Day 6 - Amiens to Rouen- 135 kms

23 Jun

The day started early with. 6.00am rise so we could pack and have breakfast ahead of our warm showers hosts who were off to work at 7.30 am

We bade goodbye to Marine and Jean who were magnificent hosts for 2 days....

Getting out of Amiens proved to be an interesting experience....seems that roads and bike paths are difficult to navigate!

Anyway we made some progress along the Somme valley which is really quite pretty. We stopped at a place called Conty for morning tea and toast. The cafe was attached to a riding school complete with indoor dressage facilities...all very impressive but understandable given this area seems to be an equestrian hub

Some of the bike paths were “interesting “

There was a gentle climb out of the Somme valley which was a bit of a change after riding on the flat for the past 2 days

At about 85kms we stopped at Formerie for lunch at a pub

The fare was traditional French and Chris selected ham and mushrooms and I chose liver....needless to say I lucked out

leaving most on the plate.... the frites were ok!!!

After lunch we really encountered a strong headwind in the Ruoen and Chris and I took turns to take the lead...every 500 metres which went well except when we struck the hills!!!

We had one big climb of about 3kms with an average gradient of about 3 pc. Several rests were taken which helped the 50 km ride after lunch

Getting in to Rouen was relatively straightforward with only 2 mishaps due to navigation.... one of which was due to me going well ahead of Chris

Arriving at our hosts home was timed to perfection in terms of our tiredness after traveling for nearly 12 hours

Our hosts Jean Pierre and Christian were very welcoming

They are both retired teachers and their family has left home

We were their first guests under the Warm Showers scheme. After a beer and shower we had a 3 course dinner and then they took us out to show off their city

For me it was a real wake-up on the history of this area POF Normandy where Joan of Arc was to meet her end being burned at the stake

The wander rhythm old part of town was delightful and the buildings quite stunning with most on the Left bank of the Siene river being saved during bombing during WW2

We arrived home at 11pm after a great night

Me giving the thumbs up for the path ahead ... why I am not sure