France
We had breakfast in France - on our way out of Bray-Dunes, we sat on the seafront and had a pain au chocolat and croissant each. Two miles later we were in Belgium, quite a minor business, announced only by a small sign.
Last impressions of France? Friendly drivers, some quite pleasant roads and pretty good cycle paths - a welcome change from England. Some really pretty areas (e.g. Cherbourg peninsula) and some not so nice (e.g. Le Havre and surrounding areas) We had some good meals there, although the food does tend to be quite fatty and I'm a little sick of frites right now. Good stuff - crepes au citron, pain au chocolat, smoked duck salad, camembert and lots of other nice cheeses.
Belgium
We had lunch in Belgium - we found a pub, I'm not really sure where, somewhere just south of Oostende I think, and struggled through our first few words in Dutch to get a table and ask for the menu. Dgym went for a macaroni cheese. I couldn't decide what I wanted, so went for the thing I could least understand, (which is always fun, as long as you know that "gesiers" is French for "gizzards" :) It turned out to be prawn croquettes with salad, and was very good.
I was wondering before today what sort of a place Belgium is - nobody really seems to go there on holiday or anything, so we weren't really sure what to expect. It was for the most part quite pleasant, the cycle paths were nice, taking us along mostly traffic-free routes in the countryside and guiding us alongside the roads in town. The food was tasty and a bit cheaper than France... they just need to get rid of Zeebrugge. We seeemed to spend most of the afternoon getting through the city what with the cycle paths either being very sporadically signposted, or sending us roundabout the houses/docks on a very indirect route, or having lorries planted in the middle of them. We then arrived at the mechanised bridge just in time to see the lights go red and the bridge lift in front of us. OK, we thought, we'll wait here while a couple of ships go through... so we waited for fifteen minutes while four or five large slow ships chugged their way in from the sea... and then the bridge did nothing. We waited, and waited, and nothing happened. I noticed that the front car that was waiting was also British so I went to ask if they knew anything about when the bridge would go down. They, like us, were just hoping it would go down soon. Dgym pointed out that it looked like some large ships were about to crawl out in the other direction too, so we gave up and tried another bridge. We managed to get over the bridge, at which point it was roadworky chaos and pretty much unnavigable for a cyclist. We somehow managed to duck between hurtling lorries and get ourselves out of it, thank goodness.
So - if you're thinking of cycling in Belgium - it's quite lovely, but stay away from the cities!
Netherlands
The Belgium/Netherlands border was quite unannounced - I'm not sure when we actually crossed over, but we did. We're only just past the border, and have stopped at the first hotel we saw. Which at 65euro is little more pricey than we'd normally go for but we were tired and hungry, and it's a very nice room for the money. First impressions of the Netherlands? It's flat, and there are lots of bicycles. Hooray, we're definitely in the right country. And, in response to our feeble attempts at speaking their language, the Dutch have been putting us to shame by responding fluently in our own.
We had dinner in the Netherlands - the only local restaurant was also expensive at almost 20euro a main meal, but very nice indeed and the dishes (a mixed grill and a steak) came with lots of tasty side dishes, and pancake soup. Pancake soup is something that had never occurred to me before, but it's a great idea. The waitress was very friendly and helped us with our Dutch pronunciation as we read out to her cheesy lines from the phrase book such as "The meal was delicious thank you" and "Can we have the bill please?"
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Wednesday 19th April - No more hills
We conquered the hills, and now have hundreds of miles of flatness ahead of us. We left at 8:30 this morning in order to get some extra distance in, and the plan worked well.
Outside Boulogne, we encountered a group of brightly-coloured skinny lycra-clad cyclists on racing bikes, presumably on a club run - or rather, they encountered us, said bonjour as they passed us going up hill and sped off into the distance. We then passed them a few minutes down the road, having a break. They overtook us again while later. Again, we passed them having another break. Again, they overtook us. I began to suspect they were just showing off - look, we can overtake you with our muscles and our lycra and our feather-light bicycles... and we can do it again and again. But we didn't see them again after that.
