| Day # |
30 |
State of Legs |
:-) |
|
Distance (miles) |
Distance (km) |
Ascent (feet) |
Ascent (metres) |
Punctures |
| Today |
45.6 miles |
km |
1893 feet |
metres |
0 |
| Trip Totals |
1101.1 miles |
km |
38787 feet |
metres |
0 |
Travelogue
Today was the day that summer was supposed to finally start! Ever since it had come into view on the long range weather forecast, today has stood out as the first of several days in a row that had an icon of a cloudless sun representing its forecast weather. Did the forecast correctly predict today's weather? Had today's weather been watching the weather forecasts so that it knew how to behave? Unfortunately, it would seem that neither of these warrants a "yes".
We didn't get rained on. And the sun was out and the sky was blue for some of the day. But that cold headwind was always there so that we were rarely really warm. And eventually, the blue sky turned to dark clouds and that was that. But it didn't rain.
The day started with breakfast at the guest house we'd found for ourselves yesterday, after neither of the campsites we'd identified had worked out. Breakfast was bread and croissants from the local boulangerie with butter and various confitures to choose from. But best of all, there was a pot of delicious "miel" AKA honey. It was a great start to the day.
After breakfast, we loaded up the bikes whilst having a basic conversation in French with our host Nicole. M1 showed her the route we'd cycled so far and the fact that Amiens was today's destination. She asked if our bikes were electric bikes and of course we said that they were not. She asked how far we'd cycled so far, and M1 showed her the figures on the blog, currently standing at 1698 km. She said something we didn't quite understand but it included the French word "fou", which you French scholars will know means "mad"! We laughed and agreed :-)
We said our goodbyes and hit the road.
The area has a great many military cemeteries and memorials to those who died in the First World War, or as some insist on calling it, The Great War. We stopped at one in Bertrancourt because it had a British Union Jack flying besides it. What we saw and read was incredibly sad.
It's a relatively new monument to the players of a Northern Irish football team called Linfield FC. Many of the team's players are thought to have died in the war and in particular in this part of France, close as it is to the site of the Battle of the Somme. The
BBC wrote an article about the monument when it was first unveiled.
We continued on our way through a series of villages, on good roads.
There are so many wind turbines generating electricity in this part of France, it's quite amazing. Britain seems way behind in comparison (and in fact the current government still seem to be arguing about whether land-based wind farms are a good thing or not, despite it offering the cheapest energy). The French have just got on with building their capability.
At about 30 miles into the ride, we stopped to eat a couple of chocolate chip cookies, sitting on a bench. There was a shrub with purple flowers behind us which was being visited by dozens of butterflies.
Shortly after our cookie break, the tarmac country road suddenly became an unpaved trail and as is so often the case, after tempting us to ride it for about half a mile, it degraded quite dramatically and became tough to ride, with M2 opting to push her bike through most of it. It was hard work whether you rode your bike or pushed it and very slow going.
M1 examined the map and found a way off the trail about half way along its full length. The escape route would require us to cycle five miles or so off our planned route, but pretty much parallel to it until the two paths converged. We decided to take the escape route and were glad to get back on tarmac, with little impact to the overall distance we expected to cycle.
Soon we could see the outline of Amiens in the distance. The road became a major road but with a wide cycle lane running alongside and separate from it. We made fairly fast progress here and soon we were in the centre of Amiens, admiring its incredible cathedral. M1 and M2 took turns looking inside the cathedral whilst the other looked after the bikes. The exterior is amazing, packed with gargoyles and other artistic sculptures. The inside has less art but is an architectural masterpiece with incredible columns and arches.
We explored the centre and decided to have something to eat, opting for delicious salmon quiches.
The town hall was nearby. All town halls in France must be the envy of your typical British town hall, but this one was particularly impressive.
Today's campsite is a few miles outside of Amiens, in a park. The ride there was easy and the part that took us through the large park, very pleasant.
We've pitched our tent and that's it for today!
We estimate we have only ten more days of cycling left on this trip. Amazing we're coming to the end of our little adventure so soon!
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