2025 Tour Day 22 - Rouen

No rain. No wet tent. Blue skies and a gentle breeze. We knew we had a descent, heading to the Siene, but we didn't know just how high we were until we came upon the view:

Wow it was a steep descent (see elevation chart below, the blue arrow is this hill down). Exhausting in its own way. Hand stress. Brake stress. A lot of self talk. And we made it safely, no issues (so happy to have my disc brakes and dry conditions). 

Before the descent we stopped for our daily Boulangerie visit and cycled through orchards and fields.

At the bottom of the hill, we found the Rue Des Canadiens.. who knew?

And the Siene. And we had to cross it...Ferry time!

It seemed like we just missed it. 

But the ferry just simply goes back and forth, basically on demand - he just goes back and forth to each side, it takes about 7 minutes per crossing. Free to all. 

Looking back on the hill we just cycled down, yes very steep. 

And looking across the Siene to the white cliffs. 

The next several kilometers were following the Siene inland towards Rouen. Very industrial. Big ships and ship yards.  

And this boat from St. John's named Lake Ontario 🇨🇦

Not so many thatched roofs here - but a new twist on the idea - solar thatch. 

The shipyards continued and also industry. They seemed to be mining into the white cliffs. It was dusty and lots of trucks, but we had a safe dedicated bike lane, and it was flat, and it wasn't raining. 

We made it to Rouen and .... We splurged and checked into the Hyatt for two night! What? 

Yep. Our bikes are safely in the bike storage room and we are in white sheets and a king sized bed. 

(This is when we checked in, the front desk was up many steps!) 

And we now own clean clothes too. This is living! 

We stocked up on some groceries for our room and found this lovely fruit and veggie store. You have to tell the owner what you would like and he chooses and bags them for you - don't touch the merchandise! 

Beer and baguette, pate and hummus, strawberries and apricots. Yes. Life is good. 

We will explore Rouen tomorrow, on foot. It is very hilly and our hotel is at the top of a steep hill (see red arrow below on elevation chart), so the bikes will stay where they are and we will explore other means of transportation. 

Tonight we had a nice dinner, and waited for a bus to take us up the big hill. We ended up chatting with a young lady from Morocco, here studying and working in the insurance business. She explained that the bus was diverted due to construction and we needed up walk the full hill, again. (The bus did eventually go by us, but we were between stops and so had to just wave and keep climbing.) Lots of steps today, lots of elevation. 

A few little highlights of tonight's exploring... The oldest bar in France...

And one view of one of the many cathedrals. Much history to learn and explore tomorrow.

This is our view from our hotel room tonight. No birds to sing us to sleep, but sleep in comfort we will! 

Strava stats for the day. 

Good night from the hilltop Hyatt.

2025 Tour Day 21 - Le Clos Normandy

We only had one hill to climb today, but it was an impressive one! A little intimidating to ride towards, but it turned out to be a smooth, relatively quiet, not too steep a climb, and in the shade. Good conditions. 

We woke to a very cold morning.  When there is only one digit in the temperature (9°) it is hard to get out of your sleeping bag! And of course we got just a little rain, just enough to have to roll up a wet tent. But the sunshine prevailed today and yet it didn't get too hot, so no complaining. 

We are riding inland, still in the Parc and south of La Siene, on our way to Rouen.

Not many towns on the way, and the ones we went through were small, and / or "closed on Monday".  We had to make a picnic from what we could buy at a tiny grocery store, no "poulet complete baguette" for us today. 

Lovely hedges, everywhere. This red one caught my eye. 

Tree tunnels for shade - for my hiking family - it's like night in there!

Many more thatched roofs today, and some with gardens along the top of them. 

We remained high above the Siene (after the climb) and could see one of the bridges across it from afar. 

More beautiful fields of colour (and crops we can't identify). 

At our lunch stop there was this one giant tree. Wow. So round, so tall and so healthy. I tried to hug it 😍

We had a lighter day today, 40 km and only one hill. We are all set up with our laundry room, kitchen, eating and relaxation area, and bedroom, Our own version of a tiny house. 

We are living among the RVs tonight. The birds are loud and plentiful and the sun is still hot at 8:30 pm. 

Strava stats for the day. 

Bon Nuit 

2025 Tour Day 20 - Parc Naturel Regional Des Boucles de la Siene Normande

Yes, that's me, I made it up the final hill. Technically I made it up all the hills, but specifically I pedaled my bike all the way up the final hill. 

700+ meters of climbing today. 

The morning started saying goodbye to our camping friends. All three tents around us were from The Netherlands. And it was like goldilocks in terms of gear - too little (Peter the hiker - Decathlon Bike and not even a rack) - just about right (Charles who we met on the road - really nice bike with an internal hub, good tent, borrowed from his son) - and the new couple who came in late who have absolutely everything - ebikes, matching panniers, chairs, even bike seat covers - I wish I got a better photo of them, it was impressive kit. 

This morning we cycled up to the coast and then headed east to the mouth of La Siene.  Under the threat of rain all morning (check out those clouds). 

We left the flat coast and left the Calvados region. 

The architecture changed with beautiful 3 story brick houses - quite ornate. 

And even some thatched roof houses! 

Our lunch stop, at the Mairie as usual. 

We didn't have the camera out much both because of rain, and because my phone became the navigation phone after Marc's phone got wet and got cranky. 

A few views from the ride.  Horses lying down - not usual.  

Only one campground to choose from, and it is just perfect. Camping Les Bruyeres.  We haven't seen a bakery or grocery store for miles but luckily we stocked up this morning with that assumption. 

Also, as a little reward for a long day, our little campground has a little restaurant so we splurged 

We are ready to sleep well, surrounded by the beautiful Parc Naturel Regional Des Boucles de la Siene Normande.  

Strava stats. 

Allez! Allez!