| Day # | 26 | State of Legs | :-) |
| Distance (miles) | Distance (km) | Ascent (feet) | Ascent (metres) | Punctures | |
| Today | 36.3 miles | km | 2313 feet | metres | 0 |
| Trip Totals | 962.3 miles | km | 33679 feet | metres | 0 |
| Today's Route |
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| Route So Far |
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Travelogue
We slept well in our glamping style cabin last night and this morning, per the weather forecast, it looked like the day would be better than the day before. Less wet, at least. We donned our waterproofs, just in case though.
We headed off relatively late for us, cycling up a series of long hills and soon leaving Charleville-Mézières behind us. We soon found ourselves cycling through a forest and at one point, saw several young deer cross the road in front of us.
The landscape opened up again and we enjoyed the views in this hilly part of France, right on the border with Belgium. There were several villages and all at once found ourselves in Mont Cornu, a historic medieval village with lots to see.
Waterproofs were taken off and then put back on again, as the weirdest summer weather on record failed to make its mind up, one way or another. It rained a bit, but never hard. At times, the wind blew fairly strongly in our faces, requiring more energy from our legs on the many, lengthy hill climbs.
In another forest, we passed a sign that indicated we were in the Ardennes Regional Nature Park. "Can we play on the swings?! Can we?!" M1 might have said. "It's not that kind of park" replied M2, always to be relied upon for a sensible answer to a silly question :-)
In the town of Bourg-Fidèle, we stopped for drinks and chocolate at a bar. As always, the locals were welcoming and friendly.
We reached the border with Belgium at a village called Le Petit Gué d'Hossus. There was an old border control post there which looked like it hadn't been used for years, which it probably hadn't.
We soon found ourselves in another forest again. The forest has been a lovely change from the farmland and rivers that have dominated the trip so far. M1 got carried away taking photos with one hand whilst cycling. Nothing bad has come of this risky practice so far, but there's time yet!
We bought groceries in Chimay and continued a further mile to our campsite for the day. There don't seem to be many people here, so it's very quiet (which is nice!). But it might be because the woman who runs the place appears to be incredibly grumpy. This is just a working theory, however.
A Dutch woman, cycling with panniers and camping gear like us, arrived as we were sat eating and has camped in the next pitch to us. She seems to be the only other guest that has a tent, the others favouring camper vans or caravans. Most pitches though are empty.
For a while, we sat outside the bar in glorious sunshine. It was very welcome, if something of a novelty. But after moving inside (thankfully), it poured down! It's sunny again now but it seems the rain is not yet a thing of the past for us.
That's it!
Fin.
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