The Fridays tour - Normandy 15th-22nd June

[mmmmartin]

Opps, just seen Dellzeqq's earlier post, yes of course he's right and my post was misleading. Sorry. He was very polite in not pointing out that much of all the mud and puddles and gravel discovered by the recce party was due entirely to my incompetence over-ambitious attitude.

Be very aware that this part of France is littered with tiny minute little small beautiful lanes.

So, for those planning a route from Caen to the chateau, for the last bit, this looks a brilliant short cut back to the chateau on the map and has perfect tarmac at each end but Mice and I discovered it is terrible in the middle section so is best avoided (especially with saddlebags loaded with food DAHIKT):
http://goo.gl/maps/ec1MT
as is this one
http://goo.gl/maps/Ntq8U

this is the route Dell came up with to and from Valognes - it's great, all swoopy lanes and pretty green countryside.
http://goo.gl/maps/nmVun
note that the penultimate route marker on the way to the chateau is at a place where you may be tempted to turn left. This is the way of folly, gravel, mud and nightmares. (And a superbly decorated house that you will not believe.) So do not make this turn. Instead, follow the route shown here to the final route marker and turn left just after the bus shelter. (This route starts in Valognes at a small supermarket that is open every day until 8pm in case you want to stock up on anything.) It's about half an hour from there to the chateau. HTH.

 

[mmmmartin]

the Chateau is at the highest point of the entire Contentin peninsula

Even with a heavy-laden saddlebag full of shopping and wine and cider the return to the chateau at the end of the ride was not a problem, even for an old fat bloke like me. Agent Hilda sped up the hills in a high gear, chatting as we went. I can't remember a hill, even the toughest, in the entire week that came remotely near The Beacon, or even Turners Hill. The riding was more like riding around Tunbridge Wells. In fact, the only things that will be better on Le Tour than riding around Kent and Sussex will be the routes, the food, the road surfaces, the views, the company, the unfailing courtesy of car drivers, the weather, the accommodation, the countryside, the pretty villages, the coffee stops, the cider, the wine, the laughter and the company. I'll shut up now.

 

[Gordon P]

And we really need more detail on the beer.

Forget the beer: it is flavourless. Cider & calvados are the sensible direction to travel in.

 

[Gordon P]

And we really need more detail on the beer.

Not special: see comments elsewhere (passim?) on cider & calvados

 

[Gordon P]

Pelforth Brune. Lots of places stock it., Brown as a brown thing. Though somewhat strong in alcohol.

Did I say Cider?

 

[Gordon P]

Does stone-strewn muddy nightmare mean that there were more visitations than usual? I've never had one, touch wood, but would hate to be caught unawares.

We actually had no punctures & - apart from Agent Hilda's previously broken hanger - no mechanicals! That's partly because when we strayed on to the muddy stone-strewn tracks we walked.... But road surfaces generally better than I have become used to here.

 

[mmmmartin]

I'll shut up now.

Apart from saying that Gordon's comment about road surfaces is very true. I don't think we ever saw a single example of the four inch potholes that now speckle our UK roads. This may be because they don't get the frosts and the heavy use of roads by lorries that we do over here. And be sure that Dell is unlikely to include muddy tracks on the itinerary. Not after I looked over my shoulder on "my route" from the ferry to the chateau to see him carrying his bike as he waded through a puddle. Shall we agree that I was too far away to see the exact expression on his face?

 

[Gordon P]

Some of the routes we rode can be seen as follows, but they may, indeed certainly will not be exactly the ones we ride. For those of a certain bent they may give you a sense of how the land lies. The discerning will find a couple of places where we took a wrong turning & retraced our steps although some of the there & back detours were intentional - just to confuse you.
https://connect.garmin.com/activity/316933767
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/316933861
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/316933832
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/316933786
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/316933713
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/316933667

If you are not arriving in Cherbourg on Saturday evening on the 1600 ferry from Portsmouth the recommended route to cycle from the ferry port to the Chateau is http://goo.gl/maps/RFL4T

 

[mmmmartin]

Apart from saying that Gordon's comment

About the cider is true. It is a whole world nicer than the sweet fizzy chemically stuff we get here. It was a much more subtle, dry, flavoursome experience. And that Gordon's judgment is normally correct. And that although the Calvados at 11.30 on the morning of departure was flavoursome, it was also a bit much a bit early. The quick whizz downhill to the ferry was fun thobut.....

 

[dellzeqq]

the cider is not all that strong - about five per cent. The kick is in the flavour

 

[theclaud]

the cider is not all that strong - about five per cent. The kick is in the flavour

That sounds to me like permission to drink LOADS of it.

 

[srw]

I spotted a few avenues vertes on the online Michelin map. I'm sure these were carefully recced.

 

[ceepeebee]

Forget the beer: it is flavourless. Cider & calvados are the sensible direction to travel in.

Dude, you picked the wrong stuff. There are some amazing French beers, last year in the hypermarket in Caen they had one of the best selections I've seen.

I have a Normandy green guide if anyone wants a borrow btw.

 

[BalkanExpress]

the cider is not all that strong - about five per cent. The kick is in the flavour

Unlike the calvados.... which is equally flavoursome but has a kick like Kickey McMule winner of the kickingest mule competition three years in a row.

I SO wish i could be there...have fun

 

[Gordon P]

Dude, you picked the wrong stuff. There are some amazing French beers, .

Not in the supermarkets we went to, but we didn't have a car so didn't get to the Ocean off the motorway.... And not in the bars eiither.