Pastures new...

Our last evening in Vienna is spent in Prater amusement park. It may not be Disneyland
but it has been going since 1766 and boasts the world's highest Chairoplane (117m). All the thrill seeking youngsters are screaming on giant contraptions that fling them hundreds of feet into the air then sick-makingly spin them upside down. The more sedate Ferris Wheel has been around since 1895, looking just like the London Eye but with old railway carriages instead of pods. Nothing on earth would persuade us to go on any of the attractions but the atmosphere is brilliant and the ice cream fabulous.


The cycle path is just around the corner from the hotel so we are soon on out way, avoiding the morning Nordic walkers, and entering the Lobau area of trees
and ponds. It is not long before we realise this is a naturists' area, with hundreds of retirees topping up their vitamin D. Whilst trying not to cast our eyes to either side we miss our turning and go down a dead end. If we had not got lost though, we would not have met a lovely elderly German on his wonderful repro penny-farthing! (I did take a photo and hopefully I will be able to post the camera pics on the blog sometime before we get back - meanwhile it's just a few iPhone shots.)
The ride is very easy up on the top of the dyke, lined with flowers and busy with butterflies. We chat with the first touring cyclists we had seen for days, 3 Lancashire blokes who had hired their bikes in Passau and are heading for Budapest.
It seems bizarre but by lunch we are arriving at the next Capital city, as the high-rise buildings and old castle of Bratislava come into view. We can't resist booking into the floating hotel, a old river cruise boat converted to a restaurant and hotel, moored near the old city centre.


As we only have one afternoon and evening here we are restricted to wandering the ancient centre squares and search out the quirky St Elizabeth church, a fine example of Art Deco, outside like blue icing sugar, and even with blue pews and a matching blue rectory - what a fun place to worship!





Evening brings out two bands on to the street , a great 8 piece jazz band and a rock band. We learn a new country flag today - Slovakia.





Miles to date 1,845

Location:VIENNA to BRATISLAVA

Vienna & beyond...

The only other cyclists in the Tulln campsite are a French couple who have cycled from W France and are heading to Istanbul. An over-friendly chicken's loud clucking wakes us at daylight.
We have a very easy day scheduled and clock up only 30 miles as we cycle through VIENNA on the Danube canal, cross over to the river and book into a cool modern hotel for 2 days sightseeing. The bikes are stowed in the luggage store.
It is the hottest day so far. Some children are still on summer solstice hols, so there are lots of families, boating, cycling or just sunbathing. The Danube is a mile wide here with an island in the middle.
The old centre of the city is based around their Cathedral and St Peter's church. The latter has a massive, gravity defying, dome and is sumptuously
decorated internally with elaborate carving and gold leaf.


It is easy to visit all the city sights, hopping on and off the frequent underground or trams, or the bike scheme, free for the first hour. You could easily spend a week here but as we only have allowed one and a half days, we select the History of Art Museum (fantastic collection of Holbein, Titian, Van Dyck, Brueghel, Canelletto, Rubens etc etc) and heaven at the new Albertina art exhibition featuring Matisse, Monet, Picasso, Miro, Schiele and their mates.


The Market (like La Ramblas in Barcelona) is a great place to people watch and we pick up a welcome newsy email from Ian Glendinning at a wifi hotspot nearby.
The city is full of little restaurants that spill onto the pavements in the warm evening, and hundreds of local chic shops, none of the global giants.

Location:TULLN to VIENNA

Waltzing to Vienna...

We are early at the hamlet of RUTZING so are cycling around, sightseeing, when our hostess Greti cycles past and guessing who we are, leads us home. She and husband Peter live in a large part of a farm and outbuildings that is divided into 3 homes, the other 2 parts are occupied by 2 couples. They have been friends 30 years. Greti also walks with us to the next hamlet where she was born, to show us her late aunt's home. They have just restored this beautiful C18 "fisher" house. It was specially built with hanging space for the fishing nets used in the nearby river. They keep 10 sheep for a hobby in the attached barn and orchard - one is black.


We discover that it was Gretis birthday yesterday and it is mine tomorrow, so an impromptu party develops with the extended family. We start around an open fire in their cherry orchard, then move to Monica's courtyard where much wine and her homemade liquors are consumed by candlelight. We sing Beatles songs, and at midnight I am sung happy birthday in 2 languages! A perfect evening.


