Camino de Santiago day 4: St Jean Pied de Port - Zubiri

A very early start this time. Got some ok-ish sleep in a crowded dorm full of snorers. We now carry ear plugs whenever sleeping in shared accommodation, but somewhere in the middle of the night I seemed to have lost one, but was so tired that could not be bothered to find it.

We were sat down at the breakfast table by 6 am, where an old charming French lady had prepared a simple but plentiful breakfast for everybody. This was included in the 8 euros that we paid for the the night in the albergue municipal. The weather did not look great out of the window, with a very thick fog which had settled in the valley, but we (well, I) were so excited about crossing the Pyrinees that we did not mind it that much. Some 1300 m (~4000 feet) of climb awaited us, all in one go, just short of 23 km.

The advice from other cyclists the day before was NOT to take the walkers route (the Napoleon's route) and use the road instead (the N135). The claimed it was very steep and rough in places. We then asked the hostelero and he said it was absolutely fine, except the last bit, where we would need to walk a bit. The weather forecast was not too bad, except for the morning fog. I had read that the walkers route was much more scenic and so I sort of persuaded Lucy into taking that...While having breakfast, other peregrinos confirmed that the N135 was not the nicest road, with plenty of fast flowing traffic rushing to St Jean, so there was no doubt we would tackle the walkers path. That's why we brought the mountain bikes also, isn't it?

Lucy getting her stuff ready in the albergue's backyard

Crossing the river Nive, still smiling

On our way down the main street Rue de la Citadelle of St Jean, we waved a few other (Dutch) cyclists in touring bikes. They surely were taking the N135. Very shortly after leaving the town, we encountered the first proper hill, which had us on our lowest gear pretty much immediately! This hill was in fact the steepest of the whole climb.

First hill of many

For the first 17 km the route took us on a single-lane super quiet road where we barely saw any motorised traffic. Plenty of human traffic though, as St Jean is the start of many peregrinos! When I say plenty I really mean it, it was probably the busiest day in terms of walking peregrinos, but everyone seemed in very good spirits on the first day! No pain, no blisters, no dodgy knees. All good. Some of them were carrying incredibly bulky and heavy backpacks which no doubt they either unloaded/sent home soon after that or have someone carry them for them.

Getting over the fog, Lucy takes a rest

Coming out of the fog

Funnily enough, we seemed to be catching up with the early risers from our albergue, and sometimes went at pretty much the same speed as them with all the stopping. This in a way was good, as I kept talking to the same people on a very comfortable way as I was pedalling on a very low gear. When the climb started to flatten, we pressed on a bit, losing most of them, only to encounter even more of them that had probably set out at night. We later learnt that loads of walkers fear not getting beds at the albergues, and so set off in the middle of the night to get a head start against the rest of the pack.

At one point the Camino seemed to take on a trail (full of walkers) and so I decided to stick to the road. Because of the fog, Lucy had not seen me and started going up the trail. When I shouted at her she fell. This was one clipless moment to add to her collection! Luckily she was going at nearly no speed, so no harm done, and all the walkers immediately went to help her. The road it was then. She was now full of mud, as the rain had left plenty of puddles from a few days earlier. 

Enjoying the hills

Despite the fog it was getting warm

The road continued uphill, and we had to take it easy so that Lucy could get some rests. She did not need to walk any hills, except when we stopped, when she found it difficult to get started. In one such occasion, she even got a push from some walkers, as if she was a pro!

Eventually we reached what looked like the summit. But of course, it wasn't. Yet we had another break and some food to take in the views.

Nearly there

Beautiful road

Eventually we crested the summit, but instead of a speedy downhill, we got walking again as it was way too rocky and too packed with peregrinos. We did not see any other cyclists on the day, but got some reassurance that we had not been the only ones when we got on the trails and saw some fat tyres tracks.

Nearing the summit, shame it was overcast below us

Some more pushing required for the last few meters

A fountain on the downhill, peak time for walkers

The machacas at the summit

The downhill, once cleared of walkers, was pretty exciting. However, it felt a bit much for Lucy, having not been on a mtb for more than a handful of times, so she had to walk down some sections. I tried to teach her some of the basics, and at some point she did follow me and got a high on "mtb excitement". She actually said "I really am enjoying myself!". I was glad she was having fun on those downhills. I personally was having a re-encounter with my old days on the mountains of Madrid, going down on technical singletrack and all that. Not that we do much these days, but I just hope one day I can enjoy good trails near home. There were really nice sections through dense forests, and in no time we hit Roncesvalles.

