The Fridays tour - Normandy 15th-22nd June

[StuAff]

Finally got round to part two of the ride report. Further installments will follow, probably no less sporadically.....

The chateau….blimey. What a place. Very fitting for the Fridays, I thought. Bit rambling, ramshackle in places, more than a little eccentric…and utterly fabulous. Mark & Helen had clearly done a lot of the work on the place, though at one and the same time they had hardly scratched the surface on what needed doing to it. Their future plans for the place sounded highly ambitious, more than a little unlikely to bear fruit, and I can only hope it works out well for them and the chateau. They were fine hosts, and it's an amazing place to spend time in. Anyone going there and expecting a boutique hotel standard would be disappointed. I didn't and I wasn't. The term 'shabby chic' usually means some interior designer taking a perfectly good piece and making it look rubbish. The chateau and outbuildings embody the term in the right way- more rustic, more lived-in and infinitely more charming.

Sunday was a bright and early start…quite literally for me. As became par for the course during the week, I slept somewhat sporadically and ended up waking at 5 or so. Not quite sure why. Despite that, I somehow seemed to be getting enough rest nonetheless. In any case, I was up in time to help out with the early morning run to the boulangerie in Brix. Now, postings from the recce suggested, Madame of the establishment was a positively divine figure. One might imagine one of the great French cinema goddesses behind the counter. Yes, and the lovely Samantha really does help out on I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue. Didn't meet the lady on that first day, and it would be no insult to her to say that when I did she couldn't match the hyperbole. The bread, though…for the first though certainly not the last time during the week, the reaction to the food that sprang to mind was Christoph Waltz in the opening scene of Inglorious Basterds when he tries the farmer's milk. 'Su-PERBE!'. This baker was an artisanal one (legal status in France reserved for those that make and prepare the dough entirely on the premises) and it showed. Utterly fantastic stuff. Well worth the trip, and the nasty little climb into town on the way there. Managed to lift the front wheel on the first run up there, thankfully that wasn't repeated in the rest of the week.

There was of course a ride…as far as I was concerned, all options to reduce the length of the day's ride would be politely declined, all options to extend it taken up. As it turned out, some of today's extension was somewhat accidental…Our route today took us north-east. A rather grey start, a touch of moisture in the air became the odd light shower, though that thankfully didn't last all day. Coffee stop was at Barfleur. And then on we went, south-east, to St Vaast La Hougue. At this point, Andy & Jo decided to cross the gates at the harbour entrance for a photo op. The gates then closed, and weren't going to be open again for a couple of hours. They had to make their way back along the harbour walls, which didn't take too long! Most of us then went to a fish restaurant. I'm not generally much of a fish eater, and I have a particular aversion to shellfish, but fish and chips (mai oui, en anglais) was on the menu. Went for that, very glad I did. Cue Mr Waltz again. It was the best fish & chips I've ever eaten. On the way back, I joined the splinter faction that headed south to Valognes in search of further refreshment. We eventually found an open bar (pretty much everything was closed) and after imbibing (sans alcool pour moi) we headed back to the chateau/gites as applicable. And my little group somehow took a wrong turning, not sure what my excuse was for that. And then dinner- the catering team (chateau section) laid out a remarkable spread of left-over pasta, plus cheese, bread, meats….No-one went hungry!

 

[StuartG]

Chateau chapeau ...

 

[PippaG]

Hello Fridays peeps avec knowledge of Normandy. Inspired by this and other reports of a good time in Normandy, I'm off there for a few days at the end of August. I'll be cycling and camping and over about 4-5 days will need to make my way from the ferry at Cherbourg to the ferry from Caen. I'm planning to cycle down from Cherbourg towards La Haye du Puits for a few nights (which is further south than I think you stayed, but Brix is roughly in the right direction), and then from there head east towards Caen. I was just wondering, are there any roads I should avoid out of Cherbourg or can I just point myself due south and pedal without a care in the world and a lot of joie de vivre (and maybe cidre)? TIA

 

[StuAff]

Hello Fridays peeps avec knowledge of Normandy. Inspired by this and other reports of a good time in Normandy, I'm off there for a few days at the end of August. I'll be cycling and camping and over about 4-5 days will need to make my way from the ferry at Cherbourg to the ferry from Caen. I'm planning to cycle down from Cherbourg towards La Haye du Puits for a few nights (which is further south than I think you stayed, but Brix is roughly in the right direction), and then from there head east towards Caen. I was just wondering, are there any roads I should avoid out of Cherbourg or can I just point myself due south and pedal without a care in the world and a lot of joie de vivre (and maybe cidre)? TIA

Excellent idea
Here's the route we took on after the ferry the first Saturday night. Bit of a lumpy climb coming out of Cherbourg but nothing too nasty.

