Food Glorious Food

Unpack pots and pans,
chopping, slicing and cooking -
mmm smells delicious.

Many of you will already be familiar with our obsession with food. Eating out, cooking, researching recipes, searching for the right ingredient...

So how does this carry over into camping cuisine ? It's actually not as difficult as you might think.

First you need a stove with an adjustable burner, we chose the MSR Dragonfly. We had one for years in Australia and Ireland (before it was confiscated at Liverpool airport after a week-end hiking trip in Wales) and found it to be excellent, so went out and bought a new one for this trip. It can burn a variety of fuels including petrol, so it will run pretty much anywhere in the world (just make sure you clean out any fuel smell before you pack it in your luggage to check onto a plane).

Stove lighting - flint and steel in action.

Secondly you need something in which to cook. We ended up with MSR again (for those of you who don't know, MSR stands for Mountain Safety Research). The Quick 2 set had almost everything we needed – two saucepans, two bowls, two cups, saucepan lid with strainer and handle – all packed into the larger saucepan. Next for a frying pan – the MSR Quickskillet fit the bill.

Also needed was an assortment of cutlery – none of this spork business for us ! We have two sets of knife, fork, spoon and teaspoon, two wooden spoons with the handles cut down, a spatula, one serrated knife, one Mundial paring knife, one bottle opener (we also have a can opener on a Leatherman multi-tool if necessary), all packed into one utensil roll (i.e. an old tea towel).

Home made utensil roll.

Add to that a small plastic chopping board, a grater with large and small holes, a citrus juicer, two tea infusers, an extra plate, a flint and steel with which to light the stove and that's our portable kitchen. Oh, and the kitchen sink.

Well, we're carrying everything else - so why not the kitchen sink ? It folds flat to pack.

OK, we can't do any baking (we're going to miss those chocolate brownies) or grilling, but it is still possible to stir-fry, boil, simmer, steam and sauté. Camp food does not have to mean tasteless freeze dried sachet meals with too many chemical ingredients.

So, what do we cook ?

Night before last Neil cooked up farfalle pasta in a sauce of fresh rocket, cherry tomatoes, pinenuts, shallots, anchovies and garlic. Topped with freshly grated pecorino romano cheese and served with a fresh baguette. Last night I cooked mushroom stroganoff. Another night, for a really quick and easy meal we'll have couscous topped with ratatouille, tuna and harissa – that's a real cheat, that one because both the ratatouille and the tuna come in tins. Or perhaps a warm salad of peppered smoked mackeral with potatoes and french beans in a creamy dressing on a bed of rocket...

Unfortunately we are generally too tired (or too lazy) for dessert, so chocolate suffices. When things warm up a bit more, there will be stone fruit a plenty.

Chopping the vegies.

Lovely fresh ingredients.

Stirring things up.

Adding the last ingredient - creme fraiche.

Mmm - mushroom stroganoff.

Obviously we cannot carry a whole heap of food with us on the bikes, so we shop every day for fresh ingredients. We do however have a little portable pantry so we can still eat if we don't find a shop. Sometimes when there's been a few more hills than expected between towns, you just need to eat NOW in order to have the energy to continue.

In our pantry we have a few dry ingredients like pasta, noodles and flour, but also some instant snacks – muesli bars, tins of flavoured tuna, fruit and nuts. Then there is the spice and condiment rack which changes depending on what's available locally but generally includes dried porcini mushrooms, harissa, anchovies, capers, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, soy sauce, a chunk of pecorino romano as well as quite a few spices.

And of course, some wine, decanted from the bottle in order to save weight.

Neil pouring wine from our classy decanter into our equally classy glasses.

So that's the evening meal, lunch is a different story. Lunch is cheese time. Bread and cheese. Sounds so quotidian, but remember, we are travelling in France where there are nearly 500 different types of cheese, to say nothing of the different producers of each type. And bread making is something of an art form.

Lunch break - a municipal park bench.

Add to that some pigeon-heart tomatoes, maybe a tin of tuna or some hommous and an apple to finish and Bon Apetit !

words - Gabby, images -Neil and Gabby

Last days in Normandy

Nature's sweet breath blows

to cool my hot, tired body -

after the long climb.

After leaving Pont l'Éveque we zagged away from the coast in a south easterly direction. Travelling on roads all the way we rolled fairly quickly through villages and towns – Corbeilles, Pont Authou, Brionne, Le Neubourg, Louviers, Venables – and across to the Seine. 