Greti and Peter send us off next day with a fine breakfast, and a packed lunch. We head generally east to return to the Donau, taking in the sumptuous St Florian Abbey en route. Looking south are clear views of the imposing Alps. The Wachau valley is famous for the steep vineyards and the towns have increasingly grand castles and monasteries. There are lots of walnut trees and apricot orchards. Near MELK is a modern nuclear power station, that was built not long before an Austrian referendum rejected the use of nuclear power, so it is redundant!
We are surprised to find that smoking is still allowed in bars and restaurants - it seems that Austria has not enacted the strict anti-smoking laws of other EU countries.
We have crossed a good number of wooden bridges spanning the tributaries feeding the main river. This one pictured is reputed to be the longest one in northern Europe.


We are now at TULLN, a half day's ride from Vienna.


GPS missing some bits again, but our route followed the thin red line at these times. Miles to date 1,763

Location:RUTZING to

Into Austria...

The only other visitors in the village of Waltendorf are a pair of touring cyclists from Stuttgart, staying in a room nearby. They join us for dinner and a few beers on the farm terrace. Our new best friend is the farm half-grown St Bernard who licks our toes or sits on our feet at every chance. After dinner a campervan arrives for the night but the occupiers stay hermetically sealed in their home-from-home. A stroll around the hamlet reveals that every house and farm is immaculately neat and have their own small orchard running with hens of all colours and sizes.
By mid morning we are at the large town of DEGGENDORF, where lots of other tourers appear including a young family with 4 children (mum with trailer for baby, dad on tandem with energetic small boy and 2 other youngsters on their own bikes with panniers piled high!). At VILSHOFEN we don't know whether to choose the route on the north or south bank as both apparently end up on the only busy roads we have had to encounter so far. We feed the ducks and watch passing barges as we determine which path most others follow; it's the North bank. What luck! After a couple of miles following this we realise a new cycle path has been built, by-passing all the traffic, taking us along the river edge or through wheat fields. The heat is energy sapping by mid afternoon, so at every biergarten there are bikes hurled to one side as thirsty tourers seek shade under big umbrellas. At one such spot we pick up an email from Don, who is apparently ready to pack his panniers and join us! He'd be very welcome.
Into PASSAU over a large lock that a commercial barge is negotiating then a narrow foot bridge at the power plant. Here a well endowed young "lady" is posing topless for a glamour shoot. Mike does well not to fall off his bike.
It's a public holiday, Corpus Christi, so the streets are blissfully empty of traffic. As we arrive at the Cathedral, a religious procession emerges of churchgoers and all the local dignitaries who parade through the city, stopping every so often to pray, and fire a cannon (?).
Lining the river are at least 10 river cruise boats, the posh ones with views of the colourful ceremony in the town centre, the less expensive ones moored looking at Lidl's. As we leave the city, we notice the confluence of the Inn with the Donau. The Inn has flowed NE from the alps, and brings with it that typical alpine river colour of sage green. This dominates the water for the next few miles.
When I threw myself off my bike the other day I bent a chain link, which has caused the chain to jump off a few times, so out of the city we find a quiet spot for Mike to replace the link - a filthy job - thank goodness for wetwipes.
Soon after Passau we enter AUSTRIA, passing a disused concrete sentry box. We are now entering the gorge, where the widened river takes up all the room, so we have to take a 20 minute bicycle ferry ride around a bend, where the river doubles back on itself through steeply wooded sides - the Schlongen Loop.


Our next major city is LINZ which is a very busy place with frequent trams and trolley buses replacing cars in the cobbled centre, and boasting 2 Cathedrals. We loved the really old quarter where narrow alleys are lined by tall old houses, many with faded murals. Apparently Mozart and Kepler lived here. At a large bike shop the busy owner found time to fix our loosening pedals straight away.
Now the GPS takes us a direct route south through the suburbs and to Warm Showers hosts Greti and Peter who live in a lovely large restored village farm house at RUTZING.
(Map & miles on next blog)

Location:WALTENDORF to RUTZING

Towards Passau...

As Saturday is our 10th wedding anniversary, we have already identified the best hotel in Dilligen, but did not expect to arrive looking quite so dishevelled after our VERY wet day, so we pause around the corner from the hotel to change out of our mud caked shoes. We ruin several wedding photos of the young lady who is holding her reception there by strolling through her party in our filthy state. It takes us 2 hours and gallons of hot water before we are presentable enough to enter the posh dining room for a lovely dinner.
The rain eases off in the morning and after pigging out on the breakfast buffet, we amble across the plains. At one group of farm buildings there is a Market in full swing, selling geese, ducks, chickens, rabbits and bric a brac. As we arrive, 2 men stagger away, pleased with their purchase of a tin bath.


