I freely confess that these days I'm a
'shortest route, quickest arrival' autoroute man. Back in the day when I used to go over with a different group we always used to meander down. Generally it was from either Caen or Le Havre. If the latter, we would almost always stop off for a meal at Honfleur, such a lovely place, then on to Pont L'Eveque, Lisieux and Sees. From Caen it would be via Falaise and Argentan. Generally speaking, as in those days we only did a long weekend, we would stop overnight somewhere on the Friday night and we found some lovely places over the years. Such as Aunay sur Odon and Domfront. We 'discovered' Cancale in the early 90's and although we only went there once on the way out, the Hotel Continental became a regular place to return to after the race on Sunday, allowing me to doze gently over a fantastic evening meal! During the 00's we stayed every year on the way down at Le Grand Luce in a rather rickety hotel which served up delicious but simple fare and the most incredible quince preserve with fresh bread and croissants for breakfast. One of the most memorable places where we stayed several times was Vendome at the Auberge de la Madeleine, where we ate outside by the river - the lobster in whiskey sauce was particularly memorable...
Should you have any interest....
https://www.aysedasi.co.uk/galleries