Exploring the Bray region

You may never have heard of this area of France, which the first half of the route traverses. It's a lovely, unspoiled sub-region of Normandy, with lush countryside, loads of impressive half-timbered buildings and pretty towns, particularly Neufchatel, Forges and Gournay.  It's making a real effort to welcome visitors, and the wealth of friendly B and Bs in my accommodation guide is testimony to that.

For a flavour of the region in pictures you could visit http://seine-maritime-tourism.com (I find French tourist info sites very nice on pretty pictures, but not so good on practical information). They have also put out a brochure called "Live the Avenue Verte" which is worth ordering from that website if you are going to linger in this region - it will give you ideas.

And on the offchance that you really fall in love with this region, there's a fantastic home for sale in Dampierre. It's being sold by a lovely old couple with whom I stayed the first time I did this cycle ride (they were doing B and B then). It's a large traditional house with six bedrooms and a good plot of land - oodles of character in a pretty village, all at a snip at 385,000 Euros. Do stop by and pay them a call, I'm sure they'd love a chat. They are Jean and Elisabeth Paresy, 942 Rue Principale - turn off the route right into village at roundabout, and it's on your left as you start leaving the village (seen from road first pic below). You can also email Jean in advance at jean.paresy@wanadoo.fr