Friday 13th July – 202.8 Miles Langrune Sur Mer (Caen)

What a difference a day makes. From the get go I could see that the sun was fighting it's way through the gray. As the day unfolded it got warmer and warmer. Which made the lovely and diverse roads on our route down to Caen all the more beautiful. Every road type available was on the cards today. There were select parts of dual carriageway (great for making up miles and quite alright in small doses), winding coastal roads, scenic country lanes, even a small ferry crossing. Days like this and I lose all track of time. The first I knew of the 200 odd miles we'd done was when I tried to dismount the bike and could barely move! I hadn't even fueled until the 150 mile mark! I was just cruising all day, hardly thinking about anything but the ride and loving every bit of it. The previous days trauma was soon forgotten.

We came into Caen from the North and it looked beautiful. It wasn't even that busy for a Friday rush hour. We made a brief stop at Pegasus bridge for a quick photo and then had to wait as the bridge had been raised to let three boats through. We could really feel the sun now as we sat in all our bike gear sweating but happy. Rob decided that we'd head to the coast and find a camp site there. As it happens there's hundreds of them and in hindsight it may have been better for us to shop around a bit. The site we stopped on was the poshest yet – four star in fact and more than suited our needs. Although we were eaten alive somewhat by mosquitoes whilst we polished off some baguettes, ham, cheese and a box of beer. We strolled down to the front for a wander (I must admit to being a bit of a baby because my knee was killing me and I just wanted to sit and have a beer). In anticipation of the Bastille celebrations kids were setting off fireworks on the beach. We sat in a bar and had another couple of beers as the front got busier and busier. The climax came at about 2300 when a brass band played classical music to a back drop of an impressive fireworks display. It was absolutely heaving by now and really putting us in the mood for Caen tomorrow night.