World Tour

July 10 - Monday La Haie de Poele We slept in a bit and still had one more load of laundry to do. In between that time we were able to share our website with David and Ruan. They shared with us the video footage of their trip to Venice and to South Africa - two more places we'll need to visit for sure. Ruan is a very talented artist. She paints, writes beautiful poetry and is also starting a book. David likes taking pictures as much as I do but also does video, he's a musician and practices martial arts. The dogs were lazing about as everyone got ready to leave. Ruan would be staying at the manor with the dogs. It was like we were abandoning them. It felt like we were leaving family as we said our goodbyes and pedaled down the drive secretly hoping the dogs would follow without David and Ruan noticing! No such luck. "We're experiencing things you only read about or see in a movie. It's like a dream." . If our trip were to end today it still would have been the experience of a lifetime. We can't say with complete certainty that we would have a similar experience if Jon entered a pastry shop back home, looking for chocolate croissants, which is sad really. We pedalled on, heading for the Normandy coast to see the WWII memorials. It was rolling hills with little traffic. We rode to Sees and took a train to Caen. We're getting better at riding the train with our bikes but the French have made it easy with their newer train models with lower entries. Both of our bikes just fit in the wheelchair area which is also right by the door. Easy on, easy off. We had just missed the Tour de France in Caen. We disembarked from the train and started heading for a hotel I found in a pamphlet. It was long past rush hours so the streets of downtown Caen were nearly deserted. As we pedalled down the street a man got Jon's attention - he needed a bike pump - which I was carrying. I got out the bike pump and Jon handed it to the guy. He pumped and pumped but his tire didn't seem to be inflating. Jon gave him a hand/slash did it for him. Of course Jon got the tire pumped up in no time. Both tires were completely flat which made me wonder when was the last time the guy had ridden the bike and whether or not he had stolen it. He was a little drunk and talked to us about the troubles he's having with his girlfriend, and how he was crushed that France lost the World Cup. He asked if we liked France (a resounding "Yes") and wished us good luck with our tour. We stayed at the Astrid hotel which was clean, quiet and had a normal toilet. Camping in Normandy is pretty scarce until you reach the coast. We had pork and beans with canned vegetables for dinner. It's amazing what tastes good but doesn't sound appetizing when you say it out loud (for example: pork and beans and canned vegetables).