Day 14 72 miles Froulay to Ouistreham (92 miles in reality!!)

Another lovely breakfast - homemade rhubarb jam and yoghurt, oh and freshly baked scones being the particular highlights. Over breakfast our host filled us in on the misadventures of their other guests (a french couple also cycling but on electric bikes) the day before. Apparently they had misjudged the ride and got caught out because their battery ran out with many hills left to climb. We got the sense this wasn't the first time he'd seen this happen and observed that people often bite off more than they can chew. That would never happen to us or so we smugly thought 😂

We knew that today would involve a lot of climbing and, after checking with our host, decided to follow the easy green cycle route to Caen instead of the more hilly route we had planned. Time was not an issue for us today and our plan was to eat in Caen early evening before heading to Ouistreham for the 11pm ferry. Obviously my plan was to also make sure we found somewhere nice for lunch - our last chance to strike gold with a menu du jour 😜

So we set off around 9am feeling somewhat relieved that we wouldn't be facing too much climbing after all. We made pretty good progress in the first couple of hours and I had in mind a stop at a town called Flers for some lunch. So around 12 we left the cycle path to head into town even though it was a 3km diversion. No problem.

I was feeling under pressure to choose somewhere nice and Max was his usual impatient self. Somehow though we suddenly found ourselves outside the number 2 ranking restaurant in Flers (according to trip advisor). It looked v posh but a quick look at the menu and it seemed very reasonable so we went inside. We were warmly welcomed in but instead of giving us one of the tables by the window (so we could keep an eye on the bike) we were ushered us to a table in a more secluded (hidden from view) area. We willingly gave up sight of the tandem - perhaps subconsciously we were thinking that if it was stolen then maybe it would be a blessing in disguise 🤔

The restaurant turned out to be as good as all the reviews suggested, excellent service, amazing food and a very luxurious setting. We were very pleased with our choice.

After lunch we set off again and rejoined the easy cycle route. The next hour or so passed by easily enough, the scenery all day was very pleasant and again perfect cycling weather. At some point during the afternoon though we started to encounter a few more sharp hills and then Max noticed we had somehow rejoined the original route. At first glance it looked as if the worst of the hills had passed and with only 35 miles to go we decided to revert to the original route. How quickly fortunes can change and all our smugness was coming back to bite us as we were faced with one hill after another, each one seeming a little worse than the previous one 😢

Eventually Max announced that we'd finished all the climbing and we were heading towards a steep descent. Unfortunately we realised he was wrong as the sharp descent was a sharp ascent staring us in the face. It turned out we'd gone wrong somewhere and what's more we'd taken on an additional climb that wasn't even necessary 🙄.

We dug deep though and somehow managed the rest of the climbs without giving in. The last 20 miles into Caen were flat again and we made another stop along the way at a lovely little cycle cafe. 

This was the perfect pitstop to keep us going until we reached Caen which we finally did just after 6pm. Our first impression of Caen was that it's a lovely city. Definitely somewhere we'd like to visit again and spend some more time exploring. We found a lovely little cafe serving healthy style galettes run by two very charming sisters. They looked after us very well and that set us on our way for the final 10 miles to Ouistreham for the overnight ferry. The cycle path ran along the river all the way to the ferry, it was a lovely evening and we passed many people walking, jogging, roller blading and cycling as we went along. 

Once at Ouistreham we got changed into some warmer clothes and after a bit of a wait boarded the ferry around 10.30. We went straight to our cabin and were really impressed, a nice shower and comfortable beds. We are very easily pleased! All we wanted was a good night's sleep so that we would be ready to face the final leg and a ride which promised to be the toughest of the lot!! The sea was calm and we were shattered so the odds were in our favour 😊