I'm back! Bronzed, and, well, no heavier at least, which is a miracle, considering the amount of cheese, beer, peanuts and wine consumed.
871 miles in all, including the two legs to and from Sheffield for my lift to Portsmouth. I was way fitter than our previous trips, keeping up well, even whizzing up a few of the hills. Having a lovely new trike helped, and my homemade luggage stood up to the trip well.
I love France. In two weeks, we ate well, drank well, and people waved and smiled and applauded us as we passed. In two hours back in England, I'd had to scream at a bunch of teenagers playing chicken in front of the trike while I descended at nearly 30mph, and we'd had fish and chips, served by a lad totally without gorm. Although the chips were good.
Our weather was mixed. On average, it was perfect, but unfortunately the outliers of heat and wet were fairly extreme....
We stayed in some cracking little Chambres d'Hotes this time - cheaper than hotels and with real character. One of them had suits of armour! (It was a very old manor house). We picnicced for lunch, with fresh tomatoes, cheese, sausage and bread and fruit. I treated myself to an Opinel knife in a supermarket (it was a bargain apparently, a couple of the others got one too).
I even had a couple of conversations with real French people in French (well, sort of French). The others joked that I'd pulled, when I chatted to an 80 year old with one hand, who was on his way to the bar for a pastis at 9.30am. Just my kind of guy....
I think I could very happily cope with an extended camping tour some day.
I intend to write it all up on Crazy Guy soon for you all to read if you like.