One last, clear view, of the Spanish side before hitting the trail down to Roncesvalles

Steep downhill

Dense forests

Roncesvalles is the starting point of most Spaniards. It is a tiny little town on the Navarran side of the Pyrenees, but gets all busy with peregrinos. In fact, the albergue municipal is well known for being able to host hundreds of them in one single room. If you have seen the movie "The Way", it shows up at the very beginning.

Happy faces after having just crossed the Pyrinees

I popped into one of the restaurants to ask for a stamp on our credenciales, and asked the waitress about how hilly it was to Pamplona. I recalled the profile being mostly downhill, but I just wanted reassurance. We were not doing great with timing, as it had taken us a while to climb up and a bit more to make it down here. She said "va para abajo" meaning "it goes downhill". Good. Told Lucy and hit the path. Another cyclist from the Basque country was also starting here, and we would keep meeting up with him for the rest of the Camino.

The trail was really nice although very narrow. What we hoped it was going to be flat or downhill, turned out to be a "leg killer" or a continuous sharp up and downs that really tested our tired legs. Not only that, but also it got even more technical than ever before, with massive rocks, roots and singletrack. It was really taken its toll on Lucy, which meant more walking. I took the opportunity to chat to a walker, who turned out to be from Pamplona. He had just been made redundant in his job in finance, so had taken the opportunity to walk the Camino at slow pace to think about his next move. A nice chap, but we had to push on. He seemed very keen to learn English so it was nice to be able to give him some advice, and he even mentioned his plans to come over to the UK for a while. Lucy rode on some of the sections though, and seemed to be gaining confidence pretty quickly. "I seemed to be enjoying it" she wrote on the diary. Because of all the sudden confidence, she had a few close calls, and finally another fall, luckily at low speed. This time I even was behind her, so all good, only a cut on her knee with some blood dripping down her leg. She now looked like a proper mountain biker, full of mud, blood and a tired face! 

The path from Roncesvalles

We hit Zubiri some 50-ish km into the ride. It seemed like a pleasant town to stop, and so we decided to call it a day and check in to the most expensive (15 euros, with breakfast) albergue of the whole trip. Yes, it was nice and clean, but 2-3 times more expensive than the rest. We would be looking at cheaper options from here on.

 It was 4 pm and quite sunny. Our clothes were still wet from France, so it was an ideal time to dry them out, have a quick shower and enjoy the first day of proper good weather. The bikes too needed a good clean, as they had picked up so much mud on the downhill.

Garden of the albergue

While going around the village, we saw plenty of machacas on the roads. We later learnt that the road that passes through Zubiri is on a very common loop that people from Pamplona do as an after-work training ride. Wish I lived in such a beautiful and convenient place...

After a visit to the local groceries, we loaded up on local red wine and jamón, made our bocadillos and enjoy a quiet night chatting to other peregrinos. One of them was an American guy who seemed to have travelled the world. He was an interior designer who had worked teaching art in locations such as Kuwait. He described Kuwait as "soul-destroying", and was now living in Sri Lanka with his wife. He had also spent quite some time in México, yet his Spanish was not too good, as he spent most of his time with expats. We shared the local wines we had got from the local groceries, chatted over the horrendous weather he had on the Pyrinees and went to bed on the late side.

All in all it had been a fantastic day on the bike. For most this is the best stage of the Camino, so in a way I was feeling sad the high mountains were over. 

The stats for the day:

- Overall distance: 49.60 km

- Moving average: 8.6 km/h

- Overall average: 5.7 km/h

- Moving time: 5h 47 min

- Stopped time: 2h 54 min

- Max speed: 41.6 km/h

Camino de Santiago Day 3: St Paul les Dax - St Jean Pied de Port

We started our day with a good breakfast that we had bought the night before, making "conversation" with our fellow pilgrims, or trying to at least. We learned that Claude had been an amateur competitor and claimed to have climbed all the major cols in France. He was using a Selle Royal leather saddle that he said he's been using for 25 years! (Alberto said he hopes his Brooks will  last as long!) We also learned they were planning to turn around when they got to Santiago and cycle home again. We joked about Claude's leg muscles - actually they were really strong - hope we're as fit as him when we're 65!

