320 Kilometers (199 miles)
We left Dieppe with a plan to mostly avoid highways and toll roads getting to La Flèche. For the most part it worked, we did not pay any tools and had barely any time on highways. It did come at a price. It was hard to find petrol and food for breakfast. Someone in the group had not filled up before we boarded the ferry. Someone else in the group gets hangry.
Anyway, we find petrol and food at an E. Leclerc grocery store, which now seems to be our go to.
Next stop was a little cafe in the middle of nowhere. It was great to see people taking their coffee and a shot at 11am.
There’s no faking ghost signs in France. They are everywhere no are the real deal not like the ones you see that have been faked elsewhere.
Lunch was a stop in Le Mans. The place was a chain but the ham and cheese baguette with pickle was fantastic.
It is getting hot here and we all needed the shade after lunch. The temps are in the high eighties and low nineties for the next few days. We’ve adopted a strategy of leaving early.
Once, we arrived at the Airbnb, the bikes were parked so that serious attention could be paid to beer and food for the evening.
The stroll into downtown from the Airbnb is “easily flip-floppable”. It was an easy walk along tree line streets.
Our choices for a place to drink and eat were the bar we are sitting at and the place directly across the street selling tobacco. It actually turned out the choices were less. Only the place across the street was serving food. Given they had the corner on the market, it seems they serve pretty dreadful steak and frites.
It is amazing how late it stays light. This was taken well after 8pm as we walked back to the apartment. It’s funny, we are the same longitude as England but an hour earlier on CET.
Back at the apartment, several pastis and beers were partaken. Needless to say, I was moving slowly in the morning.
