Forge-les-Eaux - Rouen - To France the Long Way

July 30, 2009

Forge-les-Eaux - Rouen

In the morning it's drizzling and far too cold for the end of July. As the sun burns its way through the clouds, it warms up and we have perfect cycling weather. A sunny day after all, and a ride through beautiful hilly countryside with expansive views. The final twelve kilometers into Rouen are a great downhill swoop.

In spite of the grey drizzle, wonderful views

We are now in Rouen and have made up our minds. The tour ends here - enough, basta, schluss, fini, we've had it. Rouen isn't a bad setting, either, for the finale to two months on the road. The city on the Seine is full of atmosphere, has a large old center with brightly painted half-timbered houses, a splendid cathedral, grand astronomical clock and lively pedestrian zone.

Rouen, once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, is known for its gothic cathedral, Notre Dame.

The cathedral was the subject of a series of paintings by Claude Monet.

The Gros Horloge is an astronomical clock (dating back to the 16th century).

After ambling around town, we find our way to an Internet café and choose an inexpensive and centrally located hotel from the many hotels booking.com lists in Rouen. After booking, we check its location on the map in Internet and are off.

Café Chéri, a pleasant place with Internet upstairs

I forget the name of the street, but remember the house number, Janos remembers the location. We find a hotel at number 47 and check in, bring our bags up to the 4th floor and stow our bikes in the back corner of the dining area. But it is strange that the reception hasn't received notice of our booking. Since the name of the street doesn't sound familiar, I decide to get out the laptop and double-check. Aaargh, we are in the wrong hotel. We would stay if we weren't going to be billed for the other hotel that we booked on-line. We pack up, apologetically explain our foolish mistake and cycle a few hundred meters farther, same road with a new name and new numbers, to the right hotel.

Pondering how the route is to continue if we don't want to cycle the rest, we hit upon the idea of renting a car and driving to Toulouse. When we fold the Bike Fridays everything will fit in easily. We check out the possibilities at a car rental and are able to reserve a car for the following morning.

We are proud of the elegant solution we have found for the rest of the trip and go out for a fine meal to celebrate. Of course, this is a build up. We never did rent a car. The next morning held a surprise for us.

Being close to the Atlantic, oysters are appropriate for our final meal of the cycling part of the trip.

Today's ride: 49 km (30 miles)
Total: 2,353 km (1,461 miles)

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