About high tea time we spot our postgrads (Salman and Helen) who are brewing tea under a tree. We share a tea bag and meet up later at the camp site at INGOLSTADT.
The Danube is very wide now with raised banks down either side.


The water is very high following the heavy rain. This doesn't bother all the little coot chicks and geese which feed amongst the masses of yellow water lilies. Farming villages line the route, VOHBURG probably the prettiest, with towers and steep tile roofs, but with all the streets cobbled we weary of all the bumping.
We wonder what the really tall crop all around is and read in "The Danube BikeTrail" guide that this is the biggest area of hops in the world. I wonder what they make with that then!
At KELHEIM a large round tower dominates the town from a hill - it is the Hall of Liberation, built by King Ludwig 1 to honour those who died liberating the area from Napoleon.
We see the first big working barges as we approach REGENSBURG, a large historic town, so the camp right by the bike path has attracted at least 20 pairs of touring cyclists and, from the sample we spoke to, all are either German or Dutch.
We are up early to visit the historic centre before it gets too busy, admiring the ancient stone bridge and the cathedral. As Mike has had to pull his belt in 2 notches since we set out I find a street-sausage-sandwich-seller to provide his second breakfast.
We spot another of Ludwig 1's grand buildings, dominating the sky line at WORTH. This one is Walhalla, a Hall of Fame of great Germans. An eye-catching White Parthenon of a building, up an awful lot of steps, so I have to report that we could not muster the enthusiasm to see who was honoured inside.
We sit in a village bus shelter for our lunch sandwich as it is so hot in the midday sun, and watch all the other tourers whizzing past. One pair are on a tandem pulling a trailer, with their small dog happily watching the world from a wicker basket on the rear bike rack. It is a lovely easy run on flat dedicated cycle paths with views to the left of the Bayerischer Wald (mountain range). We camp at a farm in the hamlet of WALTENDORF, between raspberries and cabbages with fabulous views of the forested mountain range.


Miles to date 1,501

Location:DILLINGEN to WALTENDORF

Downhill all the way...

The valley has widened out now so the cycle route is very flat, meandering across the plain of wheat fields, with plenty of good views of hunting red kites and large strolling storks. There are loads of other touring cyclists following this route, though no other Brits yet. One family keep up with us, a mum and 2 kids. The little one only about 7 yet is carrying 2 bulging panniers! We catch up with a young couple with a kiddy-trailer. They are keen cyclists from Freiburg and have their 6 month old daughter with them, sleeping through the journey. We asked about their route from Freiburg, but sensibly, they took the train and so avoided our tortuous climb.
By mid afternoon the heat is getting to us so we pause for a beer at MUNDERKINGEN. This is typical of the many small towns we have passed through, monastic buildings, a Rathaus decorated with geraniums and halftimber houses with very steep, tiled roofs.


As we leave the town, the route takes us to a Donau bridge. Unfortunately they have decided to shut the bridge for repairs, so we are left stranded on the wrong side. Looking over the river beside the bridge we see they have considerately installed a temporary pedestrian/cycle bridge lower down the bank, but no sign of how to reach it! With the assistance of a local lad we find a set of steps between the bankside houses, where some planks have been fixed to help wheel bikes down - across at last!
We camp at a 'Gasthaus Camping' that we spot as we enter the village of ERSINGEN. Eating in their restaurant, we witness the gathering of the local drinkers club. They consume considerable amounts of beer before an accordionist appears and we are treated to an evening of beer-drinking songs! Despite consuming yet more Steins, they climb aboard their various forms of transport (bikes, tractors, and a mercedes) and drive off !


The Gasthaus is part of a large farm, and we are the only campers in the orchard between a paddock of ponies and a huge barn of beef cattle. We are woken in the night by the heaviest squally rain our poor little tent has had to contend with, but by morning it has blown dry. Our farmer cycles past waving a big cattle rod at his herd as he takes them down the cycle route to pasture.
We stop at Ulm to wander round the Saturday Market, admire the cathedral then set off along the river bank. It starts to rain, we get lost in a wood and then I fall off! I am ok but muddy, and my poor bike needs sorting as I have managed to get the chain off and caught between the back cog and the rear stay. We shelter in a handy barn to fix the bike and eat lunch, then carry on in the persistent rain, soon coming across 2 young cyclists sheltering in a bus shelter. They were a pair of post-grads from Manchester Uni heading to Budapest. We travelled on to DILLINGEN together.