Despite our pledges to be quicker in the morning, we didn't get on the road until about 8:30. We saw many signposts for the Camino along the route and knew we were getting closer to the traditional starting point for the Camino Frances. Very early on we could tell that ths stage wouldn't be as flat as the day before -- after all, we were cycling towards the Pyrenees! In Peyrehorade we encountered the first few sharp hills and could see that the terrain was pretty rolling, and very green.

Rolling hills

After Peyrehorade we saw a few walking pilgrims and then a Dutch cycling couple who we cycled with for a short time. It is easy to spot a Dutch cyclist: full Ortlieb gear, butterfly handblars, touring bikes, and dynamo hubs. They had cycled from home (obviously) and were carrying a lot of stuff! We talked about the weather the day before and they said they had taken it as a day off. For most of the morning we would pass them and then get passed by them, as we stopped for various reasons or took various wrong turns.

Dutch cyclists

We enjoyed a few minutes of sun towards midday and realised that we had reached the French Basque country as many of the road signs were in both languages. In St Palais we had our daily intake of French pastries, including a Basque cake that was very yummy. As we were heading off from the boulangerie the rain began to fall. We decided not to put our waterproofs on as the day was still quite warm, and with the rolling hills we would have been too hot. We hoped it wouldn't last too long, but in reality it rained all the way til we reached St Jean Pied de Port.

Signs in the French Basque Country

Just to keep things interesting, Alberto thought he would divert us to the proper Camino path which he could see on his GPS when we were about 20km from St Jean. We climbed a steep road and enjoyed a snack overlooking a nice vista, and then descended a steep and muddy trail with plenty of wet rocks. Alberto enjoyed it but it was a bit beyond my skill level, especially in the rain! We went back to the D road that headed straight to St Jean for the final kms, passing more and more walking pilgrims on this stretch.

Pausing to consider the wet rocks ahead.

The road into St Jean was nice and fast, but there were a few steep sections. We pressed on to keep ourselves warm as we still hadn't put our waterproofs on. About 5km before the town we diverted to the walkers' route, along quiet lanes although with steeper gradients than the main road.

In St Jean we chatted to a British/French couple who were on a tour of the Basque country (cycling) who told us that some of the albergues were already full! We headed to the Association des Amis de St Jacques which was full of Pilgrims arriving and starting their journey. They told us about the two options for crossing the Pyrenees, either on the roads or on the walkers' route, and the advantages of disadvantages of both. We decided to see how the weather was and to make our final decision in the morning. They also had an albergue - 8 euros for bed and breakfast.

At the gate to St Jean Pied de Port

We had a well-needed shower (our first of the trip!) and did some laundry. We had to hang our clothes all over the bunk bed as it was too wet to hang them outside. Alberto cleaned the bikes in the garden of the albergue, which overlooks the road heading in to St Jean. He looked down and glimpsed Claude and Gerard cycling into town! We kept an eye out for them that evening in town but never did find them. We did see one of the Dutch cyclists from Peyrehorade. They had arrived about an hour after us and were staying in the campground just outside of town.

In the garden of the albergue

St Jean Pied de Port

We went for a walk to find some dinner. Although the town was very cute, it was quite touristy and expensive. We eventually settled on Chez Edouard, which had one of the cheapest pilgrim's menus (12.50 for three courses and wine) which was actually pretty good.

After making some sandwiches to take with us for the climb and chatting with some Spaniards in the albergue, we went to bed amidst snores and funny smells. We were now officially on the Camino Frances and tomorrow we'd cross the Pyrenees and enter Spain.

Stats for the day:
Odometer: 91km
Moving time: 5 hours 20 minutes
Stopped time: 1 hour 43 minutes
Moving average: 17 kph
Overall average: 12.9 kph
Max speed: 54.2 kph

Camino de Santiago Day 2: Gradignan - St Paul les Dax

We got some much needed rest and did not wake up once -- I guess we were tired after our adventure at Gatwick. We ate some breakfast (yogurt, biscuits, and bread which we had purchased the night before) and waved goodbye to Gerard and Maripol. It took us almost an hour and a half to leave in the morning - we vowed to improve this!

We waited until the last minute before putting our rainproofs on. We were trying to be optimistic. It turned out to rain non-stop for the entire 9 hours we spent on the bikes. It was quite warm though, and for most of the day the rain was misty rather than heavy droplets - still gets you wet but not as bothersome to ride in.