Late afternoon, Pont Authou.

Heavy dew before another hot day in the saddle, Pont Authou.

Fewer cattle, more fields of canola with their vivid yellow flowers and slightly plastic smell. Days becoming quite warm now, cycling in shorts, the air is full of the heady richness of spring. At every turn and every village a different flower scent wafts. Occasionally we are treated to the shade of a forest – luminous green beech leaves crinkled like potato chips (that's crisps to those of you on the northern part of the planet), convoluted oak, multi-stemmed hazel and big drooping serrated chestnut leaves.

Everything is so green, yet we've only had two afternoons of rain and a couple of thundery showers since leaving Ireland. Finally, after a hill so long and steep I thought we would need the climbing gear, we swung around into the Seine River valley.

Chalky white limestone cliffs peek out from curtains of green overlooking the river, tall green poplars abound. And perched high above Les Andelys on a bend in the river is the imposing ediface of Château Gaillard. The now ruined, though partially rebuilt hillfort was built in the late 1100's (in an amazing two years) by Richard the Lionheart in partial imitation of Middle Eastern fortresses seen whilst on Crusade.

Our longest and hottest ride yet brings us down to the town of Les Andelys and we give ourselves the next day off to explore the castle on the hill and the old town by the river underneath. We camp that night under a tree shedding white cotton wool catkins and by the time we leave almost everything we own is covered in white fluff.

Refreshed after a shower, Château looming above.

Château Gaillard, seen from our campsite.

Château Gaillard is impressive, reconstructed with the original scallop shaped walls around the main keep in alternating lines of limestone and tufa. Locally quarried, we see much of this stone in the next couple of days in buildings around the area.

Part of defensive curtain wall,  Château Gaillard.

...And I wasn't anywhere near the no climbing signs (at least a couple of metres away)

Neil under the rebuilt tower.

Château Gaillard keep.

Leading out to the battlements.

View north over the Seine and Les Andelys, white cliffs in the distance.

From Les Andelys we head along the valley toward Vernon. As we come over the hill, out of a cool stretch of forest above the village of Port-Mort, a rural idyll opens before us – the shimmering blue Seine winding through lush green countryside enclosed by green hills on either side.

A lovely morning across the Seine river valley north of Vernon.

Unfortunately our campground is on top of the hills on the other side of Vernon and we end up pushing the bikes up the steep winding road in the heat of the afternoon. That's fine because we get to ride the bikes down unencumbered the next morning on our way to visit Monet's house in the village of Giverny on the other side of the river.

It is Easter Saturday and we are crammed into Monet's house and garden with tourists from all over the globe, most of whom are too busy taking photographs to watch where they are walking. The house is nice, not huge, but filled with many lovely Japanese wood block prints except for one room which is filled with Monet paintings (funnily enough).

It is the gardens though that most people come to see. The garden around the house is full of path ways laid out with flowers in colour symphonies. When we were there tulips were in flower, irises just opening out, there were many pansies, azaleas, lisianthus (I think) and many others I could not name.

Such striking colours.

Just one of many shades of tulip.

Looking across the flower garden to Monet's house.

But it was the water garden that we liked. Calm, even though there were hoards of tourists traipsing through, stands of bamboo, a huge old copper beech, bridges over waterways, including the oft painted Japanese bridge resplendent with purple flowering wisteria. Waterlilies there were none, but there were some beautiful Japanese maples.

The first mushrooms we've seen so far...

Water garden.

Lovely spring colours.

We topped off the morning far from the madding crowd with lunch on the terrace at a pokey little pizzeria just up the road. Pizza accompanied by a dazzling bottle of Norman cider – rich and golden, bubbles floating lazily to the top of each glass. Then an espresso each to get us back on the bikes.

Words - Gabby, Images - Neil and Gabby

Rest day

Hazy sky grows dark,

red moon, almost full, rises.

Easter approaches.

After a week-end of battling with hills and headwinds, we decided to have a day of rest on Monday in Pont l'Éveque. Cheese country. We weren't going to make it to Camembert – it was just a little too far off our route – so Pont l'Éveque was the next best thing.

Monday is market day in Pont l'Éveque, so the town was thronged with people. Over the week-end there had been a music and food festival and with schools on their Easter break, there was quite a festive air.

