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Travel StoriesA Holiday In Normandy
The Surprising River Seine
Ride Date 23 June 2026
By Ren Withnell
Blummin' 'eck it's 'ot!
After a slow day yesterday today I have a plan! When touring Spain and Portugal I learned that Google maps will (if persuaded) show "miradors" aka view points. This is quite handy - view points as you'd expect have nice views. So when looking at the area we're currently in it took a while until I searched for "vue panoramique". There are a number of vue panoramiques around here, oddly they seem to be along the River Seine.
To me when I hear the word Seine I think of Paris and a horrible city filled with traffic. I ought to know better, when I hear the word Thames I think of London and a horrible city filled with traffic, but I know not ALL of the Thames River is in London. OK, so perhaps there's nice bits of The Seine? We shall go have a look for ourselves.
Brace yourselves dear reader - I have some quite extraordinary news. Sharon has requested we get up... EARLY!!! When she suggested this last night I of course laughed - "Yes dear, of course dear, whatever you say dear". And yet here we both are getting kitted up at 0715. Yes you read that correctly, a quarter past the hour of 7 AM, in the morning, before midday. Wonders will never cease.
The idea is to avoid the worst of the heat, well for some time at least. It's still too blummin' 'ot even at 0715 for me, at 0730 as we climb aboard it's probably late 20s early 30s already. Still, it's not late 30s, yet.
Our first stop is not a vue panoramique though, because I'm obtuse. The road down to La Bouille on The Seine is steep and twisty. It's not a long road, this isn't an Alpine pass just a mile of downhill bends to wriggle down the banks of The Seine. La Bouille is a typical French commune and here The Seine is wide and flat, making it navigable. We stop a while to rest and take snaps. Oooh! A ferry, a small car ferry. I wonder if I'll get to ride it?
La Bouille, Tres French innit.
A ferry!!
We pass through Elbeuf and onto our next stop, this time it is a vue panoramique. Vironvay is a small village with some rather nice houses for the residents. After the bustling mayhem of Honfleur earlier this week it comes as a surprise to find this view point entirely devoid of tourists or even locals. Save for one lady walking her dog there's no-one here as we park the bikes, we have the view point to ourselves.
Yeah, yeah OK, you can colour me impressed. We're looking over a vast area of gently undulating countryside, between the trees and in the middle distance we can make out the broad Seine, the sun is shining, the birds are twittering, and it's charmingly calm here, save for a firm hot breeze. We take a glug of the warming water we have with us and enjoy the breeze such as it is.
View from "Vue panoramique sur la Seine". You can just see The Seine between the trees.
We cross The Seine at Saint-Pierre-du-Vauvray. Here the river is not quite as broad, the bridge is not terribly high. I suppose this section is still navigable but not by the massive sea going vessels, more likely large barges. I dunno, I'm not an expert OK. More endless fields and then we enter some woodlands. We, eh? We must have gained altitude as these corners have steep sides.
Ripe fields and green trees and gentle hills, a taste of Normandy.
Panorama du Thuit shows we have gained at least a few metres, we are looking down into a valley filled with trees and The Seine passing through. I say - it is rather pretty, what a fortuitous find! Sharon has a brief battle with the steep tarmac until she susses where she wants to park, then we get busy with the phone cameras and I nip behind a bush to relieve myself.
Panorama du Thuit's rather splendid vista.
Panorama du Thuit is on a cool corner.
It must be brewtime, surely? Google maps suggests we may find refreshment in the valley, the little town of Le Petit Andely ought to have a tabac. I fear tea may be hard to come by but I suppose a cola will have to suffice. It is but an easy 2 mile trundle downhill before we're parking the bikes. And sweltering in the still air and trapped heat of a town.
Locking the bikes in Les Petite Andely. Trust no-one.
Sharon sits under several large parasols outside Le Cafe Du Petit Andely, I go inside to order 2 colas.
"Deux coca s'il vous plaît"
"something something seeez euros something something"
"perdon?"
"...er... huit euros quarante"
8 bleeding euros and summat? Holy moly blummin' 'eck. They'd best be cold and best be refreshing. I... I'm sure I heard her say something like "seeez" which is six. I pay and grab the cold colas, I'm beginning to think I've just paid tourist prices not French prices.
I inform Sharon but we are here to have a good day not an argument over €2.40. It's hard to argue in a foreign language, I could well have misheard her, lord only knows. Sod it. The cola is cold, it's good to be sat under the parasols and we will just chill and relax.
Chill out dude!
Château Gaillard is just up that hill, it's the must see in this area according to the internet. It's hot, we have bike gear on and helmets, we are NOT walking a mile uphill just to look as some blummin' castle. Sharon and I are in agreement with this, mercifully. No, we shall have a hot-n-sticky stroll around the town instead. Pfffft.
Er no, we will not be walking up there today thank you.