The hills were quite unfriendly today, and there were quite a few of them. For every slope we crawled up, I felt a little glimmer of hope that maybe this was the last one before the flatlands, only to see more hills when we reached the top. Eventually, we saw a huge hill in front of us and stopped to check the contours on our map. The hill turned out to be Cap Blanc Nez, indeed the final hill. And it was a real tough one. Probably a 13-14% gradient over about half a mile, the biggest hill we've tackled so far on this trip. But it was encouraging to know it was the last, and really satisfying to reach the top and roll down towards Calais. It was all easy after that - the terrain was lovely and flat, and the wind was on our backs.
We were considering staying in Dunkerque but it turned out to be a bit of an odd place. We followed signs to the Centre Ville but never actually managed to find it. We did make it to the beach, which was quite lovely and had a cycle path along the sea front. That was nice - but we somehow managed not to find any hotels. We weren't too set on staying there, so kept going east. Two towns later we were in Bray-Dunes, the most northerly town in France, which is where we are staying the night (yes it does begin with B, but we'd got as far as we'd intended for the day) Belgium's just down the road, and we'll cross over early tomorrow.
My wheel has behaved itself today. It is round, and it has all its spokes. That's pretty much all you could ask of a wheel.
Outside Boulogne, we encountered a group of brightly-coloured skinny lycra-clad cyclists on racing bikes, presumably on a club run - or rather, they encountered us, said bonjour as they passed us going up hill and sped off into the distance. We then passed them a few minutes down the road, having a break. They overtook us again while later. Again, we passed them having another break. Again, they overtook us. I began to suspect they were just showing off - look, we can overtake you with our muscles and our lycra and our feather-light bicycles... and we can do it again and again. But we didn't see them again after that.
The hills were quite unfriendly today, and there were quite a few of them. For every slope we crawled up, I felt a little glimmer of hope that maybe this was the last one before the flatlands, only to see more hills when we reached the top. Eventually, we saw a huge hill in front of us and stopped to check the contours on our map. The hill turned out to be Cap Blanc Nez, indeed the final hill. And it was a real tough one. Probably a 13-14% gradient over about half a mile, the biggest hill we've tackled so far on this trip. But it was encouraging to know it was the last, and really satisfying to reach the top and roll down towards Calais. It was all easy after that - the terrain was lovely and flat, and the wind was on our backs.
We were considering staying in Dunkerque but it turned out to be a bit of an odd place. We followed signs to the Centre Ville but never actually managed to find it. We did make it to the beach, which was quite lovely and had a cycle path along the sea front. That was nice - but we somehow managed not to find any hotels. We weren't too set on staying there, so kept going east. Two towns later we were in Bray-Dunes, the most northerly town in France, which is where we are staying the night (yes it does begin with B, but we'd got as far as we'd intended for the day) Belgium's just down the road, and we'll cross over early tomorrow. My wheel has behaved itself today. It is round, and it has all its spokes. That's pretty much all you could ask of a wheel.
Tuesday 18th April - No more B's for us
Today was a bit hillier again - the flatlands of yesterday are divided from the flatlands of the Netherlands / Belgium / the very north of France by a hilly region. The hills are often quite steep, but usually accompanied by a segregated cycle path. It's easier to take your time on a climb when you don't have traffic queueing up behind you. We got some quite spectacular views as we approached Boulogne.
In Boulogne, we found a bike shop willing to fix my wheel, so we stopped for the night after only 30 miles. In French lessons in English schools they don't tend to teach you such handy phrases as "I have broken a spoke, can you please replace it?" so I ended up having my first wild gesturing session in order to communicate my mechanical problem. Which seemed to work - I left the bike with them and a couple of hours later picked it up with not one but two shiny new spokes. Apparently another one broke during the repair, not good news, I need to do something more permanent about my rear wheel, like rebuilding it with a complete new set of spokes. However, it should do for now.
