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Arrived in France on a quiet Sunday morning. Upon arrival I was in for something of a shock.

My intent had been to ride from Cherbourg to Calais, 300 miles. Across the Normandy beaches, through Dieppe, and on to Calais with its migrant camps, crossing back over to the famous white cliffs of Dover.

Problem was the ferry went to Roscoff, I thought Roscoff was close to Cherbourg in the same way that at Cork you actually catch the ferry at a nearby village called Ringaskiddy. I came to this conclusion based on a prior conversation with another cyclist in Ireland and because of a dotted line on a road map showing the only ferry from Cork going to Cherbourg. That and a general lack of internet access in the days prior.

As it turned out Roscoff is actually about 250 highway miles west of Cherbourg, on the other side of Brittany over by Brest

Fortunately I was riding the solution to the problem. Plan B was 220 miles east across Brittany and then Normandy to Bayeux, and then another 50 miles past Omaha and Utah Beaches north to Cherbourg, ferry to England from there.

That morning I was in a whole 'nother climate after two weeks of rain and mist in Ireland, it was clear and gonna be hot, it felt not a whole lot different from being on the coast in Texas except prettier.

Other than the ferry port, Roscoff if a quiet old resort town, not that big at all.








I rode into town and found a place selling breakfast (basically bread and strong coffee in France, not yer regular grease commonly served up in the English-speaking world). The architecture was immediately different; the English and Irish paint their houses, in France drab and imposing stonework was the norm, often offset by colorful flowers...





I liked France and I liked the French. I was surprised, based on prior experiences I didn't think I would, but I like the French. Started right off with the pretty and friendly woman serving up breakfast. I was my observation that French women commonly dress just a tad sexier than they really need to, an admirable trait IMHO.