Day 1,735

Veteran trees

So this was it, less than one week's cycling left in France. Our new route to Dieppe would be taking us through some small villages and along a disused railway line, but first we had the city of Le Mans to see. Famous throughout the world for its 24-hour endurance car race, held here since 1923. The city though has a much longer history, it was big enough by AD47 for the Romans to seize it, parts of the Roman wall are still visible. In 1066 a chap from Normandy, William, was based here when he set out to try his chances at taking the English throne. He did pretty well. A few years later the Normans were expelled from Le Mans, and the English and French continued to fight over it for a few centuries more. 

Le Mans Cathedral

Christianity had  arrived in the 4th century and a cathedral was completed in the mid 1400s, dedicated to the city's first bishop, Saint Julian. Fast forward to the early 1900s, by now it was the hub of a busy industrial area, and a chap called Wilbur Wright, with his brother Orville were busy developing a flying machine, flying it at the local horse racing track. Tom and I had time to visit just one of these famous sights, and opted for a coffee by the cathedral. We do like to multitask. 

We were determined to enjoy our last few days in France, the sun finally appeared, so much so we braved wild camping twice, once in an empty station building which was great, as we could cowboy camp inside without the bother of putting up the tent. On our penultimate night we wildcamped in some woodland, it was another very chilly night and a freezing mist greeted us when we woke. March, camping and France are not a great combination. 

We stopped along the way to visit some very old trees. Two Yew trees planted sometime in the 4th century have grown tall and hollow over the centuries, so much so that the insides are now Catholic shrines.

Later we climbed up a two-storey shrine created in yet another tree, a veteran Oak. 

We had time for one more treat, in the decaying town of Moulins-Le- Marche we booked into a restaurant with rooms, La Dauphin. Oh my, the food was absolutely superb, it was what I had been hoping for during all my time in France. Able to wander down from our room, clean, relax with a glass of wine, eat fabulous food without breaking the bank and then stagger to bed, France, nobody does it better than you! 

Then that was it, in Dieppe we bumped into two fellow cycle tourers, a young British couple, we exchanged our stories, then all too soon we were boarding our ferry for England. A super smooth crossing, and by 6pm we were back in Blighty. It’s nearly over folks!