Tomorrow, we're leaving super-early (dgym's idea, would you believe) to follow the coast around to Dunkerque or thereabouts (about 70 miles), and then spend our last night in France. Should be fine once we're over these last few hills. We've resolved not to go through any more places beginning with "B" till we're out of France as we keep ending up cutting our day short and staying in them. (this is our 9th night in France and 6th beginning with B)
514 miles so far.
In Boulogne, we found a bike shop willing to fix my wheel, so we stopped for the night after only 30 miles. In French lessons in English schools they don't tend to teach you such handy phrases as "I have broken a spoke, can you please replace it?" so I ended up having my first wild gesturing session in order to communicate my mechanical problem. Which seemed to work - I left the bike with them and a couple of hours later picked it up with not one but two shiny new spokes. Apparently another one broke during the repair, not good news, I need to do something more permanent about my rear wheel, like rebuilding it with a complete new set of spokes. However, it should do for now.
Tomorrow, we're leaving super-early (dgym's idea, would you believe) to follow the coast around to Dunkerque or thereabouts (about 70 miles), and then spend our last night in France. Should be fine once we're over these last few hills. We've resolved not to go through any more places beginning with "B" till we're out of France as we keep ending up cutting our day short and staying in them. (this is our 9th night in France and 6th beginning with B)
514 miles so far.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Monday 17th April - Pop goes Hel's spoke
So yesterday was a day of wifi, yay! We checked into an Etap hotel with Orange wifi. What we didn't realise was that it was wifi for only particular rooms (we checked in by machine so there was nobody to explain this to us) so the signal was so weak in our room that dgym had to get onto the top bunk to pick up anything, and then it was intermittent. It was OK out in reception though. Orange wifi is a bit annoying in that you buy your connection, say 24hrs worth, and it connects you immediately. If you become disconnected, e.g. because the signal is pants, you need to re-enter your login and password. When they connect you, they give you the login but not the password. The password is emailed to you, and email takes time to go through. So if your connection is so bad that you don't stay on long enough to get to your email... and if it's Easter Sunday so there will be no tech support to help you... doh! Thanks Orange. I had to go and sit in reception with a good signal so I could buy another hours worth so we could get to dgym's email and get his password. Of course, that's probably what they wanted us to do.
Today I popped a spoke about five miles out of Treport, rear wheel drive side - if you happen to carry spare spokes, that's the worst place you could break a spoke as you have to remove the rear freewheel to replace it. If, like me, you don't carry spare spokes, it makes no difference because you can't replace it anyway. The immediate problem you have when a spoke goes is that the wheel goes out of true (i.e. becomes unevenly tensioned and loses its shape) and will rub against the brake pads once per turn. A quick retrue with a spoke key sorted that out, but the wheel's still not quite round and as a result gives a slightly bumpy ride. It's not advisable to ride on such a wheel for very long, as it puts greater strain on the other spokes (especially with the loads I'm carrying) - but it'll get you to the next bike shop. Damn machine-built wheels. I built my own front wheel and it's winning 0:2 on the broken spokes front.
The terrain today was mostly very flat, we cycled up from Treport along the Picarde coast, around the Somme bay and have ended up in Bercke. The sun came back out after spending a few days in hiding, so our moods were somewhat brightened. We rolled (one of us in a slightly bumpy manner) along miles and miles of flat, wide and pleasant cycle path, most of which appeared quite freshly laid. Most of it was about three times the width of your average English cycle path. Maybe it's just because it's a national holiday, but the paths seemed quite well-used. It's nice to see that, even with roads that are not too intimidating, the French are making a respectable effort to make cycling even more pleasant.
Berck was very noisy and busy when we rolled into town, but mostly with people on their way out from their bank holiday weekend, and it's quietened down now. We were able to get a hotel easily, it's even got a terrace although it's a bit chilly/windy to sit out there for long.
Once again we have run out of map - we've been relying on free maps from tourist offices since Dieppe and they're actually pretty good.
