Short Ride Report

sdorrity

I had a lovely morning on Sunday and would like to share it with you.

I live on Guernsey in the English Channel about 20 miles off the French coast. Saturday evening my mate Nick rang me up and asked if I fancied going riding in the morning. He then said that he was taking his boat over to Dielette on the French Normandy peninsula and did I fancy that for a change, did I ever! my boat isn't in the water yet.

Awoke at 6am to a bright sunny morning, got myself together and grabbed a cerial bar then headed down to the boat. Conditions were flat calm so we hammered over at 32knots and pulled into Dielette an hour later. then we set off to the nearest patisserie for breakfast, after indulging in suitable carbs we meandered our way through the Normandy lanes, not really going anywhere just enjoying the change.

As we went it was noticable that every churchyard had French, British and American flags outside. Being the 6 June our thoughts turned to the fact that 60 years ago we could have been fighting our way through the "bocage" not ambling along on our bikes.

After passing the time of day with a couple of typical aged French sports cyclists and meeting up with a Randonee we pulled out the GPS and told it to take us back to the boat.

Stopping off at a market to get some bread for lunch we pulled into Dielette and stripped down the bikes to fit them into the small cabin on board.

An Hour later and we were pulling into St Peter Port and I rang my wife to let her know that I was back and that a Fresh French 'Boule' loaf was on its way up for lunch.

Not a long ride, maybe 40 kms, a couple of hours or so, we didn't even go anywhere really, but what a pleasant start to my Sunday.

The aftrenoon was spent on the beach with friends and then I sat with the kids and watched some of the D-Day commemorations on TV and tried to explain their significance to a 6yo boy and a 10yo girl, I think I missed by a mile. I really must take them to the Normandie beaches next year and try and instill a bit of history into them.

A very strange day in many ways but a memorable one

Steve D