 

[Dogtrousers]

While cycling in Normandy this year I learned the following TOP TIP. This thread seems as good a place to disseminate it as any:

When cycling in France, if you need to fill up your water bottle and there isn't a handy bar tabac available, remember that all churchyards will have a tap.

@PippaG I've done a lot of driving and a bit of cycling in that area. You will start your ride with a long chug uphill. If you have luggage you may well find yourself crawling (well, I would anyway). The N road that heads towards Valognes is quite big, but if that's what suits your route then I wouldn't slap an AVOID notice on it, but you can probably find nicer ways out. I normally drive out through Octeville towards Barnville Carteret. From memory that's a climb, and busy-ish. It won't be the highlight of your ride, but probably fine.

Normandy is lovely for cycling. Little roads are a joy and big roads not too bad.

 

[StuartG]

Pippa ask DZ for the route out of Cherbourg he gave everyone.

And be sure not to mention the nice cycle friendly train service ... with convenient bail in points.

 

[PippaG]

Email sent. No mention of trains.

 

[Flying Dodo]

If you head due east out of Cherbourg and follow the coast for a bit towards the airport before turning south-ish, you can avoid most of the massive uphill.

I didn't know about that option at the time and can still remember how much I suffered on the slope 35 years ago............

 

[mmmmartin]

Cherbourg is (mostly) at sea level but the centre of the peninsula is much higher. If you get the train from Cherbourg to Valognes, which should take about 15 minutes and cost a few quid, you avoid the exertion and quickly get to the good bits. Just sayin' like.....

 

[mmmmartin]

We had a good time. It was a blast. I will be signing up for next year deffo.

In an idle moment I looked back through some of these photographs. As a reminder.

Just sayin' like.....

 

[iLB]

I'm wondering if any of yo took out travel insurance that specifically covered cycle touring? And if so who did you go with?

Thanks!

 

[dellzeqq]

I'm wondering if any of yo took out travel insurance that specifically covered cycle touring? And if so who did you go with?

Thanks!

as part of the CTC deal they had third party insurance (and the club had organisers insurance).

You've reminded me that The Fridays will take out your membership for the next year. I'll do that today.

 

[mmmmartin]

I also have an annual travel insurance policy with Tesco that covers cycling as a mode of transport, ie not racing. I take the bike across the Channel six or seven times a year. Tesco is always going to be one of the cheaper policies and do three levels of cover. Snowcard also does good policies. Beware of some "cycle-specific" policies that exclude coverage of the bike during the hours of darkness, outdoors (!) and at any railway station. But you might find your belongings are insured against theft on your household insurance.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I wasn't in Normandy with the Fridays, but I was there on my own tour a month or so later. I used the policy advertised on the CTC site (Citybond). My own travel insurance seemed a bit equivocal about cycling. It listed cycle touring only as an "incidental" activity - which seemed odd, because almost by definition "touring" is not incidental, plus lots of other odd clauses that I didn't really understand. So rather than doing my nut in trying to understand them I took out a separate one to cover the tour.

 

[StuartG]

One of my clients was in travel insurance (as a middle man between the underwriters and the people who sold the policies). It gave me a grasp of the economics of the trade and it ain't pretty. Think of PPI on a bad day.

The upshot is that if you are insuring against a loss you could afford - then don't. Its much, much cheaper in the long run to take the risk. This, for me, includes the cost of my bike.
Its different if you are insuring against a risk you cannot afford. I mean only a dummie would go to the USA without health insurance. The main catastrophic risk you would have on a EU trip is third party liability resulting from your fault in some incident. As I understand the club/CTC insurance already protects you here. The other is your own body. If you get seriously mashed up then I'm assuming my E111 will cover immediate medical costs. It depends then whether you want compensation for losing an arm or know you can be airlifted home.

That is essentially health insurance again. It is really up to you to decide whether this is important or not. Obviously if you are bringing up a young family it may figure higher than if you an old bu**er who wouldn't be missed much. If you opt for that then you just need to check they don't have exclusions because you were cycling. They are bound to exclude skiing (unless it is a winter sports type policy) - and its a case to see how far they go - they may, reasonably, wish to exclude cycle racing - its just a case of how they word that to exclude leisure cycling.