Phil&Jill

We reluctantly left our appartment in Caen at midday in bright sunshine and once again walked to the Gare Routiere (Bus station) to catch the elusive Twisto (one of the bus company's name) No 61. However when I went to the ticket office the lady pointed me to the Busverts No 20 which was leaving for Dives in 10 minutes. Eu 7.40 for 2 people. So apart from mis-intrepreting her G for J and being at the bus to Paris platform and the driver saying ...non non not this one ...and being quick enough to realise the mistake we got on the bus with 2 minutes to spare. The driver was very helpful and assisted with the tricky door lock for the underneath luggage hold. Up, up and away to the coast.

Cabourg-sur-Dives is an off shoot to the main town of Cabourg, approximately 40 kms away from Caen and 50 minutes by bus. Dives is the name of the river and where William the Conqueror set sail on his quest to conquer England. The bus soon left the urban area of Caen and travelled through areas cropped with wheat and lucerne. The various stages of growth of the crops made a beautiful patch work effect. The famous red Normandy poppy was flowering along the verge of the road.

We went through many little villages with their brown stone houses and each village with an outstanding chateau. Many new developments were being built also which shows the growth in the area. The driver was kind enough to tell us when our stop came up because we didn't see any obvious sign.

We only had about 300m to walk to the Kyriad Prestige near the train station and situated on the River Dives. We were originally allocated a room facing out to the station but after I enquired we were able to change rooms and now have a view of the river and the port marina in the distance. This room 101 has the afternoon sun pouring in. We will explore the area tomorrow. Once again we wish we had our bikes...the 4km seaside promenade would be perfect to cycle along.