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Wednesday 10th June 2015 Abbeville to Rouen Today was hot, cloudless for the most part, and I felt I was about to burn up. We left 'Le Shithole' (the Hotel Vauban) and rode south heading for Rouen. I'd told Andrew of the places along the route where we could stay the night if for some reason we decided not to go all the way to Rouen so of course the minute he took the lead he went charging off following a sign for St Saens, which was actually a mile or so off our route.
After a vain attempt to call him back and a five minute wait for him to realise the sorry error of his impetuous ways I had to give up and grumpily follow on. It wasn't long before I caught him up and then I had to modify our route on the hoof - no real problem but in the heat and sweat of the day I was annoyed and probably a bit tetchy. It's easier on these trips when you're on your own and can do whatever you like - a bit lonelier though.
Anyway the roads, after a few early ups and downs, were fast and rolling - very easy to ride along and with the wind behind us I got up to 24 mph on the flat at one point and 42 mph going down the biggest hill, my fastest speed ever. It could have been even faster but I chickened out when I felt a slight oscillation starting. The brakes took a bit of wear today. Around 11.00 we paused for a patisserie - tarte aux pommes for me - then at 13.00 or so we stopped at a café in Neufchatel en Bray for a drink. I was feeling done in and quite weak and decided to have a cheese omelette and chips while I was there - and it was wonderful! I ate it all and felt lots better after that now I had some decent fuel inside me. Andrew just had a few of my chips but the 'patron' seeing this came over and handed him a plate of chips free, holding his finger to his lips to indicate 'don't tell the wife!' Nice folk.
After a long, tiring ride we pulled in to Rouen at about 5.00 and the first couple of hotels we tried were full. The second one, however, suggested the Hotel Sisely so we went off to look for it. And found it. It brought new meaning to the word 'shithole', being even worse than the Hotel Vauban, but Andrew didn't now want to look any further so we ended up there. What a dump, no carpets on the stairs, we were right at the top of the building in a garrett and, of course, there were no lifts. Naturally no en-suite either but it was cheap enough at 70 euros for the two of us (about £26.25 each). I want a proper hotel tomorrow!
Anyway we unpacked our gear, stowed the bikes and went for a look round. Rouen is a very nice city and a lot more lively than Abbeville. Lots of young folk, students probably, and dozens of restaurants plus many old, half-timbered buildings and a couple of medieval churches - it was a place with lots of character. We had a meal, a 'flan vegetarien', in a bistro; small but not bad and I followed it with 'Le Nova', a rum and nut ice-cream thing with lashings of rum.
After that we went to look for a bar and Andrew instinctively found about the worst possible one in all Rouen! A seedy dive with a handful of degenerates drinking in it and some ghastly French music blasting out of a speaker. Andrew reckoned it looked like it had character - ie it was a dump - but even he came round to drinking outside in the street to avoid the dire music. After that we tried a couple of bars but it seemed you had to be a diner to sit inside. At last we found a proper bar and had a game or two of crib while some Spanish flamenco music was played - it was only switched on when we came in, a dubious treat. It was a recording of some bloke playing guitar, with the usual frantic strumming of chords and slapping of guitar bodies, whilst declaiming very theatrically in Spanish. It sounded like he'd got his testicles caught in the guitar strings it was that awful! Then an earnest-looking, bespectacled chap wandered into the bar, picked up a guitar and started to play a bit of flamenco himself - but fortunately without the testicle-mangling shouty bit.
Overall though Rouen was a very nice place with its pavement cafes, history and Spanish flamenco players… all very affluent, cultured and civilised. Bike computer: 31 + 32.71 = 64 miles GPS: 65.7 miles 10.2 mph avg 42.3 mph max 4160 ft ascent | |||||||||
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