Unexpectedly hilly, but bolstered by Le Big Mac - Sunday 25 September 2011

Living Caen at 9am, Martin was sure that northern France was flat,  however, it is not, indeed it is very hilly…  He was joined by a young, local, whipper snapper who came alongside and uttered the immortal words “vous parlez francais?” before deciding to ride with Martin in the “Suisse Normande”.  Jelly legs Martin reports that he thought Devon and Cornwall were tough, but this northern France area made those areas seem very tame.  Up hill and down hill he pedalled, with the agreeable (and very fit) whipper snapper alongside, encouraging him along the way.  Martin particularly wanted Bob to be aware of the young Frenchman’s efforts, apparently he even came back down a hill to help Martin pedal to the top.

All these hills left our intrepid pedaller knackered by lunchtime, and for some reason, instead of a decent lunch in the land of decent lunches, Martin opted for the Golden Arches and got stuck into a Big Mac.  Not content with that, he tells us he also took 2 Cuprofen.  Not being very drug literate we had to look this one up, apparently it is a mixture of Neurofen and Codemol, which means little to us but we suspect it is designed for old fogeys who are doing too much and need some pharmaceutical help.   Martin tells us that after using these drugs the afternoon went much better, he claims it was flatter and he managed to reach Laval, some 100 miles covered since this morning.   He finished cycling at 6.00pm and has suddenly twigged that his unplanned ferry change has meant he is 25 miles further on than he had planned.

It was very hot today, around the mid twenties so Martin took to scrumping apples from orchards on his route as he did not have enough liquids, doing his bit to improve the entente cordiale – we think not. He blames France for closing down on a Sunday so that he was unable to buy water.

Tomorrow an early start is planned as he sets out for Angiers in the 23 degree heat.