Cycle Tour The Channel Tour

Warm and sunny all day long. Around noon quite hot, but with a pleasant breeze from the sea and not at all muggy. Perfect weather!

The morning spent alone in Bayeux: Visit in the splendid cathedral - the British war cemetary - Musée de Tapisserie with the Bayeux-tapestry - on small country roads out to Longues-sur-Mer with a German coastal battery with well preserved pillboxes with the canons still in place - along a very narrow and bumpy trail along the coastline, at some point against a 'no entry'-sign because of a nature preserve with steep ascents and descents into Arromanches-les-Bains - a crepe (pancake) Calvados in the town centre now that I am in Normandy - a visit at the D-day museum Musée d'Embarcation, which mainly tells the story of the artificial Mulberry harbour here - a look on the remains of the harbour in the sea - more steep ascents out of the town - small sandy trails, so I choose the parallel main road in stead for a while - curved cycle route through Courseulles-sur-Mer past the Juno beach museum in honour of the Canadian troops - beach promenade through the seaside resorts of Bernières-sur-Mer, Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer and Langrune-sur-Mer - a stretch on the beach itself, partly wheeling my bike - a beer at a terrace - from before Ouistreham on a perfectly marked cycle route past the huge ferry port - along the canal towards Caen to the campsite, where Kolya and I had agreed to meet, but the reception is shut and I'm rejected access. After having looked for Kolya's tent I cycle back to Ouistreham along a side road of a motorway - we meet at Camping Pommiers in Ouistreham - late supper from my supplies in the pannier.