythingButVanilla]

ABV, I'm holding you responsible for my aches and pains. Could have done with a massage this morning.

You're welcome to come and see me next week! Glad to hear you're all having a ball.

 

[User10571]

Looks like they could be in for some très intéressant weather.... http://www.isleofwightweather.co.uk/live_storm_data.htm
coming in from the east.

 

[wanda2010]

Looks like they could be in for some très intéressant weather.... http://www.isleofwightweather.co.uk/live_storm_data.htm
coming in from the east.

User10571, I have decided you are a tad jealous. However, if you turn out to be correct.............

 

[mmmmartin]

Smugness about to abound. Those of a weak disposition look away now.
Bright sunshine in the morning. Loveliness of lanes and absence of traffic. Lunch was preceded by a long swooping downhill of exquisite loveliness. Fantastic fish restaurant. Then Mice and Mistral rode off to the ferry and without them we could start enjoying ourselves obvs.
Then went to the lighthouse. Then another one. It was sunny. The drivers were astonishingly polite. After the second lighthouse we went up a hill and realised we didn't need to go to Cherbourg to shop so worked out the best way to get back to the château. This was great and involved the sort of tiny lane you never see traffic on. No sooner had we started along it than a huge bulldozer thingy came along. Oh how we laughed. At one point we passed a small French girl aged about six on a pink tricycle. It was a delight to see her out with her mum and dad. Then Redfalo made a massive navigation error by following his GPS and turning right and wandering off on his own. We saw the little girl again: this was even more of a delight 45 minutes later after a minor navigation error involving a hill (down) another hill (up) and a "reverse ferret" by a couple of dozen cyclists. We arrived at the château to find Redfalo had been there for half an hour. Oh how we laughed. Now we sit wondering how The Magic Fridge works: you open it and there is always wine and cider in it.
Was that too smug?

 

[srw]

No - but was it really worth waiting an hour and half for?

Sorry - too rude for words.

 

[mmmmartin]

Oh. And there has been a cancellation at the château. Normally €3, 000 a week. But for the week of August 17-24 it is only €1,500. Sleeps 27 in 11 bedrooms. Chateaulemontepinguet.com.

 

[srw]

In the meantime while mmmmmmmartin has been composing his glorious long essay, the rest of partie chateau have eaten pasta miranda, cheese and paté and bread and watched in wonder as he has been poking at his phone.

And if that wasn't smug enough, the food has been astonishingly cheap, and the tandemists made it all the way up the hill (150 ft climbing inside a quarter of a mile) without putting pied a terre.


@theclaud - do you have the access to lower the tone by posting the walking route photo?

 

[User10571]

User10571, I have decided you are a tad jealous. However, if you turn out to be correct.............

No jealous.
Just monitoring... keeping an eye on things.....

 

[wanda2010]

Despite frequent weather checks it has managed to confound us every time so far and I have discovered a map with a cock on it, with instructions, that I will try to post here.

 

[dellzeqq]

A relaxing day. Round to the chic gite for coffee, up to Brix for beers in the sunshine, back to the chateau for more beers and then down to Chez Cri-Cri for dinner. And some of us have paid two visits to Le Passions de 2 Routes, which is always a joy.

TeeCee is up to her elbows in stewing steak and beans. I predict a casserole of surpassing tenderness for our tea tomorrow. I just hope we can do it justice after stopping in Grosville for our four course lunch (all you can eat and drink for twelve euros). Friday's ride is, as you would expect, the pick of the bunch. The photographs will knock your socks off.

 

[mmmmartin]

An ultimately disappointing day. Weather v v warm and sunny. About 20 degrees in the shade. We were in two groups. Team Fast & Hard left in the early hours for a long blast down to Carentan and back. Team Weak Willed arranged to meet up at the Chic Gite rented by some of the party, just down the road. A 10am arrival for a quick coffee was to be followed by a trip into Cherbourg. The sun shone. The garden was lovely. The croissants disappeared. More coffee arrived. Time passed in pleasant conversation. The day was made even more perfect when Dellzeqq received a text message from an unknown mobile number telling us that Sketchley, star of last year's LonJog and supreme diplomat in dealing with irate shopkeepers, was in Brix!! Our joy knew no bounds. He had acquired some extra holiday and had dashed over to Normandy! ! Well obviously Dellzeqq texted back to say where we were and we awaited his arrival with great anticipation. After a few more text messages it became apparent that some joker round the table was sending the aforementioned texts. As said earlier, this made the day ultimately disappointing as we were looking forward to seeing him, and had even worked out that there was bed space for him, albeit we would have had to squeeze him in with a mattress on the floor of Adrian's room.
We were rather subdued then and became worried that the bar in Brix had closed so the only thing that we could do was to go and make sure it was open. This we did. By the time we were sure everything was OK there it was 3pm, unaccountably. A quick trip to the Brix bike shop on the way home was necessary, obvs. The sun is shining and it is still very warm. The Magic Fridge has run out of Le Cidre. But as we are going to Chez Cricri tonight for another feast this means we have only three litres of red wine for Friday evening for the 11 of us in the château. But as tomorrow's lunch stop is a bit special this may not matter.

FInally, for those enjoying this trip vicariously, rest easy. A conversation was had today about next year. No plans seem to have been made by The Boss. Yet.

 

[dellzeqq]

The magic freezer has six litres of cider.