Il Pleut !!!!!!!
France: Tour de Manche Stage 5 – Sun 26th July 2015 – Saint-Quentin-sur-le-Homme to Le-Vivier-sur-Mer (60 Km)
It had to happen. First thing I did this morning was to check the hour by hour weather on my iPod Touch, which showed this:
9 am – Rain 90% probability, temperature 13 degrees
10 am – Rain 100% probability, temperature 13 degrees
11 am – Rain 100% probability, temperature 13 degrees
12 am – Rain 100% probability, temperature 13 degrees
1 pm – Rain 100% probability, temperature 14 degrees
My mood was a bit gloomy to say the least, particularly as this is the day I ride past the famous landmark Mont-Saint-Michel on my way to Le-Vivier-sur-Mer. But the show must go on so let’s try to look for the positives. It helped enormously when I went downstairs and found that the dear old lady who owns the Chambres d’hôtes had prepared a lovely breakfast, with cereals, fruit, yoghurts, juices, fresh croissants and baguettes, and English breakfast tea. Not only will I miss her and the nice facilities, but also le petit chien who barks at me whenever I go near and le chat noir who came and snuggled up to me in the TV room last night, purring loudly when I gave her some attention and clawing at me when I ignored her.
There was a break in the weather when I set off, attired in my wet weather gear, at around 9 am. In fact I stayed dry for the first 10 Km and was able to get some photos to go with the few I had taken on the way to Ducey when it was sunny yesterday afternoon. But the heavens opened and there was torrential rain and icy cold wind for the remainder of the journey. I managed to put my camera inside a panier bag where it stayed safe and dry until I arrived at my destination.
You will just have to take my word for it that the scenery today was absolutely stunning and the little villages (including Pontaubault, Huisnes-Sur-Mer, Les Pas, Beauvoir) were as charming as any I have seen so far. As for Mont-Saint-Michel you will just have to read the online history and view the pictures that others have taken.
To say the riding conditions were horrendous would be an understatement. Visibility was poor (why can’t they invent wipers for glasses), braking power was very limited, and I lost all feeling in my fingers and toes. Those compacted dirt tracks are OK when it is fine, but when it rains they turn to slush and the grit covers you and your bike all over. All I could think about was having a warm shower when I arrived at Le Bretagne Hotel in Le-Vivier-sur-Mer. I just put my head down and ploughed on, not stopping for even Mont-Saint-Michel.
At last I arrived and was greeted at the desk by a man who spoke no English at all, but that was OK because all I wanted at that stage was the key to the room. First thing I did was rush to the bathroom and hop under the hand-held shower, clothes and all. Why is it that in Europe you rarely find a decent, fixed-head, shower that you can stand under? After hosing the grit off myself, my clothes and the pannier bags, I ran a warm bath and soaked in it for at least 30 minutes until my hands and feet thawed out.
The only good thing about cycling in the icy cold rain today was that it soothed my right leg which was still burning from the stinging nettles that I brushed against yesterday. Last night the leg was so numb that I resorted to Googling in search of a home remedy, but found nothing that a cyclist would normally carry.
By about 3 pm this afternoon I was absolutely starving, having eaten nothing since that nice breakfast. However, it is Sunday so nearly everything in town is closed down, even the restaurant at the hotel where I am staying. I walked about a Km until I found a make-shift café beside the sea that sells only oysters and mussels (huîtres et les moules). I chose the latter because I had read that moules are the specialty here and huîtres are the specialty in Bretagne. I was served an enormous bowl of black mussels, accompanied by only a piece of bread and packet of potato crisps. The mussels were much smaller than what we see in Australia, but I counted 103 of them and they were delicious (I think cooked in butter).
Why is it that the sea here, like in England, is a horrible dirty, grey-green, colour? Is it a refractory or atmospheric phenomenon, or is it sedimentary? The hotel here boasts about panoramic sea views, but I am not finding it very appealing. No wonder overseas visitors are attracted to Manly and Bondi.
Enough said about today, let’s hope tomorrow’s 70 Km ride to Matignon turns out better.