Today I popped a spoke about five miles out of Treport, rear wheel drive side - if you happen to carry spare spokes, that's the worst place you could break a spoke as you have to remove the rear freewheel to replace it. If, like me, you don't carry spare spokes, it makes no difference because you can't replace it anyway. The immediate problem you have when a spoke goes is that the wheel goes out of true (i.e. becomes unevenly tensioned and loses its shape) and will rub against the brake pads once per turn. A quick retrue with a spoke key sorted that out, but the wheel's still not quite round and as a result gives a slightly bumpy ride. It's not advisable to ride on such a wheel for very long, as it puts greater strain on the other spokes (especially with the loads I'm carrying) - but it'll get you to the next bike shop. Damn machine-built wheels. I built my own front wheel and it's winning 0:2 on the broken spokes front.
The terrain today was mostly very flat, we cycled up from Treport along the Picarde coast, around the Somme bay and have ended up in Bercke. The sun came back out after spending a few days in hiding, so our moods were somewhat brightened. We rolled (one of us in a slightly bumpy manner) along miles and miles of flat, wide and pleasant cycle path, most of which appeared quite freshly laid. Most of it was about three times the width of your average English cycle path. Maybe it's just because it's a national holiday, but the paths seemed quite well-used. It's nice to see that, even with roads that are not too intimidating, the French are making a respectable effort to make cycling even more pleasant. Berck was very noisy and busy when we rolled into town, but mostly with people on their way out from their bank holiday weekend, and it's quietened down now. We were able to get a hotel easily, it's even got a terrace although it's a bit chilly/windy to sit out there for long.
Once again we have run out of map - we've been relying on free maps from tourist offices since Dieppe and they're actually pretty good.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Saturday 15th April - Just say GGGggrrrr to National Holidays
hel
What a day.
It rained for most of the day. My legs were tired and the bike felt sluggish. Dgym was having problems with sticky brakes and gears not shifting quite right. We stopped for lunch at Fauville only ten miles on from Bolbec, and ate camembert and ham with bread, and lovely juicy tomatoes which I'd bought at the market that morning. Dgym got his gears a bit more sorted, while I managed to scrape off enormous chunks of black stuff from my rear derailleurs. I really should have cleaned my bike before we left - the stuff was so solid, I thought it was part of the mech.
The hills rolled gently across the countryside between Le Havre and Dieppe. We have spent the past day and a half inland, cutting off the "nose" of which Le Havre is the tip. It's hillier than it was a few days ago, but not horribly so. The worst part of the day was the rain - I was pretty damp by the time we reached Dieppe and there was a lot of standing around looking at maps or getting chips, or crawling along trying to find open hotels / tourist offices, I ended up a bit cold and shivery so dgym got me out of my damp stuff into warm thermals, fleece, etc.
As dgym will tell you, we had a horrible time trying to find hotels, and very soon stopped caring whether any of them had wifi - every hotel was full. We started to consider other options - camping in a parking space, trying to get an overnight ferry to Newhaven... and eventually decided to take our chances further down the coast. We'd hoped the city would offer us the best chances of finding open stuff over the weekend, but apparently not. So we rode out of town, figuring at least out in the country there'd be a bit of grass on which to pitch a tent, if nothing else. The first town we came to had a chambre d'hotes which was closed, and a campsite which was for caravans only, and wouldn't let us pitch - but they suggested we try the one two towns away. Which we very nearly did... we reached Berneval-le-Grand, stopped off at a shop and picked up some food to keep us going, before heading off in the direction of the campsite to pitch up before it got dark, only to stumble across one final hotel... which turned out to have a room - a pretty decent cheap room too, and an excellent restaurant.
So right now we're warm and stuffed full of good food, not shivering in a dark tent with a sliced loaf and a Camembert for company.
