re "staying on the route itself" vs a nearby road. I'd have to say that it generally didnt bother me that it did a little meandering. I'm usually more of a rider who will just take a bit of a road to avoid goofy detours , and a few times I would have taken the road, but my wife very much preferred to keep to the route, and thats ok--the main plus of this is the quiet aspect of the whole eurovelo thing, and being able to chat and not worry about cars, if worrying about cars or
not paying attention to cars is your concern.
Maybe I could have worded that a a bit better. I didn't mind actual detours, but for example that singletrack we followed for about three miles before I said screw it and got back on the road that was right on top of the dike thirty feet to the right. There were a few other places where it was a rutty dirt walking path next to an empty beautiful slab of asphalt.
Originally Posted by
axolotl
Another thing: I've found that it is not normal for restaurants in France to open for lunch before 12 noon, but it is normal for service to go beyond 1pm, certainly for people who are already eating.* Other than bakeries, small-town food shops are sadly disappearing in France and have been replaced by large supermarkets on the outskirts of towns that people typically drive to. Small food shops which still exist typically close at 12:30pm for a siesta. We usually did picnic lunches and always made sure we stopped at a boulangerie prior to 12:30pm so we would have fresh bread.
*
Ah sorry, didn't realize they were different trains, I could have sworn they had the same system when I originally was looking at leaving from the Atlantic.
We ate at quite a few places before noon, but it could have just been their hours. We basically got to the point where first thing we saw open after 11 we stopped at, unless we knew for certain there was something up ahead. You are correct if you were seated before close, service was expected to continue, it wasn't like here where they frown on you walking in 5 min before the doors are locked. Just trying to convey that if eating out, it is vastly different from here, so others don't go hungry their first day too
