After 10 days along the Loire, we said goodbye today and turned north for Normandy.  It was another beautiful Autumn day.  The trees and corn a little drier and brown.  Our main cycling change was to leave the bicycle trails and small roads behind.  Much of the day we were on “regular” roads with traffic and large trucks.  But we continue to experience very polite drivers – always waiting to pass and giving us plenty of room.

 

After our experience yesterday, we had already booked a room for the evening, and at the first open shop we came to, we purchased a lunch to eat along the way.  In the early afternoon we found a small cross (one of many) along the road where we could stop, have a place to sit, and eat our picnic lunch.

 

Our day ended with another interesting surprise.  Once again we have unique neighbors.  We are surrounded by two Abbeys.  One is Benedictine and is along the river across the road from our hotel.  Our stroll along the river at sunset was quiet and restful.  We saw a number of monks also enjoying the evening.