Cycling can take a lot out of you energy-wise so we thought it high time we relaxed and replenished our reserves – i.e. eat a whole lot of food . So after wandering around the town, checking out the market, and the old town with it's half timbered buildings dating from the 1500's, we sat down to a picnic, Norman style.

Calvados, Pont l'Éveque cheese (another soft cheese that the region is famous for), terrine de coquilles St Jacques (sea scallops), cold roast pork, hommous (traditional to this region, honest), apples, tomatoes and a baguette. And some Chocolate religieuses after. Mmmmm.

words and pics by Gabby

Le Mont to Villers-sur-Mer a.k.a Hills Suck

Lush, rolling country -
the road dips with each river.
We love the downhills.

The last few days have seen us hit the 650km mark of our trip, as well as us finding every single high-point in the Normandy region. We seem to have a nose for finding the great big bloody hills instead of the sneaky paths that cut around them... ah well, ca vaut la peine. Apparently, anyway.

We left Le Mont and headed east along the Voie Verte to Mortain, where there was a camping ground... that didn't open until Easter (this was a week or so ago). So we wild camped in the surrounding hillside (I should add that Mortain is one of those towns perched on its own little hill, so every direction out of the town involved an admittedly fun downhill followed by a painful trudge up the next) surrounded by beds of bluebells.

After that, we continued north to Vire, where again, the camping wasn't open yet (once we found it), so we said to hell with it and stayed in a hotel. Hey, it's a holiday, not SAS survival training!

We took it easy the next day, heading north for St-Martin-des-Besaces, where we found a lovely campsite called Le Puits, run by Peter, who turned out to be from Finglas in Dubln. Despite that, he was a very nice guy (sorry, Dublin joke) and we ended up staying two nights there for a rest. You could even order your morning bread and he'd take a run into the village. Trés chic, non?

Since that pleasant rest, we've done two big pushes (for us) to reach Villers-sur-Mer up on the coast north-east of Caen. The countryside has changed slightly from bigger rolling hills to more gently rolling hills, more fields and fewer apple orchards. Still plenty of cows.

From here the plan is to head pretty much straight east until we hit Les Andelys and then Giverny, followed by a final push to Font and two months of climbing!

Short break on the Voie Verte.

Lashings of ginger beer anyone ?

Relaxing in the bluebell woods

Our own private woodland - well it was until the school group of mountain bikers arrived as we were breakfasting the next morning !

Oh so pretty bluebells.

Hmmm

 

Viaduct built in the 1880's, now used for bungee jumping.

The lovely Le Puits, St-Martin-des-Besaces

Japanese maple, Le Puits.

Roadside chapel and flowering apple.

Curious cows

Lunch time.

In the Calvados low lands we saw many of these old half-timbered buildings.

Neil's bike again - this time, the back rack.

Le Mont-Saint-Michel

Honouring Michael,
Le Mont rises heavenward
A place for pilgrims

We could see it coming for days - as we drew closer around the bay, we saw it from various angles, in sunshine and mists.

The original chapel was built on top of a mountain in the sea, surrounded by a shallow bay that has the second fastest tides on the planet - can be up 21km/hr. We just missed the spring tide, but the speed the tide came in while we were there was completely amazing.

The construction on the chapel began in 708 and went on for another 1300 years, with the addition of an abbey, a town around the base, as well as fortifications. It's an interesting mix of styles - some parts Gothic extravagance, some parts Norman simplicity. If you have any interest in architecture, it's most definitely worth checking out.

Enjoy the photos...

Looking upwards towards the Abbey

A view from the ramparts out over part of the bay

Back the other way - you can see how far the sand extends in the bay... all of this will be covered in water in a matter of hours

Decoration on in the Abbey's cloister

One of the massive pillars - 5m circumference - helping to hold up the place - there are four different crypts with these pillars all through it on the different sides of the Mont to create a level platform for the Abbey

After the revolution, the Abbey was used as a prison - the Alcatraz of France. Up to five prisoners were made to walk in this giant wheel, hamster-like, to work a rope that dragged a sled up the side of the Mont. Sometimes with up to two tons of granite in it...

They bay, now complete with water

Looking from the outside of the Abbey, you can see the sled and its path up to the giant wheel

Obligatory self-photo upon completion of a hard morning's touristing

That afternoon, the mist rolled in from the sea (just like the Mull of Kintyre) and completely enveloped the Mont.

Le Mont by night, looking very Disney-ish

** Words by Neil, pics by both of us