Sunday, June 27, 2010

Day 44. Au Revoir France








Today I walked with Dale Heighway from Fleury-sur-Orne to Ouistreham.

The route took us through the centre of Caen, which is where I took the picture of the yacht basin. There was a large market in full swing just off-picture. Gay would have liked to see that, but she had moved V-Force one to Ouistreham by this time.

From Caen, we followed the wide ship canal. The track was awash with cyclists, roller-bladers and runners. In this country with so many cyclists, I have been amazed by how few I have seen in the last 6+weeks. I certainly made up for that today. I just wish cyclists would learn to make some sort of audible warning of approach before they sweep past pedestrians.

The ship is a rare sight on this canal these days, although probably not as rare as on the Manchester Ship Canal, which I should see on my travels, and which, as a lad, I used in earnest when I was Radio Officer on the good ship Manchester Spinner.

The lighthouse you see behind me indicates the end of the road for Vic’s Big Walk in France. It is outside the window as I type this, and will be put behind us this evening when we take ship for England and 26 more days of walking.

Many thanks to Thérèse and Dale (not forgetting Enzo, their grandson) for the excellent dinner yesterday evening, and for Dale’s company during today’s walk. I look forward to meeting some of his friends, the Walters, as I transit from Cheshire to Lancashire in a few weeks time.

Today's walk was 22 kms. Total in France therefore 1219.5. Even on such a flat walk as today, the minor ups and down added up to more than 400 metres.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Vic,
Well done so far - we live in Morecambe and are following you very closely - where will you be on the 23rd July? Would love to buy you a drink!
Keep up the fantastic work,
Tha Gray family.

Vic Heaney said...

Hello and thank you, the Gray family.

On 23rd July I shall hopefully be arriving in Blackpool.

I shall then be whisked away by my daughters to a secret location for a celebration.