by Philip

Our first rest day! When we planned this ride we somehow front-loaded the mileage and number of days riding. Our approach has been to book all our accommodation before the trip, so we started in the north, booking a few AirBnBs each time we sat down to look at it. Having got to day 8 – which got us out to the Atlantic coast with a house looking out over the ocean for this rest day, we found we’d have a third of our mileage done already! 

Rest days are a curious mix of jobs and relaxation, and we are still finding our way to get them right – today has been a good one! A late start (anything after 7am counts), with a beautiful day dawning and with a stunning view out of the lounge windows, set us up well. We had our first breakfast of fruit (apple and plum this morning) and yogurt at the house, and then walked half a mile to the nearest café/restaurant for a “treat” breakfast which is one of the things we like to do on a rest day. The café was situated at a crossroads with no pretty view, but alternatives were further away and in the opposite direction. Sitting down outside, we waited for service, and after a while the lady owner came out to ask what we wanted. We said we didn’t know what they had, so she stomped off inside, returning with a menu of drinks which she pretty much threw on the table, scowling as she did so.  Her husband came out a few minutes later and was charming, smiley and friendly. He explained that they don’t do pastries (boo) but only waffles, so we ordered those with a coffee for me and a tea for Liz. The lady came back out to say they don’t have normal tea, only red (red bush?) or green tea, and seemed frustrated that we didn’t want either. Hot chocolate it was. The waffles were unexceptional, but a different start to normal riding days. 

We wandered home, and set about some jobs. The bikes were filthy after seven days of riding on dusty trails. Fortunately the house had a hose in the garden with water pumped from a well, so armed with a bowl of soapy water and the hose I set to work. Charging, tyre pumping and chain oiling followed and hopefully the bikes will enjoy their TLC. 

We noticed that the tide was fully out, and walked to the end of the garden to see why there seemed to be people out on the rocks … only to find hundreds of them, all busy in and around the rock pools. A quick google suggests that the activity is “pêche à pied”, and that they were collecting oysters, mussels, cockles, clams, prawns and other shellfish.  There’s a daily limit of 5kg per person … I’m not sure if or how this is enforced.  We were glad we had decided not to swim before breakfast as it would have entailed a 100m walk over slippery/barnacled rocks to get to the sea, which at that point was only knee high as the people wading out showed. 

A lovely lunch in front of the sea view, windows wide open, led to a gentle afternoon. We discussed options for dinner, which we had planned to eat out, but the restaurant we chose is closed this Sunday evening. The only viable option was back to the unfriendly lady – but they do takeaway so we will eat here, just without the preparation and without having to put up with her version of customer service.

With bikes “serviced”, laundry on the line and panniers washed, it is time for a swim as high tide approaches and our sandy private beach (shared by four houses) gives us direct access to the sea. Just need to avoid those barnacles. 

The swim was delightful – a treat to have swum twice in two days – and thats’s twice more than we managed in the US. We noticed that one of the fishing huts was operational – its net lowered into the water to make its catch.

After our swim we tried to call the restaurant to place an order but got various recorded messages and were unsuccessful.  Instead we walked over and ordered – it seemed we got it right this time by ordering inside, although trying to buy some wine was challenging … being sent into a back room to see the selection which was completely hidden in a corner. Madame came to assist, but was actually very unhelpful. I was quite surprised that when we came to collect the pizza, the wine was produced from a fridge so was perfectly chilled when we had the pizza. 

I had a seafood pizza (salmon, prawns, cheese) and Liz enjoyed one with a lot of very thin beef – both delicious – and thoroughly enjoyed looking out of our own window at the ocean.  We even have some sorbet from the AirBnB’s freezer to provide dessert!