Bicycle Touring France: La Possonniere to Caen

Life after sepsis and back to bicycle touring, my latest update: cycling in France, La Possonniere to Caen. 36 Miles. Caen? Yes, you’ve read correctly, Caen! Not a lot of sleep last night, there was a very noisy restaurant down the road, keeping me awake until about 4 am! Which meant I was more Mr Grumpy than normal! But, sleep aside, I do have a good excuse for being grumpy today!

Early on yesterday morning, I happened to notice a blister come up on the back of my left hand! Which is what happened last year, just before I contracted sepsis and ended up in intensive care.

Now call me paranoid if you want, and who could blame me! But I did start to wonder, surely not again! I wasn’t feeling unwell at (but then I didn’t last year, not to start with anyway), well, not until I’d noticed this blister! But feeling ill soon passed, and I put it down to my imagination!

As the day went on, I watched the blister getting bigger! I was now thinking about how I could get home, so I could get it checked out. I’m sure it’s nothing, but just in case, I don’t want to be stuck over here with no health insurance!

By the end of the day, I still felt okay and decided to see how things were in the morning. I got up at my normal time this morning and checked my blister, which looked about the same. Phew, thank goodness for that, I’ll continue on! But while eating breakfast, I noticed that I now had a blister on my right hand, again, the same as last year! That was it, I needed to get these checked out! If it’s nothing, that’s all well and good. I’ll come straight back. If not, well, best we don’t think about that!

So I had a short ride to Angers this morning, where I managed to get a train to Caen, as there are more options with the ferries there. The only problem was that the earliest train I could get wasn’t until 6.25 pm, which, after one change in Le Mans, got me into Caen for 9.45.

The last ferry for England leaves Ouistreham at eleven, which was another ten miles away from the railway station! But I thought I’d still try and catch it. Not really thinking that I would, especially as they say you have to check in an hour before the sailing!

I arrived in Ouistreham at 10.40 and got the predicted, “you’re too late, you need to check in an hour before the sailing”, after laying it on a bit thick, saying I needed to get to the hospital tomorrow, they let me on! And I was literally the last person on! Also, on top of that, I seem to be having technical issues again!

Life After Sepsis: Eurovelo Bicycle Tour Information

• • Photos: See my photos on Flickr
  • The route: My route across Europe
  • Videos: Check out my YouTube videos
  • Tour page: Ride overview

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If you’re enjoying the ride and want to fuel my next mile, you can always support me by buying me a beer. Or subscribe to my blog and follow me as I travel around on my bike. As a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where you’ll find pictures from all my tours, along with regular photo updates that I generally publish each month.

If you want to find out if I’m away touring at the moment and check my location, visit the Where’s Garry page. And for an insight into the gear and logistics that keep me on the road, see my Life at 10mph Guide.