Miles to date 1,330

Location:SIGMARINGEN to DILLINGEN

Towards the Danube...

Soon we had to join the only road over the pass, at 721m. Although we had lorries passing it was not too busy, and they were pretty slow because of the hairpin bends. At the valley bottom the GPS found us a quiet route of farm lanes as we headed out across a flat plain towards the Rhine. Pausing because of a route barree, I stopped a passing cyclist for advice. He kindly took us all the way through a lovely wood and pointed out the bridge we needed. Although he spoke no English, we learnt he is 70, he cycles every day and he has 9 grandchildren!
We took a shortcut, on stony tracks, through corn fields, and were soaked twice by giant crop sprinklers.
To celebrate 1000miles up and reaching the Rhine we booked into a lovely Gasthaus in the village of Feldkirch and indulged in Rumpsteaks the size of large dinner plates. During a walk around the village after dinner, we discovered it consisted entirely of potato farms!
There was a well marked cycle route through Freiburg with commuters coming into work on bikes. After 20miles the valley route disappeared and we were forced to climb a very steep road that soon deteriorated into a very rough track. To make matters worse our way was then blocked and rather than return, we took an even higher mountain track.


We had eaten breakfast at 200m and had lunch at 1300m! Eventually we were the top and then in a hurry as we had rather rashly arranged to meet our Swiss friend Martin between 4 and 5 at Donauschingen. We arrived, worn out, with 5 mins to spare. It was great to catch up with his news over a local noodle dish and enormous ice creams. Later in the evening we went to the local Warm Showers host. We knew Sabine was on her hols, but she had invited us to camp on her lawn anyway, and her sister, who lives nearby, looked after us, including providing a most welcome pot of Tetleys tea.
The cycle route down the Danube is very popular so we meet lots of other cyclists and walkers as we proceed down the easy track. A couple of times storms amble across in front of us. In places the gorge gets very narrow and we pass under sheer limestone cliffs. The Danube disappears for a large section (known as the sinks) as it is swallowed by the permeable limestone.


As we approach Sigmaringen we have to take cover in a cafe as the heavens open and thunder and lightening follow. It doesn't last long. We camp along side other touring cyclists including an American and a German family.


Miles to date 1,174

Location:Bussang to Sigmaringen

Towards the Rhine...

A pair of young Australian touring cyclists arrive at our camp in Verdun, on serious Kona touring bikes. They are on their way from Amsterdam to Paris. We leave before they are up, to tour the memorials in the forested high hills east of Verdun. In the surrounding fields the old trench lines can still be clearly made out, and where the woods line the road, a glance to either side reveals the remnants of shell craters between the trees. The most impressive of the many memorials is the Ossuaire De Douaumont where 15000 simple white crosses, each representing a French soldier, sweep down the hill. The monument contains
a chapel and a gracious colonnaded space,
honouring a staggering 130000 unknown fallen soldiers. The year long battle in Verdun must have been a hell.
As we come down off the hill on our way to Nancy, we pass memorials showing where villages were completely wiped from the map.
We halve the journey to Nancy, stopping at a campsite in forested hills. It seems a quiet idyll, full of bunnies, until the peace is shattered by what sounds like a plane landing bedside our tent. We had failed to notice the TGV passing close by on a bridge through the tree tops. Fortunately it turns out they do not run overnight. The next day is a blissful classic cycle route down a road through a river valley surrounded by wooded hills, which then joins Moselle. Coming the other way is a convoy of a dozen Morgans, all with their lids down as the drivers enjoy the early morning sunshine.The villages now are rendered cottages with tiled roofs and great stacks of logs outside. Each bridge we cross was destroyed by the retreating Germans in 1944.
We pause at the large town of Pont a Mousson to buy provisions. The ancient colonnaded central square is filled with a fair and the side streets were overflowing with market stalls. It is a very jolly bustle with every spare inch taken up with cafe tables thronging with folks enjoying the Saturday morning sunshine. We are delighted to pick up an email from cycling Steph, in their WiFi hotspot. Mike has done a great job keeping the iPhone charged with the front dynamo and solar panels.
There is an easy tarmaced cycleway into Nancy. We are astounded by the gorgeous ancient centre, especially Stanislas Place, gloriously restored to its 18th century glory. We cannot think of a better square anywhere in N Europe, it is surrounded by a museum, cafes and the Hotel de Ville. Wedding photos are being taken of a couple posing on the gilded balcony, with onlookers cheering from below. The square is full of other activities too; cyclists, Nordic walkers, roller-bladers, and promenaders.
Our "Warm Showers host" this evening is Marie, a dentist, who lives in an apartment not far from the centre. She arrives home from work and we get to know each other over a cup of tea on her large terrace which overlooks the cityscape. It soon becomes obvious that Marie is a marvellous cook, not only preparing a lovely evening meal, of local ingredients and dishes, but she also sends us on our way next day with mouthwatering chocolate buns for our elevenes.
The 55 miles to Epinal are all easy, either down the side of a canal or the river Moselle. As it is Sunday there are people out enjoying fishing, cycling or just strolling. There are lots of locks being negotiated by pleasure craft.




