Day 7
Just one more day in France to go.
Today has been a much easier day, but not without challenges. A late start was I order to avoid arriving well in advance of check-in time, but today was the hottest day of the trip and, once the well-shaded railway bed was finished near Flers, the heat became intense. As this coincided with the more undulating part of the route, regular water and forehead wiping stops became necessary.
Today saw me reach the highest point of the whole tour as I went on a bridge over the busy D924 road just east of Flers. From that point the ups and downs got steeper – more downs than ups, but with all that weight behind me, the downs were quite stressful and the brakes needed to be used carefully to keep the bike straight, the speed under control and the disc brakes from overheating. The only concern on the ups was the rider overheating.
There was a real sting in the tail, with a 3km stiff climb into and beyondthevillageof Bréel: a 2.3% average gradient which hit 7% for a significant section. This was then followed by a similar downhill ending close to the campsite.
I still arrived before check-in time but couldn’t have been made more welcome. The ‘Cyclotent’ is amazing, I was lent a coolbox together with frozen blocks so I could keep my milk etc. fresh for the morning and was told not to worry about the 10am check-out time if I needed more sleep! This is certainly my favourite of the campsites that I have stayed at this week.
Looking ahead to tomorrow’s stage, the sting is definitely in the head rather than the tail. The first 15km look very tough with another 3km climb involving 7%, and a couple of shorter ones threatening 9%. Whether I can manage these without having to walk some of it remains to be seen but the front wheel feels very light at that sort of slop and, even if I can physically pedal with so much weight behind me, I would walk rather than risk tipping over backwards!
Once I get past this section and then cope with the descent, I join another stretch of old railway as it descends gently fron Clécy to Caen, regularly crossing the Orne river and passing through various now railway-less towns and villages. The ride finishes with the 17km return fron Caen to Ouistreham along the bank of the Caen canal (Prologue D in reverse).
Here are some photos of the day, including the ‘high point’, an attractive church at La Carneille, the approaching summit of that last climb, my cyclotent, and a little visitor – and the route video as normal.
