After breakfast, whilst doing the pre ride checks before setting off, the gear cable decided to break off inside the changer. Being an indexed device I was unsure how to access the innards of the changer without having the whole piece of machinery completely disintegrate.

‘Professor YouTube’ came to the rescue, and it soon became clear how to do the necessary and open up the changer to fit the replacement cable. It was fortunate that the cable was amongst the various spares we carried. However a cross headed screwdriver was needed, and additionally a cable or wire cutter was also required, neither of which was in the tool kit (note to self – include these in future!).

Fortunately the neighbour to where we were stayingwas able to provide the necessary equipment and soon all was fixed for our onward journey to the coast.

Most of the day’s ride looked on the map to be fairly flat apart from a section which involved climbing up out of the river valley near Pont l’Éveque to reach the relatively flat countryside nearer the coast. We appeared to have the option of either having a long steady climb, at a reasonably graded rate on a not too busy “D” road, or an even longer more circuitous route along unclassified roads involving ups and downs some of which seemed to be quite steep according to our mapping app.

We chose the busier route! But before we braved the climb we decided to take advantage of a Creperie and have a quick treat. We discovered that ‘gallettes” are invariably made out of ‘ farine de sarassin’ (buckwheat flour) and therefore were naturally gluten free . Given that Crêpes are very much part of the cuisine of Normandy it was nice to be able to enjoy such offerings and we chose some sweet flavoured versions.

After our brief stop, it turned out that the climb was not nearly as fearsome as we thought it might have been, although it had started to rain.. We were soon bowling along to the coast and the campsite we had selected for the night that was within easy reach of Ouisterham and the ferry port to catch our ferry to the UK.

As we reached the coast the rain had stopped so it wasn’t a wet weather pitching experience!

Having pitched our tent we were soon easily able to find a suitable restaurant where we had galletes again, this time stuffed with flavoursome vegetarian fillings.

Our last night of our journey on the continent was rounded off by a beautiful sunset over the sandy beach that was right next to the campsite.

Distance travelled: 35 miles

Total distance travelled: 790 miles

Ascent: 200ft aporox