Читать книгу One More Croissant for the Road онлайн

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Km: 51.8

Buckwheat crêpes were once the bread of Brittany, a region too poor and damp to support much in the way of wheat cultivation. Indeed, Anne Willan claims in her excellent guide French Regional Cooking that they formed the basis of whole meals, starting with yesterday’s crumbled into soup, followed by a main course of fresh pancakes spread with salted butter, and concluding with a second filled with butter and sugar or jam. They remain incredibly popular, though buckwheat is now generally saved for savoury dishes: look out for the galette-saucisse, the Breton equivalent of a hot dog, at markets throughout the region.

It feels weird not to have someone behind me as I pedal towards my first campsite; terrifying yet also strangely exhilarating. If the last five days have been half-holiday, a gradual easing into this new normality, then the tour proper starts now – and a wet evening in a tent feels like an appropriate baptism of fire, or damp squib, depending on your perspective.