Day 2 - 17th Aug ‘91 Into France

Showered on ship after an expensive meal. Ripped off (In my experience of travelling, it’s always within the first 24 hours of a journey or being in a new country that you get ripped off!). We slept on the floor of the ferry on our roll mats because we had not booked a cabin or a seat. Woke up to herds of people walking past to get to cars. Hot and sticky in ship. Little sleep. Felt awful, tired and homesick. Pretty miserable altogether, thinking about yesterday. 

Must press on and get into the journey. Spoke to some bikers and other Brits before getting off the ship. Dark in Cherbourg. Got some money from cash machine. Cherbourg was very empty and quiet at 6am. Depressing so we did not hang around long. Cycled to Briquebec arriving 9am. Weather miserable, cloudy, dull. Bought two ‘pain chocolat’. Had an expensive, ‘tourist price’ coffee. Buying food for now and tomorrow. 

Carried on to St Sauveur to join main road to Coutances. Long straight roads. Stopped past La Haye des Puits on a side road. Had lunch of fruit, creme fraiche, biscuits, cheese and salami. Then had a glorious siesta. Drinking a lot of water and sweating profusely. My right knee is a little painful. Roads a bit dull and packed with trippers from the ferries. Countryside gently rolling but quite easy going.

 I find I’m riding a bit faster than Dan at the moment. We are getting on well. Arrived in Coutances felling a little weary. Many tourists. Met some Brits who were on holiday. An old Frenchman came up to Dan to talk. He was a POW during the war. Nice guy. Went to supermarket after shooting down a long and fast hill. Much interest in bikes. People asking questions all the time. Half seem to have done the Tour de France but are usually balding and getting fat. 

Keep thinking of all those trippers going past and how we’ll pass them when they are on their way home. Wedding procession hooting at us on the way to Gavray. Cheering and waving. Cycled down long hill into Gavray to camp site in town centre. Pretty little place. Camp site full of ‘frogs’ with barking dogs. Unpacked bikes, checked them over. No problems yet. Repacked backs bags after setting up the tent for our first night out. 

I felt quite homesick when we first arrived. Penny is in my mind all the time and missing family. This is only Day 2! Good, hot shower. Opened up present from Susanna. Pictures of all family and a card. That’ll be good for morale in the future. Not particularly hungry. Ate little tonight. I can’t wait to see Penny in Algeciras.

Distance - 104.2kms AVS - 8.8kph Time ins saddle - 11hrs 44mins.