De bout en bout (the end to end) French style.
Woke at 5 am. I have to get to the start point yet which is a 10 mile ride from my airbnb in Dunkirk to Bray Dunes.
Thank you very much for your hospitality Laury. She must have taken pity on me as she gave me her leftover home-made pizza. I love airbnb as you stay in someone's home and are made to feel welcome but also have complete privacy. I am sorry to say I did not get a chance to see much of Dunkirk but I will be back.
Started off at 6 AM, the bike was parked in her lock up garage across the road from Laurys place, safe and sound. Next morning I started off for the first landmark which was the canalside which if followed east would take me all the way to Bray & the border with Belgium.
Of course one thing I had not realised until I got here was that I would also cycle a bit into Belgium and later this week (god willing) will be cycling into mainland Spain for the very first time too. !!
I took a few pictures from home with me for my new desk for the week, all I have to do is look down and blow a kiss !XXX . I also had DJC tattooed on my skinsuit !!! Love you 3 XXX
Hello Belgium !!!
The French flag you see here was left on the side of the road by the Belgian sign so I picked it up and put it in my pocket. I have no idea why but it looked a bit sad there and I never thought it would be so symbolic and hold so much weight to my trip later.
Just around the corner to this French sign was a guarded gateway entrance to a huge caravan park called Camping Perroquet. I knew from google maps that this was the way into the Dunes and the "top of France" . Unfortunately the guard refused me entrance. I basically begged and he was very nice so he said no problem but I will have to take your passport off you !!! OK, no problem. I had come this far and nothing would stop me now. I sped up into the park and found the beach. I was not prepared for the trek through the deep dry sand dunes to get to the border marker, plus I had to carry my 32 kilo bike with me to get the shot. I must be completely and utterly mental !!!!
After struggling back to the park carrying Henry I realised that I had shoes full of sand and was a complete mess. I also dropped my bike at one point and it had sand in its wheels. Oh why oh why did I bother !!!
I am ashamed to say this but luckily I had a flag in my pocket to wipe off the sand. I had to take off my shoes and pour out the sand as best I could but time was ticking away and I had a 120 mile bike ride ahead of me so I quickly cleaned up and headed off collecting my passport and thanking the man for his help and trust.
So Hello Belgium, Goodbye Belgium, Hello France and Off We Jolly Well Go !!!!!
5 miles in on my way south a guy wound down his cars window and threw the remains of his pan au chocolat at me which hit me on the arse !!!! Things can only get better !!!
North France is very very flat, lovely, quite rural and filled with many many beautifully kept war grave cemeteries and memorials.
Are we in France or Holland ?
Little error when I got to Caestre, Why did I turn right instead of left taking me 2 miles up a hill that didn't need to go up. Thankfully I asked a nice fruit and veg stall market trader who was on the corner of a roundabout where I was and he set me straight !
French churches are made either Large or Extra Large !!
French outside toilets !! I have no idea why but it was a welcome sight.
Bethune.
leftover Bray Dunes sand in my shoes !!!!
Wow Paris already !!!!!
Beautiful poppies.
Lens14-18 memorial
A simply unbelievable memorial.
Nécropole Nationale de Notre-Dame-de-Lorette
http://association-du-monument-de-notre-dame-de-lorette.e-monsite.com/
Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, Souchez, Rue Carnot, Souchez, France
A German WW1 cemetery.
Arras, the reason there are bikes on roundabouts is because the Tour de France is coming into this large town next month. (July 2018)
Have I mentioned that the north is very flat.
A very long day and I am already emotionally worn out. A very memorable journey. We will never ever forget.
Peronne.
130 miles in the bag today, more than I should have done to be honest but it is a good start to this adventure. I arrived in Roye in Picardy to find my next airbnb hosted by Sylvie. She was lovely and had made me a three course meal. It was absolutely gorgeous and I ate and ate like a man possessed. Sylvie and I chatted via a laptop and app translating between us on the table as she like me only had their own language to fall back on. She served a really lovely sweet wine which was quite thick and warming, a lot like a really good sherry. She said it was made of walnuts and she made it herself, wow, very nice and merci Sylvie !! Sylvie said that she needed to get to work early the next day which was Monday so I was asked if it was OK to leave at 7 am, no problem this fitted in perfectly with my plans so...Early night. ZZZZZZ
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