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| Date | Starting Place | Ending Place | Author | Last Update |
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| 05-07-08 |
Vernon, Normandy, France |
Bernay, Normandy, France |
ray | 02-13-09 18:53:18 |
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Aurelie had to get up early (7am) to go to school. Since the alarm clock was about 10 feet from me, I awoke but dozed until she left and then a bit longer. As usual, my legs were a bit stiff and I was a bit weary but this is normal for me on tour. I had considered about riding back to Giverny to tour Monet's garden. But, it didn't open until 10 and I had a full day of riding to get to my next host, so I decided that I would have to do that on some other trip. Instead, I went to the weekly market that Aurelie had told me about the night before. I was staying in Vernon's old town and it was a treat to walk through it on the way to the marketplace. This view was just up the street from where I was staying. The brown lines in the buildings are wood framing that is very old. As you can see, it was a clear sunny day.  Here is where I spent the night. I was up in the attic where the two windows peek out of the roof.  I decided that it would be nice to have some peanut butter as emergency food so I stopped in a supermarket along the way. While I didn't know the words for "peanut butter," I did know the words for butter and peanut. I tried it out and after repeating it three times, the clerk asked it I wanted peanuts. When I said that I wanted peanut butter, he said that they didn't carry it. I bought a small,heavy glass jar of Nutella, instead. I walked through the market and bought some food for the day's ride. I didn't take any pictures of this marketplace as it was small and not very picturesque. One problem I had with my maps (a 3 mile to the inch French road atlas) is that it didn't show much detail of the roads in a town. There were maps of the larger cities, but Vernon wasn't one of these. I knew where I wanted to go, but not which road to take to get there. As I rode around, I saw a sign to the train station and decided to go there and ask a taxi driver how to get out of town. I managed to ask the question but had a hard time understanding much of the answer. But, the pointing helped and I was soon on my way. First, I had to climb out of the Seine Valley. Once I got out of the Vernon urban area, it was uphill on a deserted road.  I was again alternating between forest and farmland. Here is a view looking directly into the forest.  In addition to providing lovely color, these plants had a sweet smell. I was unprepared for them as I hadn't read about them before.  As I rode through the countryside, the views were a mixture of green wheat fields with yellow patches fringed by tree covered hills. This picture is a good representation of a typical vista. I count 4 yellow patches.  I didn't realize when I created this route that I was going to be crossing river valleys all day. In this area, the rivers generally flow north and I was heading west. It was grind uphill, quickly coast down, cross river, repeat. By my count, I did this 6 times. While the rivers weren't wide, they were always picturesque.  In addition to showing the hill I coasted down, there was an enormous yellow patch that I needed to take a picture of.  This was a small pond right on the side of the road. I liked the reflections in the still water and the dappling of sunlight.  The town of Fontaine sous Jouy had some kind of contest or celebration going on where every house displayed some kind of comic figures. The city hall's lawn gives you the idea.  Another surprise was the bouquet of wildflowers that laid like a carpet on the side of the road. These would be constant companions for the entire trip. This one was so unusual (purple dots?) that I had to get a close-up.  This is what the climbs out of the valleys looked like.  As I approached Bernay, I (finally) rode along a river that gave my fatigued legs a bit of a rest. It was a heavily wooded area and I got this shot in a clearing along the road.  When I got to Bernay, I stopped at the train station and called Pascal, my host for the night. He lived several miles out of town and had to drive in to get me. I loaded all my gear into his car and then followed him. The countryside was beautiful.  It was a bit odd to ride an unloaded bike the last few miles of the day. At one point, I was passed by a road cyclist and I wanted to say "but wait, I'm bike tourist and usually carrying bags." But, he was by me too quickly and I don't know how to say that in French, anyway. Pascal is a painter, gardener, builder, and retired helicopter pilot who spoke English well enough for detailed conversation. He build the house on land given to him by his father-in-law. It was a very nice house (some pictures in May 8's journal) full of Pascal's paintings. Since I arrived the night before the May 8 Victory in World War II holiday, his two children and their partners were there. His wife was in the kitchen making dinner. They didn't know I was a vegetarian and the meal options I had were minimal (I ate a lot of bread and the tasty zucchini casserole) but sufficient. There were no open bedrooms so I pitched my tent (for the first time) on the lawn and slept out there. It was a bit awkward as all my gear was still in Pascal's car and I kept forgetting things there were in the trunk. Eventually, Pascal left it unlocked. |
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