Day 60: Friday, 8 July 1983

Start: Campground, Occoches, France

End: Hostel, Dieppe, France

Light rain in the morning, which is okay, but foggy. Everything I tried to air out last night is getting damp and smelly again. Including me.

Decided to go ahead and ride in the fog. Fire up my Belt Beacon and Wonder Light. Road is good and no traffic, so should be fine. As always -- I know this is going to happen -- my glasses immediately smeared with water and fogged over with condensation, so my only choice is to pull them off. Either way I'm blind as Mr Magoo. The fog clears before a truck runs into me or I run into a truck.

The ride from Abbeville to Dieppe proves uneventful. I've been camping pretty steadily, so I stay at the local hostel. I walk through town and gaze out at the English Channel. Another body of water! For dinner, I find a fancy restaurant and gorge on a humongous -- and expensive -- seafood dinner. The waiter, keeping a straight face, demonstrates how to get into some of the shellfish with exotic tools and utensils. I have no idea what most of this stuff is, but I rip through platter after platter of it.

Not much happening in the hostel. No bikes. A few stand-offish youths. I must be looking pretty wild, haggard, and unsanitary.

Anyway, nice to have a room and a bed for a night.

Conditions 

Distance: 105 km 

Weather: Foggy with light rain, then warm 

Road: Good 

Traffic: Light 

Terrain: Flat 

Mechanical: Good 

Physical: Feeling very strong