We headed out on the D1010 from Gradignan which was quite busy, but then we realised it was rush hour and we were still quite close to Bordeaux. We didnt pass any pilgrims so figured there might be a trail somewhere, but it's not that well signposted in France and we had our gpx route, so we stuck to that. It turned out to be the official road route of the Camino most of the time anyway.

Sign for the Camino

The first town we went through was Le Barp, still on the early side of morning. This was where Gerard and Maripol were planning on stopping tonight! It gave us a real appreciation for how much more distance we'd cover on the bike.

Soon after Le Barp, we entered the Gascogne national park, which we cycled through for most of the rest of the day. There were lots of pine trees and beautiful roads, but at sometimes quite dull, with 10km of straight, flat road surrounded by identical looking pine trees. On one such section we saw two pilgrims walking alongside the road. They were the only pilgrims we'd see this day, but it was exciting to feel that we weren't the only one travelling on this route to Santiago, more than 1,000km away.

Straight, flat roads

We made sure to get some croissants and assorted goodies before the boulangeries shut. Cheap, yummy, and good fuel for pedalling - pretty much the perfect bike touring snack!

It continued to rain. Non stop. Heavy at times. Sometimes with a crosswind, often with a headwind. This actually was probably a good thing as we had a lot of km to cover and the rain meant we didn't stop very much.

About 110km into the route we went through L'Esperon, which was one of the places we thought we might stop if we couldn't make it all the way to Dax. It was too early for that, so we pressed on to Taller (also a prospective stopping point). We stopped just before Taller to try and call the albergue in St Paul les Dax and make sure we'd be able to stay there. They didn't speak any English but Alberto was able to communicate to them in rudimentary French and we ascertained (we hoped) that it wouldn't be a problem for two pèlerins a vèlo to stay the night.

More rain. And wind. Honestly, more than I can ever remember cycling in. After our phone chat, we thought we'd follow the road that was signposted for Dax -- big mistake. The D947 was full of traffic, including lots of big trucks. With the rain and low visibility, it really was not a nice road to be on. I remembered that I had read advice on a forum advising pilgrims to avoid the D947 which seems like a very tempting option. That would have been useful to remember a few minutes earlier!

Alberto re-routed us to the D140 and we pressed on to St Paul les Dax under the rain. Luckily had no trouble finding the albergue, which was across the road from the church. We arrived at the church and a french lady who was there showing some people the church told us it was across the road.

The albergue consisted of two rooms - one with a kitchennette/dining table and a bunk bed, and another with several bunk beds. The showers and toilets were located in a separate building very close by. When we got there, two cyclists had just arrived, Paul and Claude (both in their 60s!). A younger guy, Leo (20 years old) told us that the hospitalero had gone to do some shopping and would be back soon.

Albergue in St Paul les Dax

A few minutes later, Pierre arrived. He had pretty good Spanish so we were able to communicate pretty well with him. He had bought food for us and also said that we could pick some lettuce from a little vegetable patch next to the albergue! We talked with Pierre for a while and asked him about other albergues on the route that were similar to his. He was really nice and kind, offering all kinds of advice, before heading home for the evening.

We walked to the supermarket to pick up some ingredients for dinner and some French wine. When we returned, the other guys were making some instant noodles, but soon one of the guys, who apparently is a chef or else really loves to cook, decided to cook the pasta we had brought with tomatoes that were already in the albergue -- I don't think he could bear to see us use a bottled sauce.

So in the end we all ate the spaghetti and tomato sauce together, with salad from the garden and a homemade mustard vinaigrette made by Leo. Conversation was difficult as only Leo spoke any English and of course our French is pretty nonexistent, but it was a pleasant meal and a really nice atmosphere. Leo told us that he normally sleeps in his tent, but last night had had an encounter with a forest pig where the pig tried to get into the tent in the middle of the night! Adter that he was a little freaked out so he was staying for one night in an albergue -- it was donativo (pay what you want/are able to) anyway. Leo had started from his home in Brittany and had walked for a month already. The cyclists told us of their plan that once they reach Santiago, they will turn around and cycle home!

Our dining companions

Alberto and I slept in the main room with the one bunk bed, which the hospitalero had given to us so that I could have some privacy. We went to bed knowing that this would likely be our last night of intimate dinners with our few fellow pilgrims as were were heading to the major starting point of the camino, St Jean Pied de Port, the following day.

