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Fresh Back from our French Holiday Retreat
For the first time in over 4 years Nikki and I finally took a two week holiday. Earlier in the year (April) we both went to France for a week’s stay in a French farmhouse called L’Hamel Riche (http://www.lhamelriche.com/). The farmhouse is owned by a friend of ours and is located in lower Normandy. Once back from that trip we both then decided to revisit the farmhouse later on in the year for our well-overdue 2 week holiday.
Our holiday started on August 28th taking the overnight Brittany ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo. Our Picaso was packed full with two bikes, Nikki’s Felt ZW1 2010 and my Focus Cayo 2009 taking most of the room. The remaining space was full with bags containing mostly cycle clothing, food (our favourite things), cycle spares and not forgetting energy food and drink. Our plan for cycling was to wake up, have a good breakfast then set off mid-morning for a 2 to 4 hour ride, depending on the route. We had several routes in mind, thanks to our trip back in April, and we both knew that the roads in and around Percy are hilly. I also intended to venture out further and explore more of the surrounding area.
The following morning we arrived in France and once out of the port we drove the coast road to Le Mont Saint Michel passing through many villages along the way – Cancale, Hirel, Cherrueix to name a few.
At one of these villages we came across a French car boot sale so we decided to park up with the rest of the locals and take a look around. Now to me most of this stuff was junk, but to Nikki it was like an Aladdin’s cave. To be fair though we did come away with two never used pieces which were really nice and as it was such a lovely morning, with a gentle sea breeze blowing in, it was nice to stretch the legs. One hour soon passed by and it wasn’t long before we were back in the car driving to the farmhouse.
L’Hamel Riche (pictured below) is a French ‘rustic’ farmhouse that sleeps up to 10 people. This is thanks to its four large double bedrooms, one twin bedroom, two bathrooms, one large kitchen and one large living room complete with a large open fire place.
The farmhouse is in the middle of no-where so to speak and is surrounded by large farmer’s fields, various small wooded areas, and plenty of quiet country lanes which were great to cycle along. Adjoining the rustic farmhouse there is a large room (not decorated) that can hold all manner of things – like a large shed , and the other side of that is another large area, which is currently home to 3 swift families and a wood/log shed that is located at the back of the property.
Montabot is the small village that the farmhouse resides in, with Percy – slightly larger, its bigger neighbour. Percy is situated at a foot of a large hill known as Mont Robin and hosts a variety of local shops including a supermarket, 2 or 3 Patisserie’s, a florist, and a couple of farm machinery shops. A church dominates the centre of the village and bells are heard every quarter hour.
The surrounding lanes are extremely quiet and of good quality: without potholes or rough parts of tarmac. You can easily cycle for miles without seeing a single person or car, making for a virtual traffic free ride. Some of the quaint French villages are also very quiet, ghost like at times, with the occasional Patisserie open selling lovely cakes and bread to the locals and passing cyclists. On our holiday we cycled through many of these villages, all of which had a beautiful church at its centre. During our 14 days away we had 10 days of cycling. During the first week the weather was very kind to us – glorious sunshine with high temperatures, but it was very windy on occasion.
The second week was not as good. We had a mixture of broken sunshine and cloudy days with rain falling at times. The worst was on a long 72 mile bike ride cycling back from Granville (coastal town). As we entered Hambye the heavens opened and we got completely soaked within a few minutes. Thankfully the temperatures were still fairly high so we didn’t get too cold. Luckily the distance from Hambye to Percy is about 8 clicks and then a further 4 clicks to the farmhouse so we didn’t have too far to travel in the wet. Apart from that one occasion we were dry for the remaining trips out on the bike which was nice.
I won’t go into too much detail about every ride as I would be here for ages, other than to say we had lovely rides, which would actually be an understatement. The roads are unbelievable quiet and free from traffic, great to cycle on and meander through some lovely countryside. On a few occasions we did stumble across some beautiful villages, as we did get lost as we cycled further, which actually made it more fun. At a junction I would say “gauche (left)” and then at another junction Nikki would say “droite (right)”.
We had a map with us anyway, so getting completely lost wouldn’t be the case, but making the route up as you go just adds that bit of fun to the ride. It also helped that I had a good understanding of the surrounding towns/villages, such as Hambye, Notra Dame De Cenilly, Tessy Sur Vire, Montbray, and Gavray, in respect to the location of Percy. In all we had a great time and would recommend to you a cycling holiday in the French countryside. Keep away from the bigger cities and coastal towns as these are busy with tourists, etc, but once in the rural countryside it’s a pleasure to ride the bike.
Listed below are some of our favourite routes and the places we cycled through.
Day 2: Two laps of a 20 mile rolling circuit (Montabot, Tessy Sur Vire, Moyon, La Haye Bellefond, Percy).
Day 3: Another 50 mile hilly ride (Tessy Sur Vire, Pont Farcy, Vire, Mesnil Clinchamps, Montbray, Le Chefresne, Percy).
Day 5: Hilly ride covering 60 miles (Beaucoudray, Lay Haye Bellefond, Cerisy De Salle, Marigny, Cerisy De Salle, Notre Dame De Cenilly, Maupertuis, Percy).
Day 9: Trip to the coast and back – 72 miles (Beaucoudray, La Haye Bellefond, Pont Bocard, Montpichon, Ourville, Hyenville, Montmartin Sur Mer, Regneville Sur Mer, Annoville, Brethal, Gavray, Saint Martin De Cenilly, Hambye, Percy).
Day 11: Another tough 50 mile hilly ride (Tessy Sur Vire, La Chapelle Sur Vire, Conde Sur Vire, Togni Sur Vire, Tessy Sur Vire, Fervanches, Moyon, Notre Dame De Cenilly, Maupertuis, Beaucoudray, Percy).
Day 13: Part drive/part cycle -50 miles (drove to Pontorson then cycled through Roz Sur Couesnon, Cherrueix, Hirel, Saint Benoit Des Ondes, back to Pontorson, Le Mont Saint Michel, Potorson).
On our travels we did see some great houses built for the local animal population.
Stone hut for goats
Another shot of me sitting in front of our outside fire one evening.
