After coming home for two legs after being China our teams are once again going international. Everyone is off to Normandy, France. As Canadians this part of France holds special meaning to us as it’s the 100 year anniversary of WWI and the 70 years since we landed on Juno Beach. This leg of the race is a tribute to them. Everyone is on the same flight to France. Audrey and Alain meet up with Pierre and Michel and Audrey immediately starts to buddy up with the first place team. Pierre and Michel are on to them now and want no part 
of it since they haven’t talked at all during the race. Once in France everyone must drive themselves along the maze of roads to Boulard Calvados Distillery, where they are performing this legs roadblock. Who’s ready to give it 40%? It’s a hard one people! Teams must choose a numbered barrel of Calvados and extract a sample from it. They then must watch a silent demonstration of how to add enough water to make it 40% Alcohol. This task takes a lot of patience and math skills. I’d have been screwed. Natalie and Meaghan were the first to arrive at the roadblock. Meaghan chose to do it, but it wasn’t long before science major Natalie regretted that decision. The twins were next in and they were out in one try. Those dudes are smart! Everyone got there and Ryan and Rob were noticeably absent. The poor guys were so lost I’m surprised they didn’t end up in Spain. Jinder being a science major was in and out pretty quickly. Meaghan has some trouble and after realizing she was using the wrong tool quickly fixed her mistake and they were out third. Audrey, Pete and Ryan were all their together. Audrey took her time and was patient and was out her first try. Pete and Ryan were struggling and all of a sudden Ryan realized his mistake and fixed it, but on his way out he was nice enough to give Pete some pointers and help him out. Would you have helped Pete out if that was you and you needed to get a head start? I think all is fair in The Amazing Race so I don’t judge for not stopping to help but I am proud of Ryan for being such a good sport about it.
Once done the roadblock everyone is driving themselves to Le Molay-Littry where they get their clues to the Detour. They can choose from Tell It and Show It. In Tell It they must drive to Bayeux Tapestry. When they get there they will find a scrambled recreation of a tapestry that they must put in order using only the story boards provided to them. In Show It They must find the horse farm select a horse and secure it to a hitching post where they need to groom it then create a complex french braid using 
red yarn. Rule number one of the Amazing Race if you have a choice of working with animals or not always choose not! Pierre and Michel, Sukhi and Jinder and Audrey and Alain are all off to the horse farm while Natalie and Meaghan are deciding to Tell It. After a few bad legs the girls are making their comeback and are out pretty quick. Pierre and Michel realize they should have followed my rule number one about Amazing Race and switch detours. When they arrive they think they are in first place because Meaghan and Natalie made up the time they lost at the distillery and were already gone. Sukhi and Jinder get lost on the way to the horses but find their way back an Alain and Audrey also try their luck at the horses. Mickey and Pete choose horses too. Don’t they know animals are unpredictable and hard to control? While poor Ryan and Rob are not having good luck in France and are lost again! They finally find their way to the horse ranch. No one else seems to have the problems that Pierre and Michel had with their horse and the judge really wasn’t very critical of their braiding technique so as long as you got the yarn in the braid you good to go. What detour would you have chosen?
After the detour everyone is driving themselves to the Beaches of Asnelles. Once there they must participate in a local past time land sailing. The need to race around the course 10 times and off they go. This looked like so much fun. It’s basically a kayak on wheels with a sail and you push it and hope to catch air. I probably wouldn’t have been able to steer it to save my life but the teams had a blast with this challenge. Natalie and Meaghan were out just as Pierre and Michel were arriving so now the twins know they aren’t in first anymore. The boys had some fun teasing each other while doing the challenge. It’s nice to see everyone just let loose and have a little fun during the race. No one has any trouble doing this challenge except for Audry and Alain who have trouble controlling it. No judgement here guys, I’d be right there with you! Ryan and Rob get lost again on the way to the beach. They search for directions but everything in this small town of France is closed for the day. At least the boys can have some fun and dream up a new show called Getting Lost In France and Hating Yourself. Ryan and Rob are the last to leave this route markers.
Teams are now on the way to Beny-Sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetary. One of the graveyards of our Canadian soldiers lost in World War II. Teams are to pay their respect to our fallen soldiers and deliver their poppy to the soldier in front of the Juno Beach Center. It was humbling to watch everyone just stop and appreciate our soldiers and what they gave up so we could have our freedom. No one rushed through this. Every team took their time and really just took in the experience. It isn’t everyday you get to see such an important monument to our history. Natalie and Meaghan were hit hard by it, Pierre and Michel saluted our fallen soldiers and even our happy-go-lucky Mickey 
and Pete couldn’t help but be in awe that most of these soldiers were just so young, barely out of their 20’s and younger than they are. After delivering their poppy to the Canadian soldier in front of the museum they are off to the beach to see Jon who was there with a World War II veteran Jim Parks who actually landed on that beach and lived to tell the tale. For their fifth first place finish Natalie and Meaghan are back on top as team number one, followed closely by Pierre and Michel. Mickey and Pete have stayed strong as team number three and Sukhi and Jinder are doing well as team number 4. Audrey and Alain fell from second to fifth this leg and Ryan and Rob after getting lost so many times are the last team to arrive. Lucky for Ryan and Rob it is a non elimination leg and they get to race another leg but have to perform a speed bump along the way. Do you think they can power through and get out of last place next week? Check out this extra bit of footage from the cast and crew as they reflect on the the experience of being on Juno Beach. We are off to Paris next week and I can’t wait. What did you think of this leg of the race? Comment below and let me know.
