Sunday August 3, 2014

We were up early and ready to leave our field campsite by 9:15 am.  In the square the Town had an exhibition of photos from 1944 to 2014 highlighting world events the good, the bad and the ugly.  It was very interesting to be reminded of when different things happened.  These two events happened during the years we were born.

The EU was originally called EEC.

We followed the EV4 to Carantan and got misplaced going through the Town due to a Sunday Market that went down all the side streets emanating from the Town square. Fortunately the Office de Tourisme was open and we got directions to get out of Town.  However, we passed a stand that sold BBQ’d sausages – twice. Actually we didn’t pass the stand the second time, we stopped for a sausage on a French stick – a second breakfast which kept us going all day.

The route today was very nice and we followed the River Vire for the last 15kms.  The trail was packed limestone and wide enough for the two of us to cycle side by side.  We came across a family cycling towards us and Ralf knocked the little kid of his bike.  Ralf’s version was he kept staring at me and ran into my back pannier.  Poor kid ended up crying on the ground.  Parents and grandparents assured us the kid was o.k. I was ready with my First Aid kit but it was unnecessary.

What we love about this Grand Adventure is we are often surprised about the areas we are cycling in.  Of course, this area has a lot of history with the Normandy landings and the second world war.  A lot of the villages were bombed by the allies prior to the landings.  There are signs and information boards about the various events that happened on or around the days of the Normandy landings.  We are also amazed at the beautiful flower displays almost every village has.

We arrived in Saint Lo but the Office Tourisme closed at 2:00pm on a Sunday, it was 2:30. We didn\’t know that Saint Lo was a walled City, we will have to investigate the walls tomorrow.

We had no idea where to stay.  We followed the signs for hotel and figured we would ask them if there was a campsite.  The first place said no campsites in Ste Lo but one 10 kms away, they had rooms for €58 (2 star).  The second hotel, on the same street looked cleaner and was €57 (3 star). No complimentary coffee but free wi-fi.  They put our bikes in a secure lock-up for the night.  Ralf went to get dinner, I researched campsites, I found a website listing municipal campsites.  I also checked the route for the next couple of days.

Did you know it is more expensive to buy juice or pop in France than it is to buy wine.  Guess what we had with dinner, it was not orange juice.

Tomorrow we are going to the ‘Orange’ Store to get set up with new sim card for the phone and a wi-fi data stick for the computer – that should be fun.