Bringin you up to speed!

Alrighty....took us awhile to find an internet cafe and this one still uses french keyboards, so bear with me on errors. A quick recap of what has gone down in the last week:
Sunday- Mom and Dad drop John and I off in a suburb of Dublin called Rathmore. We check into Globetrotters Hostel, grab our bikes and go over the gear one last time. Stress over the ferry price (130 euro!) and go to bed.
Monday- Leave Dublin and ride to Arklow. We only make it probably 50 km because Im battling food poisoning all day from my last goddamn "Irish Breakfast" EVER (more meat than most families consume in one week). The effects are so bad Im fevered and constantly searching for public toilets. We have to splurge and get a B&B.
Tuesday- I feel a million times better. We do our best to push all the way to Rosslaire by 1430 to catch the ferry, but John starts to bonk out and I realize that we woke up far too late to ever make the ferry. We manage to get a taxi for 25€ and make it to port on time. I only have 20€ and the driver lets us slide. We get aboard the ferry and are thankful we have a cabin to ourselves.
Wednesday- Get off ferry. At a stop light I ask a French guy on a bicycle which direction the street we are looking for is. He tells us to follow him and proceeds to lead us on a total legbuster right over the mountain out of Cherbourg through Les Glacieres. He takes us all the way to the top of a pass, winding through many quiet backroads. Davidon points out where we go from there and then with a au revoir turns around and goes back the way we came. I think he just did it for fun...wasnt even where he was going. He didnt know any English. Amazingly kind. John and I proceed to blast down the French equivalent of a greenway or the American Tobacco Trail, the "Voie Verte". Finally roll into a small town and find a perfect pay campground just as they are closing up. Drink a bottle of wine, eat some cheese, bread,salami and pass out.
Thursday- We ride up the coast visiting the D-Day beaches along the way. I am in awe of the fact that guys my age or younger performed such heroic acts to free people they had never even met. Heavy stuff. End the day in a small town called Courselles-sur-mer qrriving too late to find a campground. We cook in a park, scurry into a nearby patch of woods and hobo camp to the max. Proceed to drink a bottle of wine each (after the experimentation I think we have determined the optimum wine consumption after a day of riding is between a half bottle and a bottle each).
Friday- Crank all the way to Le Havre. Come into the port city on the frightening and stark industrial port side. Proceed to search for a hostel and realize this place is way too grizzled for that. Find a one-star hotel and post up. John goes to bed while I search out a pint. Le Havre might have some cool bars if you arent an exhausted, broke cyclist.
Saturday- I spend about 30 minutes fixing the rear tire of the kid whose mom runs the hotel. Turns out to be a fair exchange for some baguette and coffee. John and I head up the coast shooting for Dieppe. We only make it to Saint Valery sur Mer. Standing in front of a boulangerie, looking confused we are approached by 3 French men on bicycles. They start talking to John. He begins to look more confused. I come out of the bakery and ask teh guys if they know where the 2 star campground is (no fancy stuff for these two bikers!). They say they arent sure, but we could stay in their yard, joking that it is only "no stars". Never turning down free stuff, we follow them out to their house. These are absolutely amazing people. They not only let us store our bikes, they proceed to treat us like family. It is Laurence's birthday. Laurence and David live in Paris, but this is their weekend house. There is champagne, homemade foie gras and 5 more courses. They let us sleep on the floor INSIDE!
Sunday- Morning brings an amazing spread of croissants, pain au chocolat, baguettes, homemade marmalade, coffee, hot milk....too good to be true. I play games with the little girls. We do a thorough check on our bikes and the folks give us tons of stuff to eat for the next few days! We get a very acceptable late start and make it to Bernard le Grand for another campground.
TODAY! Rode up here to Berck sur plage. Unsuccessful in finding a campground. One lady wanted 22 €. The second convinced us at 20€, but then told us hammocks are not allowed. It is too late now to find one probably, so I guess we'll be hoboing it which is fine by me because now I can pay for the internet cafe access for this entry!
Tomorrow we head to Lille. Probably take a day or two off there before going on up to Ghent, Brussels, Antwerp and then north to Amsterdam. John has a friend who is supposedly studying in Lille, so I hope we get in touch with her. I look forward to a day of sitting around after 7 straight on the bike. We are getting better at putting in the kilometers, but still need to start earlier I think. The route is a bit intimidating lately as I wonder how long the weather will hold out. Im starting to think I may head over to Prague and then down Italy rather than back to France and through Spain. Just not sure yet.
I hope this entry finds everyone doing well. I know that as I was starting this new adventure many of you are returning from your own or beginning something new. I hope school is going well for you (Patrick, Troy and others). Hannah and Richard, hope you are re-adjusting to the States ok. Rich and Marshall- hope you guys are saving up and getting ready to come join John and I. Kees- stay outta trouble and keep honing those blood-sample skills...Ill have some real good stuff for you after all this riding!
To all the other folks, please keep reading and drop some comments on the section there. Nothing motivates me more than an audience. Love you all and until the next update, keep the rubber side down!

P.S. Photos are up, but may not be edited and sorted. Link is on the right there --->