Day 2 of tour mark 3 (or 4 or whatever I said) and I have made it to Coutances. Apart from the rain, so far so good. I didn't get very far yesterday. By the time i got to Briqubec by 3 hours sleep and downpour after downpour had caught up with me. I found a campsite and was all ready to put my tent up in the rain but the owner wouldn't hear of it. I was to be provided with a caravan so that at least tomorrow my tent would be dry. I gratefully accepted and then spent the next few hours with her and her Flemish friends waiting for her husband to arrive so that the caravan could be moved. They fed and watered (and wine_ed) me and were altogether very kind. In my zombie like state I didn't manage to make out much of the French (or indeed any of the Flemish) but their english was good so I generally got the gist. When i was eventually able to say my good nights and leave i fell asleep in the warm dry van.
The next morning I slept till well past 10 and as i knew it was due to rain badly at 5 (excellent weather forecasts in France you know) I was keen to be on the road. I set off with the plan to make it here but apart from that...who knows?
I followed little roads through lots of Norman villages accompanied by a golden Labrador (?). I met Bernard (said Lab) on the road (in the village from which he got his name) and he followed me, or I followed him, for the next 5 kilometres. I kept stopping hoping that he would wander back to w'hence he came but he just trotted on. I held back for a while and hoped he would turn a diferent way but as i rounded the corner there he was. I thought maybe the packs of bigger badder dogs he tried to anger by walking into their homes might put him off but to no avail. Eventually I was beginning to get worried about Bernard _ he might be in an accident or cause one_ and i was frantically trying to workout the french to explain the situation when, sensing my worry i suppose, Bernard looked back one last time and then disapeared into a field of wheet.
Apart from my encounter with the littlest hobo, today has been fairly simple. I tried following the Voit Vert but found the dirt track surface like cycling through treacle. Although it was a direct route it was really energy zapping so i switched instead to the D roads. I stopped for lunch in Lesser and discovered that by 2 o'clock the only sandwhich available was ham and cheese. the girl behind the counter offered to remove the ham and, as i was starving I accepted. On the plus side I got a meal deal that included a vey nice chocolate eclair.
At 4.30 it started to rain and by 5 ( accurate or what?) when i was putting up the tent, it was a downpour. I hid under the trees to cook tea (couldn't light the match in the full force of the deluge _ yes, I will be buying a lighter tomorrow) and said a little thank you to Miss Evans for introducing me to trangier cooking in the rain. I have had a lovely meths flavoured coffee followed by tescos finest pasta n' sauce sprinkled with just a hint of babybell cheese. Living it up eh?
No idea what delights the evening will bring but as I am now hiding out in the tv room may i suggest a little wine, some knitting and vague attempts to understand what the hell is going on on french tv?
No comments:
Post a Comment