I hadn't fully cottoned on that the town is actually right next to The Seine. Nor had I expected to find one of those big river cruise ships (boats?) docked right beside the town. I've seen these things advertised on the telly, you know, Viking Cruises and the like. I can't believe how big it is! Low, yes, to get under bridges, but long, very long, and wide.
I get it, yeah. You get to visit lots of lovely villages and towns like Le Petite Andely while not wearing bike kit, while not struggling to park your motorhome, while having a luxurious cabin, while dining 3 times a day on good food, while being waited on hand and foot. I suppose it costs more but in these cost of living crisis times I see an awful lot of fancy German cars and £80,000 motorhomes. Times are hard, but only for some.
The boat is big and the view is gorgeous.
I wonder if my price for the colas was "adjusted"? I can see a town visited by these large tourist boats might easily become accustomed to a "them and us" price situation. I can't say for sure but I have my suspicions.
Blimey! It's only 1210 and we've already done what I planned to do. There's about 60 miles back to the gite so we kit up and start the ride back. Rather than following the same route back I navigate to a supermarket in Le Neubourg where we fill up. It is now exceedingly hot, we pop into the supermarket and get a cold bottle of orange juice. This we drink in the air cooled comfort of the foyer. Staff look at us curiously, we're just happy to be cool for a while.
We're back at the gite by 1445, it takes quite a long time to cover those 60 miles including our cooling off break. There is very little to report of the evening, in the best possible way. Being hot and bothered we take a nap-nap, what should have been 20 minutes becomes an hour. A little pool time, plenty of talking, some eating, lots of tea, and of course a lot of grumbling about how stupidly hot it is particularly from me.
I have been thankfully surprised by our day out. I was expecting dull towns and traffic. Instead we have enjoyed some lovely views, found a few charming towns, learned a few things, and had a genial ride. We're doing alright aren't we.
Sharon's wonderful evening image, flax at sunset.
An outline of our route
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A Holiday In Normandy - Prologue
France! Well northern France because our soft arsed lazy writers can't be bothered to go any further. It's time for excuses and explanations as to why The Dynamic Muppets are off on holiday and not an exciting expedition.
Bedfordshire Is Not In France
And they're off to France! Well Bedfordshire today, but they will get to France eventually... hopefully... maybe?
Struggling Into France
It's time to go to France, alas there's far too much time to go to France. Ren is early, the trains are late, it's hot, and it's disorganised. Oh and Sharon's life flashes before her eyes - or was it a Transit van?
Finally To The Gite
It's a much less stressful day's ride today. Good weather, a sensible mileage to cover, and no reason to rush. Fear not Ren will find a few things to gripe about.
Hot In Honfleur
It's hot, it's busy, and it's all a bit odd. In spite of all this and some confusing food Ren might possibly at risk of almost having an OK day?
Hot And Simple Normandy
Sharon is in her element, Ren is at risk of melting as a heat wave hits Normandy. There's a little motorcycling and a lot of pool time, plus some sweating.
The Surprising River Seine
The River Seine is not at all that which Ren expected, which is a good thing for once. Save for the exceedingly hot weather and questionable pricing it all turns out rather well.
Reader's Comments
Ian Soady¹ said :-
That little ferry is called a bac and is indeed free to use. They're a brilliant way to get across the Seine. As you say, the river itself is quite magnificent and it's amazing to see seagoing ships going up and down to Rouen (which itelf would have been worth a visit).
If you didn't behave like a Yank tourist and insist on sugary flavoured water you can generally get a decent coffee in France for a couple of Euros along with a glass of ice cold water.
29/09/2026 10:00:11 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
COFFEE!!!! You couldn't pay me enough to drink that godawful vile substance.
29/09/2026 10:19:44 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Thank God there's no images of him peeing recycled cola all over Northern France like a naughty mongrel.
Best advice I've got, if it's too hot to ride.....don't. Unless you have to of course.
Nice pictures, if a little flat.
Upt.
29/09/2026 12:36:43 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Tip Of The Day.
If one finds oneself riding in overly hot conditions put a plastic bottle of water in the freezer the night before and let it slowly defrost as you ride so you can enjoy a cold tipple as you tour. Add some concentrated juice to the water too if you fancy.
You're welcome.
29/09/2026 12:55:50 UTC
nab301 said :-
Lovely looking part of the world, although drinking engine coolant might be cheaper and maybe more effective at cooling , maybe there was a local deposit return scheme on the bottles ..
Nigel
29/09/2026 14:26:58 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
Your tip Upt' - Sharon came up with the same idea while we were there! Great minds think alike, fools seldom differ. We did have access to a freezer but on our camping tours well that might not be the case.
nab301 - when collecting Sharon's bike this very afternoon from St Helens the cafe we normally visit was just shutting up so we went to one around the corner we've never been to before. At... £3.95 for a BLEEPing cup of tea we will not be returning ever again. It's a cafe on a normal street in a very ordinary part of St Helens - not a Royal Cafe in Monaco or a executive club in London. The world has gone MAD!!
29/09/2026 21:10:49 UTC
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Travel StoriesA Holiday In Normandy