The stats for day 2:

• Odometer: 153 km
• Moving time: 7h39m
• Stopped time: 1h05m
• Moving average: 20.1 kph
• Overall average: 17.5 kph
• Max speed: 37.2 kph

Camino de Santiago Day 1: London - Bordeaux - Gradignan

We woke up on the floor of Gatwick Airport, having traveled with our bike boxes the night before in order to arrive in time for our 7am flight to Bordeaux. After some last minute taping of the bike boxes (which each weighed 20-21 kg) we were on our way! Looking out the window before takeoff, we were happy to see our bike boxes being loaded onto the plane. At least we knew they'd get to Bordeaux with us!

Bikes being loaded onto the plane

We assembled our bikes under the watchful eye of the French army who seemed to find something suspicious about two people spending over an hour fidgeting with large packages... but about 90 minutes later we were ready to start our journey.

We cycled out of the airport and were surprised by cycle lanes pretty much all the way into Bordeaux. We had targeted the train station (Gare de St Jean) as our destination as we knew there was a tourist information office there. After grabbing a quick bite we went to the tourist office as we had read online that we might be able to buy our pilgrim's credencial (needed to sleep in all the albergues, or pilgrim's refuges, on the route) there. This did not prove to be accurate, but the woman at the office did confirm the existence of the Priory du Cayac in Gradignan which we had also read about online. That was reassuring as we hadn't been able to see anything looking like a pilgrim's hostel on google street view! She said we'd be able to get our credencial there but that no one would be in before 3:30. As it was only abut 1:00 we headed into the old town of Bordeaux to do a bit of sightseeing under rainy skies.

We entered historic Bordeaux through the gate of St Jacques (aka St James aka Santiago) and saw our first signs about the Camino. After snacking on some macaroons we decided to head south to Gradignan, about 10km away, as the rain began to pick up. We never quite relaxed while in Bordeaux, I think we were kind of on edge until we found the albergue and confirmed we could sleep there.

St Jacques Gate

Information about the Camino in Bordeaux

Despite not having seen it on street view, the Priory was actually quite obvious when we arrived in Gradignan. It's a massive group of buildings from the 1200s - some of the buildings are in ruins while others are still going strong. The refuge was located in a building that had been redone on the inside - it featured a large main room with a large table and a kitchenette, a bedroom with bunkbeds to sleep 10 or 12 people, and rooms with toilets / showers / sinks.

The Priory du Cayac at Gradignan

Statue of St James outside the priory

On arrival, we were greeted by two members of the Amis de St Jacques who issued us with a credencial (5 euros) and showed us around the accommodation (10 euros). We had read that this was a donation-based refuge so were surprised at the price - but the place was very clean and nice, and our hosts were extraordinarily kind. They spoke only very basic English but still made the effort to engage with us, and when they were leaving they offered to drive us to the supermarket so that we wouldn't have to walk in the rain (and lent us an umbrella for the way back!). They are volunteers so left to go home at about 6pm - leaving us and our fellow pilgrims with instructions on how to lock up in the morning. When they left they gave us two kisses on the cheek as if they were saying goodbye to good friends.

We shared the refuge with a french couple, Gerard and Maripol, who really only know a few works of English. We managed to get by with hand gestures and a few words of French and English. It helps when there are really only so many things you could be asking about! They were from a small town between Paris and Bordeaux and had already been walking for two weeks when we met them. They had planned for the whole journey to take about 2 months. We each cooked separate meals of pasta, and later they did our dishes as well as their own! I tried to get up from writing in the journal to do some of the cleaning but the woman told me to keep writing. I had seen earlier that she takes her journalling very seriously, so I guess that's why she felt so strongly about it for me.

We headed to bed at about 9pm, tired from our airport adventure the night before and looking forward to what the rest of the trip had in store for us.

The stats for the day:
Odometer: 28.97 km
Moving average: 14.7 kph
Overall average: 10.6 kph
Time on bike: 1h58m
Max speed: 36.4 kph

France and Belgium Tour, day 4

The fourth, and last, day of our tour was meant to take us from Lens back to Dunkirk, where we would catch the ferry back to the island. It looked like a boring day on the map, going through pretty grim areas of northern France. But quite a few things happened.

We had ended up in a random hotel (appropriately named Lens-otel) on the outskirts of Lens. Bad planning the day before, together with some nasty weather and a late start, had found us going round in loops with nowhere to sleep. Although I would have fancied some more adventure, maybe even some wild camping, Lucy treated us to a comfy bed for the night. At 9 am we were back on our bikes, heading straight off out of town in search for the first boulangerie. The route we initially planned looked as below, although we diverted many times due to unpaved roads which were unsuitable for Lucy's skinny tyres.



