Feeling Free in Alencon

Rest days are always something to look forward to. After the daily stress of packing your bags and riding from place to place, it is a relief to have a little time to unwind and catch up on the laundry backlog. It is a wonderful feeling to have lots of time available and very little to do with it.

After a delightful time was spent wandering the city we found a likely looking boulangerie to buy our lunches. The baguette queue was already forming at the counter, indicating that the latest batch was ready from the oven. David somehow managed to push his way to the front of the queue, watched by about 20 startled French men and women.

He did not seem aware that the guy behind him had his beloved small dog on a lead in the shop. To our horror David planted his size 11 shoe right on the dog's foot, at the same time as he bade a cheerful "Bonjour" to the dog's owner. The dog immediately let out a pained yelp, but David did not hear a thing. He must have had his hearing aid turned off at the time.

He proceeded to keep his foot firmly planted on the poor animal, the dog continued to cry and the owner just looked on in shock, probably worried about how much the vet would charge him.

After what seemed like an eternity, David took his baguette and left the counter. The dog finally retrieved what was left of his paw. David put on his most friendly smile and turned away from the owner. We all tried to pretend that David did not belong to us. It had been one of those embarrassing international incidents. In the past wars have started over much less than this.

When we were safely away from the gathering lynch mob, we tried to explain to David just what he had done. For some reason he didn't believe us.

The afternoon was spent walking to the nearby river and exploring the attractive centre of the city. After the obligatory visit to the Laverie Libre (coin laundry) we returned to our hotel. Tomorrow we resume our ride to Mont St Michel.

It was also good to be be reunited with Bob Andrews who had rejoined the team after taking a diversion to explore the WW1 battlefields of northern France. Bob will now be with us for the remainder of the rides.Read more