A bit of rambling on the GR36

I arrived home on Tuesday from a bit of walking in Normandy.
The first day was a bit horrendous as I'd not are fully analysed the exact distance the GR36 takes to my first night's stopover. First 15km from the ferry to Caen were fine then the heavens opened. By mid afternoon, after seeing a sign showing 22.5km still to go, I decided to hitch a lift. I had walked 31km.

Ouistreham - the walk begins

 

At 4km, Pegasus Bridge - the subject of the film, The Longest Day 

Two night's camping in the wet at Thury-Harcourt with gradually improving weather, I retraced the GR36 back north on the second day, returning by bus.

 Near Thury-Harcourt, an alternative to the GR36 is the Voie Verte, a wide cycleway on a disused railway track

 

Day 2 - mostly a dry day

On Tuesday I followed the GRP de Suisse Normandie to arrive in Clecy, staying at a lovely hotel in the picturesque village, staying two nights and using Wednesday to take the GR36 back to Thury, nicely timed for 40 minutes in a bar before the bus arrived to return to the hotel.

Day 3 - The River Orne flanked by challenging climbs

With nothing booked for Thursday, I followed the GR36 to Pont d'Ouilly for lunch and then continued with no idea of what accommodation there would be. I eventually found a gite de ferme which gave me a wonderful night with the family, making new friends.
As it was the first weekend of August, I thought it prudent to book the hotel at Putanges for Friday night (they even have wifi in the middle of nowhere!). Amazingly I was the only person staying in the hotel although the restaurant, not full but at least had around ten people in it. I also planned my route for the remaining days, booking hotels in Écouché and Argentan.

Saturday was an easy day, just 24.4km to Écouché, although it was now starting to get quite warm.
Again I was the only person staying in the hotel on the first Saturday in August.
My final day's walking on the GR36 was to be Sunday - it was just a case of deciding where to turn off and head for Argentan, where I could get the train back to Caen. My plan was a village called Francheville. As I got near it, I realised it was not on the GR36, just slightly off, but I still headed there - it may have had a bar serving food. No bar a but a nice village and bench with a view to eat my backup lunch.

Future bacon sandwiches 

 

A very shiny plaque at Francheville showing that it was liberated only 6 days after D-Day

The view attracted me to return to the GR36 and continue. I decided on a turn round point at 2.30 p.m. but I could also see a hill so I continued to reach the summit. However there was no view as it was more of a plateau in a forest. I had completed 21Km at a fair pace so needed to work out my route to Argentan. Luckily viewranger on my phone showed plenty of paths to head in the right direction once I had left the GR36. However, not all the paths were completely navigable : one in particular was more like a jungle with fallen trees blocking the path at one point. Luckily, previous walkers had made a cut into an adjacent cornfield which  did return to wider path. The last 6km into Argentan was a challenge, being along a busy road. I eventually arrived at Argentan at 7pm, having walked 41km with a pack of over 16Kg. A thermometer was showing 27°C (at 7pm). I was somewhat exhausted and quite dehydrated.

 A couple of examples of architecture in Argentan - the second is the very smart railway station

The final day was spent with a leisurely stroll around the few shops that were open in Argentan before catching the train to Caen, lunch in a nice bar (Café Newport) and back to Ouistreham.

If anyone tells you Normandy is not hilly, thery are wrong. In eight days of walking I covered 197Km which included 3600 metres of climb (12,000 feet in old money)