Barnham / Paris 2023 – Day Two – Les Grandes-Ventes to Rouen
We all slept ok, waking up a little in the night but overall a good nights sleep. Unfortunately dad was feeling worse today but we had no other option than to carry on cycling. Our Airbnb host had prepared a great breakfast of pastry’s, juice & yogurt. We then packed up and left at 9:48am.
The route started with a big down hill which was nice. It was a shorter ride today but with quite a bit of climbing. We stopped just after leaving for a quick bike repair and rest but then set off again. We had one bigger climb in the morning. I found it not too bad and Maisey and Mum got up ok too. Dad was really struggling with his cold and achy muscles. Our first longer stop was in ‘Bosc-Le-Hard’ where we tried to find a coffee shop (with no success) and had lunch; baguette, meat and cheese bought from a carefour in the town.
After leaving the town we quickly came across a very random coffee shop (with no coffee). It was a a strange vintage collectibles shop with a coffee machine that only accepted coins. Mum managed to communicate with some others in the cafe and exchange our €5 note into coins and then get 2 coffees, which turned out to be vanilla flavoured hot milk.
We then continued, with one big climb coming up. Same again with this hill, I found it tiring but manageable. Mum and Maisey got up ok, stopping for breaks along the way. Dad found it tough, being exhausted by the end. This hill was also a busy road, so hard to find convenient places to pull in for a rest.
With the hill over it was then a fairly short ride to the Airbnb in Rouen, with a very steep, long downhill entering the city. Luckily there was a full size lane for buses and bikes, so very safe roads.
Airbnb was a little difficult to find but turns out to be great, plenty of room for all the bikes and us. It’s also in a really central location. Mum, Maisey and I then walked 15 mins to the closest Lidl to pickup food for the next couple of days. We then spent the rest of the evening chilling out and resting. We all sat down and watched the first episode of ‘Happy Valley’ before going to bed, ready for a day to rest and explore Rouen tomorrow.