We made the most of the lovely canal / riverside area we'd slept at before starting today's drive. Emma went for a run (pic) whilst I had a wander around with the bins. It bears repeating that the level of civic pride evidenced by the nearby lock and lock-keepers' office was top-drawer, and a suitable paradigm for just how civilised the country is. The UK is not even close to being close.
Emma reported really enjoying the riverside run and though I didn't spot anything rare on my walk, it was nice to see common redstart. Blackbirds, plus mistle and song thrushes were also in full spring voice, too; so the whole breakfast and general loafing experience was definitely one for the feel-good album.
The day's drive has been a mix of quintessential rural France and pretty boring trunk roads. We've also encountered at least a million more Route Barrées. The frequency of these things is exasperating, especially as encountering them often means being pitched onto incredibly narrow streets, whilst also trying to navigate the now-extremely-common 3.5 and 5 tonne restriction signs that dominate many-a settlement. We survived, though, and lots of swearing seemed to make things a bit better.
To break the long day's traverse north, we had a very long lunch at a place we know right at the base of the Cotentin peninsula. It's a gravel track by the river Sélune and close by is another well maintained long-distance cycleway that runs from Cherbourg to Mont-Saint-Michel. I ran a bit of it and it was grand to feel the warm sun in air still tinged with the coolness and freshness of early spring.
After lunching lazily there was little left to do but take advantage of a top up with more Intermarché €1.54/l diesel and then head for Cherbourg and the ferry back to Angleterre. Sitting waiting to be waved onto the relevant ship is where we can currently be found.
And so endeth another memorable trip. The weather's (mainly) been very agreeable, we've seen some fantastic landscapes and wildlife, and the truck's yet again uncomplainingly done everything asked of it; including very competently traversing some pretty sketchy / remote tracks and delivering us to the places we prefer to be in order to do the things we prefer to do. Total mileage on foreign soil throughout Spain, Portugal and France has been ~2150.
Thanks for reading!
This post was composed at 20:30 on Wednesday 9th April from N 49.65360°, W 01.58074° / http://maps.google.com/maps?q=loc:49.65360%2C-01.58074