Not quite sure where we're headed tomorrow, as we've run out of map. But we're back on the coast again, so I guess we'll just keep following it up towards Calais.
dgym
Today we cycled from Bolbec to Dieppe, and it was ok apart from the rain. I felt pretty darn sodden on the outside, including hands and face, but the waterproofs kept the rest of me dry. Hel wasn't so lucky, her jacket is old and leaky and she was quite wet by the time we got to Dieppe. After an emergency change of clothes and emergency portion of chips we were all set to find out for ourselves that there were no rooms left in any of the obvious hotels. Many of the restaurant/hotel combos havn't opened the hotel bit yet as it isn't quite the season, and the tourist office was shut by the time we got there. For that I would like to blame a very annoying hotel clerk for refusing to tell me where the tourist office was even though that hotel had no rooms and it was just two streets away. He insisted that the hotel down the road would have rooms and that I really didn't need to go anywhere else so why give me the requested directions. We later tried that hotel to find it was also full. In order to find the tourist office we had to use a cybercafe, google told us it was just around the corner from where we were 10 minutes ago. We got there just in time to see the doors get locked.
So ggrrr to people unwilling to help a person in need, ggrrr to national holidays that ensure every open hotel in an entire city is fully booked, and ggrrr for this all happening on the wettest day we have had yet.
What a day.
It rained for most of the day. My legs were tired and the bike felt sluggish. Dgym was having problems with sticky brakes and gears not shifting quite right. We stopped for lunch at Fauville only ten miles on from Bolbec, and ate camembert and ham with bread, and lovely juicy tomatoes which I'd bought at the market that morning. Dgym got his gears a bit more sorted, while I managed to scrape off enormous chunks of black stuff from my rear derailleurs. I really should have cleaned my bike before we left - the stuff was so solid, I thought it was part of the mech.
The hills rolled gently across the countryside between Le Havre and Dieppe. We have spent the past day and a half inland, cutting off the "nose" of which Le Havre is the tip. It's hillier than it was a few days ago, but not horribly so. The worst part of the day was the rain - I was pretty damp by the time we reached Dieppe and there was a lot of standing around looking at maps or getting chips, or crawling along trying to find open hotels / tourist offices, I ended up a bit cold and shivery so dgym got me out of my damp stuff into warm thermals, fleece, etc.
As dgym will tell you, we had a horrible time trying to find hotels, and very soon stopped caring whether any of them had wifi - every hotel was full. We started to consider other options - camping in a parking space, trying to get an overnight ferry to Newhaven... and eventually decided to take our chances further down the coast. We'd hoped the city would offer us the best chances of finding open stuff over the weekend, but apparently not. So we rode out of town, figuring at least out in the country there'd be a bit of grass on which to pitch a tent, if nothing else. The first town we came to had a chambre d'hotes which was closed, and a campsite which was for caravans only, and wouldn't let us pitch - but they suggested we try the one two towns away. Which we very nearly did... we reached Berneval-le-Grand, stopped off at a shop and picked up some food to keep us going, before heading off in the direction of the campsite to pitch up before it got dark, only to stumble across one final hotel... which turned out to have a room - a pretty decent cheap room too, and an excellent restaurant.
So right now we're warm and stuffed full of good food, not shivering in a dark tent with a sliced loaf and a Camembert for company.
Not quite sure where we're headed tomorrow, as we've run out of map. But we're back on the coast again, so I guess we'll just keep following it up towards Calais.
dgym
Today we cycled from Bolbec to Dieppe, and it was ok apart from the rain. I felt pretty darn sodden on the outside, including hands and face, but the waterproofs kept the rest of me dry. Hel wasn't so lucky, her jacket is old and leaky and she was quite wet by the time we got to Dieppe. After an emergency change of clothes and emergency portion of chips we were all set to find out for ourselves that there were no rooms left in any of the obvious hotels. Many of the restaurant/hotel combos havn't opened the hotel bit yet as it isn't quite the season, and the tourist office was shut by the time we got there. For that I would like to blame a very annoying hotel clerk for refusing to tell me where the tourist office was even though that hotel had no rooms and it was just two streets away. He insisted that the hotel down the road would have rooms and that I really didn't need to go anywhere else so why give me the requested directions. We later tried that hotel to find it was also full. In order to find the tourist office we had to use a cybercafe, google told us it was just around the corner from where we were 10 minutes ago. We got there just in time to see the doors get locked.
So ggrrr to people unwilling to help a person in need, ggrrr to national holidays that ensure every open hotel in an entire city is fully booked, and ggrrr for this all happening on the wettest day we have had yet.
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