June 5 Beuvron-en-Auge to Ifs 51 km
Weather again fine. After our visit to the Boulangerie to buy lunch we rode an easy 7 km down the D49 and D16 and onto the busier D613 for 3 km to he town of Crevecoeur where we visited a restored medieval village which has been established by the Schlumberger family. Buildings included the gatekeeper's lodge, dovecote, Lord's residence, and chapel, the latter dating to the 12thC, the others being 15th and 16th C, as well as the farm and orchard. A sideboard in the Lord's residence was in beautiful condition and was over 400 years old.
Back on the bikes we headed off onto minor roads which were undulating to hilly. Passed many old, large, stone farm houses and buildings, varying in condition from superb to falling down.
All along the way so far the land seems rich and productive. Crops have been even and lush - wheat, barley, corn are the most common. If asked of my impression of France so far, I would say 'green' of a variety of shades. The only splashes of colour are the flower boxes in the villages.
Saw some wind turbines today.
I would have preferred to limit today's ride to around 40 km, but there were no villages with accommodation, so had to continue another 10 undulating kms to the suburb of Ifs, on the outskirts of Caen.
Couldn't find any tourist office, but I had the names of three hotels which we couldn't find. Saw some large signs to the Hotel de Ville, so set out to find this hotel. When we found it, next to the university, I was a bit puzzled when I saw that the hours were 0800 - 1730 - strange for a hotel. Went inside and joined the queue; said to the lady at the desk that I wanted a bed for the night. She looked at me and asked again what I wanted. The penny clicked and she said to me 'You are a funny man'. We were at the town hall! She gave me a map, but no help with directions. Fortunately as we were trying to work out where we were and where we wanted to go, a woman who had been behind me and heard the exchange came out and spoke to us in English, which was a great help. We eventually got the last room, on the third floor of a Formula 1 type hotel on the edge of Ifs, with no lift, so had to carry our bags and bikes up the stairs and fit us and the bikes into our tiny family room. However, the showers were hot, the room clean, the bed comfortable and we had a good meal of steak, washed down with a bottle of cider, before retiring.
Sue is getting stronger on the bike and managing to ride up most hills now, which is very satisfying for her.