Our first day in France and we have a 75 mile journey ahead of us. Yes I ache, yes my knee hurts as if I've been 'knee-capped', but at least it isn't raining.
Breakfast was typically French: bread, jam, fruit - not ideal if you are wheat intolerant, as I am. We set off at 8.00 a.m. with a strong wind against us remembering to ride on the right-hand side of the roads. We met up with the others who were staying at a different hotel and had our briefing before heading south towards Desvres and our first water-stop of the day. This is a delightful market town famous for ceramics.
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| Remember to keep right |
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| 08.14 a.m. |
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| 08.25 a.m. |
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| 08.40 a.m. |
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| 08.44 a.m. |
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| 09.38 a.m. |
We continued along the winding roads through the beautiful French countryside and along the Canche River valley.
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10.35 a.m. 11.11 a.m. |
11.29 a.m.
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| 12.26 p.m. |
We had a lunch stop near a village called Maintenay. The Artois region is amazing.
We were close to where the Battle of Agincourt
We were close to where the Battle of Agincourt
took place and the town of Hesdin has fabulous architecture.
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| 12.51 p.m. |
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| 14.06 p.m. |
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14.57 p.m. 15.10 p.m.
Arrival at Abbeville at 4.00 p.m.
Abbeville was destroyed in World War 2 in one night and is now absolutely beautiful.
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I had cycled alone today as I was feeling physically and emotionally drained. After peddling for 77 miles I was exhausted and would have swept past the Hotel Mercure had two of the Skyline reps. not called out to me . I was the first to arrive - by about 2 hours!
This hotel is beautiful, clean and comfortable
I took the opportunity to chill out in my lovely room for a while, then went for a wander around Abbeville town all on my Jack Jones and returned later for dinner with my fellow cyclists. The food was good, although there was very little that was gluten free. - I did get a complimentary glass of cider though as they forgot to serve it in the bar and then brought it to me in the restaurant.
And so to bed after another gruelling day. Tomorrow - The Somme and 70 miles of beautiful French countryside to enjoy on the next leg of the journey.
It looks a beautiful hotel to stay in, wonder if it was expensive? There seems very little traffic on the road, unless the photographs were taken when no traffic was about. The river photograph taken at 11.29 a.m. really was enjoyable. Seems as though the girl was wore out and must have been on autocue if she had to be stopped by her friend's to tell her she had arrived at her destination for the night. Thanks for the story and the photo's.
ReplyDeleteThat's French roads for you Syd - a pleasure to drive or cycle on. The next leg will be travelling along the western side of The Somme, quite close to Amiens. Thank you for reading.
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