Being a bank holiday Monday, we feared that not much would be open. But this was France with its fantastic boulangeries. We found the first one along the D937 road, a somewhat busy stretch of road, but with French drivers (that makes a huge difference compared to their British and/or Spanish counterparts!!!). Stocked up on food and carried on for a little while. Shortly afterwards we found an open-air market, where we took advantage of some of the free samples.

Monday market

We then carried on West, again along the D937, where we past various British cemeteries from WWI. Lucy informed me that they're not only Brits buried there, but soldiers from the commonwealth countries. Soon enough we were back in country lanes, where rain started and did not stop until pretty much back in London. With the cold and the rain we tried to keep up the speed a little so that we can get to the ferry port in good time. On one of the bends I nearly fell down due to a patch of grease or something very very slippery on the road. I was so glad I had thick tyres and a load of weight on my rear wheel. I timidly shouted "wooowww" to kind of let Lucy know that I almost fell over. But when I turned my head back I saw her falling in a split second. Her skinny 23 mm tyres did not have any grip on that, and so she had her first crash of the tour.

One of many British cemeteries

Somewhat reminded me of Arlington, in the US

Luckily we were travelling at low speed on this bend, and it was not too bad except some bruises. Not too far after this, a second incident struck. A French dog started chasing me. Not really knowing what to do I accelerated, but he kept up and threatened to bite. As I was about to kick him in the nose, he stopped. But then it was Lucy. She stopped when the doggy came up to her and got bitten. Again, luck was with us on the day, and the stupid dog could not bite past her three or four layers of lycra. That was a relief. We need to learn what to do when being chased by a dog, most definitely. After all this stress, we deserved a break in true audax style. Or even better, as we found shelter in a little chapel in the countryside.

Sheltering away from the rain and cold

The ride from here on followed quiet roads all the way into Dunkirk. Despite the rain and wind, I seemed to enjoy this section quite a lot. Lucy had to provide some help being in the front of our peloton, as with all the weight and the heavy bike, I could not travel very fast. Still, I felt that I was working quite hard, while she was just pedalling completely effortlessly. On this trip, the roles had been swapped around completely. I was being the slow one.

Our bikies in tour mode

The very last 20 km of our tour involved some strong winds and yet more heavy rain. We got soaked and cold, and had to stop once again for food. Another boulangerie did an ok job at providing more calories and some rest. From then on we worked hard against the wind to try and keep ourselves warm. As we headed to Dunkirk, the last bit we had the pleasure of a tailwind, which pushed us along all the way to the port. We made it back at 4:45 pm, although our ferry crossing was not due until 8 pm.

Although we did try to exchange our tickets for an earlier ferry, the staff were not especially friendly and informed us that it was not possible. Two Scots on a very fancy Honda Goldwing and a trailer had the same problem, so spent some time chatting to them. I also made a decision: when I am old and unable to cycle, I will get one of these Hondas. All those hours past relatively quickly with some French sausage that we had carried as "emergency fuel", together with some french baguette.

Drying out at Dunkirk port

Our ride was almost finished, but due to the rough conditions in the English channel, we also missed our fast train connection to London, and ended up on a very slow train which got us home at almost 2 am. More than 10 hours after we had arrived in Dunrkirk. It was not an ideal day on the bike, but looking back at it now, I think we did very well and am now looking forward to our next trip. Hopefully in the Scottish Highlands sometime soon. Also, my brand new Brooks saddle seems to be getting more comfortable day after day. Not sure if this is psychological or not, but after the first two days of painful saddle sores, I found it quite comfy past the 4-5 h mark!

On the ferry back to the UK

The stats for the trip:

- Overall km: 426 split into 111, 137, 70 and 109 km days

- We did not count the hours nor the other usual data, but at an average of 18 km/h we spent about 7 hours each day pedalling. 

France and Belgium Tour, Day 3

On the morning of Day 3 of our France and Belgium tour we got up at a liesurely 9am--we knew we could have a relaxed morning as we were getting ready to go see Paris-Roubaix only 10 or 15 km away from our campsite. We ate our breakfast, showered, wrote in our journal, and let our tent dry out after it had again rained overnight. Soon it was time to leave to make sure we made it to the race before any of the pros did!

