France - Belgium - Holland Cycling : 2

Distance this section : 303km
Distance completed : 767km

I love the baby cheeses.

Leaving Amboise, at least I no longer have an appointment to keep so the days are slightly shorter, it's still hilly however and I'm feeling tired. Pleasant surroundings though, France continues to be very rural, although there are different crops here in Normandy, cider apple orchards and fields of maize line my route. I make camp at Houssay, just south of Le Mans, it is very cheap, the girl on reception says that is because we're in Normandy. A nice place anyway, with a big lake where one can hire pedalos and such like, I've pedalled enough though so instead I get merguez and frites, and of course a beer or two.

Roman temple remains.

More Norman countryside the next day, and a few points of interest - I pass the Babybel factory at Evron, then ride through the Roman town of Jublains, where there are the ruins of a pre-Christian temple. Normandy seems a little more civilised than further south, I'm actually seeing convenience stores in many villages, this is good. But still, I have failed to allow for the fact that today is Sunday, my plan was to buy some food and eat at the campsite, I'm staying in Mayenne which is really quite a large town so there are certainly shops, but of course they are all shut. All the restaurants seem shut too, maybe I can get takeaway food and a beer or two in a bar? Nope, bars are all shut as well - in the end I get takeaway pizza, and they sell me a few cans of beer too. Stupid country though...

Time for another test of the brakes.

Day seven of cycling, and I am feeling rather broken, my legs have no strength and pretty much every hill sees me pushing the bike. It is nice therefore to do a stretch on the 'veloscenic', a signed route running from Paris to the Mont Saint Michel, this section is along an old railway line and so nice and flat. I'm sorry to leave it and head north towards Avranches, not least as I remember from my last ride through the town it is built on top of a large hill. But in the event this time I find a better route, and from there it is only a little way further to Donville-les-Bains, where as luck would happen my parents now have a little pied-à-terre. It is very nice indeed to have a couple of days rest there, in a proper bed and everything.

Patton Memorial in Avranches.

Photos to go with this post can be found here