In the heart of the Pays d'Auge, Beuvron-en-Auge looks the way Normandy ought to look in a children's book. The half-timbered houses, with their dark beams, pale plaster and tilting upper storeys, date mostly from the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries, and they cluster around a covered market hall in a village of a couple of hundred people. It is on the list of the most beautiful villages in France, and for once the label is deserved. The geraniums are suspiciously tidy.
The reason to ride here is the cider. The Pays d'Auge is a protected area for cider, pommeau and calvados, apple brandy distilled and aged in oak, and the Route du Cidre winds between the orchards on small lanes, with farm signs inviting you to stop and taste. Many producers sell directly, so you can buy a bottle of farmhouse cider or a small flask of calvados, if your panniers have room. The cheeses of the region, Camembert, Livarot and Pont-l'Évêque, are made within a short ride, and a plate of them with bread and a glass of cider is a very good lunch.
The riding is gentle, hedged and curving, with lanes that lead through apple orchards, along hedgerows and past cows grazing in lush pasture. The roads are narrow, and corners hide slow tractors and wandering cyclists, so keep your speed sensible. Wet weather is likely at any time of year, because this is Normandy, and a waterproof is not a luxury. Late April and May bring apple blossom in clouds of pink and white, and autumn brings the harvest, with the smell of crushed fruit hanging over the villages. Summer is warm but rarely hot.
Beuvron is small, so fuel is better found elsewhere. Dives-sur-Mer, about eleven kilometres away, has stations and supermarkets, and the closer village of Dozulé has some services. In the village itself, the market hall and the little shops around it sell local products, and a couple of cafés serve food and drink in season. Park at the edge, as the central streets are narrow. The Normandy coast, with the beaches of Cabourg and Deauville, lies a short ride to the north.