237 km (147 miles)
After visiting Magny Cours, we wanted to chose a destination that would put me in a good spot to head back to Dieppe and leave MacBean and Martyn in place suitable for them to extend their trip. We landed on heading up to the border of Britany and Normandy. As a mid-point, we chose a little village near Crouzilles.
The good thing today was that the temperatures were a lot cooler. It meant that we could take our time and not have to seek out a beach as a destination. We set our GPS units to avoid highways and tolls. They took us on some nice side roads through some quaint towns. The one above had a historical mill, on the left side of the picture, with the river running below it.
Midday, we stopped for lunch an a historic little town. We got two appetizer platters to split between us for lunch. What I found out at lunch was that MacBean thought I had been stingy for breakfast. I had walked over to the boulangerie and picked up three pastries. So much for our girlish figures.
After lunch, we headed for L’Ile Bouchard and the bed and breakfast we had reserved. When we got into town, it proved to be quite hard to get to the B and B. There we lots of roadworks that had shut the streets down and our navs and phones kept sending us down closed streets. Finally, after a detour about a mile out of town with a dirt road thrown in, we made it to the destination.
After we got settled as the lodgings for the night, we walked into town. L’Ile Bouchard is a small town and it seemed that the only place that was open on a Monday was a ritzy joint on an island in the river.
We were told that the place only opened to admit people between 7:30 and 8:30 pm and not to show up before 7:30. We timed our stroll but arrived early but did find a bar with a view serving drinks.
The place lived up to its ritzy billing. They had some really good food on the menu. Martyn and I could not resist getting the pigs feet. The waiter really did test us on whether we really wanted it with a warning that it was gelatinous. It certainly was and it was delicious. We all laughed about how what were the cheap cuts and recipes that poor people used have become gourmet dishes with gourmet prices.