Campsite in St Amand Les Eaux

Alberto writing in the journal in the warmth of the tent

Alberto has already posted about the great fun we had watching Paris-Roubaix. Once it was over, at about 2:30pm, we pressed on as we knew we still had a good amount of ground to cover. We were still in Paris-Roubaix country, which we could tell by the massive tent in a field that was showing the race to maybe 200 people or more.

The first portion of our route continued through the natural park. We happened upon an open restaurant serving the park users and decided to stop, considering that it was Easter Sunday and we weren't sure how many opportunities we'd have to get food!

After some croque monsieurs we were on the road again towards Lens. The route on this day wasn't ideal - the area around Lens is fairly built-up and busy - but we hadn't been able to find any other suitable stopping point for our third night that would leave us with a short enough day on our last day to be able to catch the ferry. After passing through Auby, we decided to follow a D road directly into the center of Lens rather than taking the GPS route we had plotted, which diverted to the south to avoid the built-up area. There was a cycle lane, and we figured we'd get to Lens faster that way.

Well, the cycle lane disappeared a few kms later so we were on the road, back to urban riding. Fortunately the drivers in France are much more respectful than they are in London. One benefit of this route was that it took us past an open boulangerie, so we stopped quickly for some cakes and then headed on to Lens.

This was the only night where we hadn't found a campsite ahead of time - we just figured we'd be able to ask around and find a campsite or a cheap hotel once we got there. Well, long story short, this didn't happen, and as the skies darkened and a heavy cell of rain began to fall, we checked into an three star hotel on the outskirts of Lens for far more than we wanted to pay!

This is where our hotel was

The hotel was in an industrial wasteland which also featured a Flunch, a fast food restaurant that Alberto remembered from his childhood - so we ate dinner there and then enjoyed our night of relative luxury.

The stats for day 3: 76 km, 16.1 kph moving average (this has a lot to do with the urban riding and wandering around Lens looking for a place to sleep!)

France and Belgium Tour, Day 2

On day two of our cycle tour in France and Belgium started with the now-familiar sound of rain on the roof of our tent. We tried our trick of going back to sleep and lo and behold, the rain had stopped by about 9am! We packed up the tent, at a small snack, and rode back through Bruges, turning along a canal and heading south.



About 10km later, we reached the town of Oostkamp, where we decided to stop for a coffee. As we sat down at the cafe, we realised it was nearly 12, so we decided to have lunch as well. The staff spoke very little English but we managed to have a  really yummy meal before getting started again. With still well over 100km to go, we were anxious to make a real start.

We enjoyed cycling through Belgium's quiet country lanes and even some of it's bigger roads, which, almost universally, had amazing, separated cycle lanes. We seemed to be flying along much faster than on Day 1. We took a wrong turn and had to retrace our steps, and we realised why -- we had a tailwind! That was good news considering we had a relatively long day ahead of us.

Quiet roads south of Oostkamp

Late in the afternoon, we were cycling along a D road in the cycle lane, when we noticed a few cars with bikes on the top fly past us, followed by a police motorcycle. We decided to pull over, and a few minutes later a cycle race came flying past!

Unnanounced machacas

We stood and watched the race go by for a few minutes. There weren't any teams that we recognised but they were clearly at least semi-professional. I guess that's just what happens in Belgium! We carried on to Sint Denijs where we stopped for some cakes at a bakery, and ate them sitting in a bus shelter, in true audax style! We were really enjoying the ride by this time, as we had a few more hills to break up the miles and some cute towns to admire as we passed.

We had been cycling roughly parallel to the French border for much of the day, and we finally crossed the border near Callenelle at around 6pm. We knew we'd be cutting it fine to make sure we got food and reached camp before dark, but we were enjoying riding through a Natural Park area and got our first taste of the pavé (cobblestones) that we had travelled to this region to see.

Crossing into France!

We stopped at a supermarket in Mortagne du Nord where Alberto went in to pick up some dinner items while I watched the bikes. He came back out with a week's worth of shopping! I have no idea how we managed to carry it all, luckily it was only 5km or so.

Not amused by my new cargo!

Before we knew it we had arrived at our campsite outside of St Amand Les Eaux, just in time to set up camp in the fading light. We enjoyed our store-bought dinner and drifted off to sleep.

The stats for day two: 137km over 7 hours and 15 minutes of moving time (and 1:45 stopped time); a moving average of 18.9 kph.