As usual on the day after the Duo Normand, we didn’t do much cycling.  We drove over to Danville-sur-mer, with the intention of walking over to Granville for lunch, calling in at the Christian Dior museum/gardens.  We left the car on the main road, and walked down to the sea.  Then we walked along the coastal walk – wonderful promenades with beach huts.  We had to make a brief detour into Danville (due to a dangerous path – see photo gallery), and then explored the Christian Dior museum gardens.

THE CHRISTIAN DIOR MUSEUM IN GRANVILLE

We walked down some steep steps to another promenade and along to the Granville Casino.  Then up again to the old town, and after exploring a bit, down to the harbour, where we stopped for lunch.

As last year we chose Le Phare for our lunch.  Carol had fish soup (with v. garlicky mayonnaise), followed by grilled mullet with copious capers and vegetables with tarragon, and finished with a huge ice cream thing. I had an assiette de fruits de mer (also very large, with crabs, langoustines, prawns, shrimps, whelks, oysters, clams, winkles), followed by a dessert confection a bit like creme caramel, with apples and calvados.  It’s always a pleasure to have a really fresh seafood platter, and this was no exception.  It still astonishes me that the French can cook whelks and make them tasty (seemingly only by boiling them) whereas in Scotland, they are merely rubbery.

After we’d had our lunch, we retraced our steps as far as the Dior garden (this included scaling a steep staircase bizarrely fashioned from concrete in a wood-like pattern), then back along the main road to the car.  By this time, it had got very hot indeed.  Along the way, I spotted anewspaper advert mentioning the Duo Normand – I bought a couple of copies.

Once home, I popped out for a brief evening ride on the TT bikes with Gerry, which comprised the only cycling today.  Gerry still has a few races this year, whereas my season’s now over.