The following day is another holiday so there are no lorries on the road. There are few shops open so the first boulangerie we find that isn't closed is very busy, with 2 bakers working flat out trying to keep up with demand, steam billowing out of the windows. The rest of the cycle is so peaceful, up a valley, former railway, cycle route. It all looks very Swiss now; wide-eaved houses with enormous piles of logs for fuel. There is a big problem here with acres of the invasive Japanese Knotweed.
Mike spots his first ever Red-backed Shrike alongside the path, and Red Kites are common.
We are overnighting in the small town of Le Thillot, where we have been invited to stay with friends of Christine and Bruno. Anne has spent the morning out mountain biking in the surrounding forests. She is an English teacher at the local school, with husband Daniel recently retired from teaching history at the same school. They have lived all their lives in this area. The view from their garden terrace is a 360 deg panorama of forested high hills. In the winter the temperatures regularly drop to -20 and they get heaps of snow, so they are skiers as well as cyclists. They show us photos on their computer of the wonderful snow scenes in Le Thillot, and their cycle trips in the Alps.We also are delighted to pick up an email from our neighbours Dick and Marjorie, keeping us up to date with home news.Anne's twist on the home jam is rhubarb and banana- delicious.
We are now at about 1500 feet.
Anne is off to teach, we wave goodbye to the cat "Pussy", then Daniel cycles with us,the next morning,to get us back on the cycle track. We pass several small sawmills. By 10am, we have gained another 1000ft and, following a steep village road, reach the source of the Moselle.



Map covering this section of tour to follow with next blog. Miles to date 1,053

Location:Verdun to Bussang

Towards the Verdun...

We are roughly following the WW1 Western Front SE. At the village of Martinpuich, in a field corner, remains a rare German shelter. The concrete is reinforced with steel railway track. The scene is so innocent now, softened with moss and grass.
At Pozieres are memorials to the Australians who suffered their worst losses here of any battle in their history. A nearby memorial marks where tanks were used for the first time ever - only 9 of the 32 British Mark 1 tanks deployed reached their objective.
At High Wood at Longueval is the extensive London Cemetery, with many unnamed graves.
Smaller shrines around the wood are even more poignant. A Cairn of 192 stones from the Highlands for missing sons of Scotland, and an oak tree in memory of the Public Schoolboys Regiment. So many mothers broken hearts.
We are camping "a la ferme"tonight. What a gorgeous place! Our tent is in a cherry orchard, perfumed by roses. Even the chickens are "tres jolies" and we have not spotted any noisy donkey!
A wander around the tiny hamlet reveals the first pre-war houses we have seen since Abbeyville, attractive brick farms with painted shutters set in lavender and rose gardens. Thunder rumbles continually and sheet lightening flashes over near hills -we are in for another sharp downpour after such a sultry day.
Our farmer is spraying his crops, next morning, but this hasn't diminished wildlife. There is an abundance of birds; Montagues and Hen Harriers swoop over the corn fields, Yellowhammer, Thrush, Sparrow, Jays and Skylarks are all more common than back home. Hares race away from us through cabbage fields.
St. Quentin has an enormous town square and ancient large Hotel de Ville to match. The town was a German HQ in WW1 so mostly destroyed. The population were evacuated in 1917. Their large Basilica is still being restored after being wrecked by a WW1 munitions train, blown up in the adjacent station. We meet a pair of Danish touring cyclists who are heading our way but are delayed as they need a new chain. They are on skinny bikes and carry rucksacks.
The village of Montbrehain N of St Q is where our next hosts live. Catherine is the village doctor, running her practice from her home - very like "Dr Finlay's Casebook". Their house is a large, handsome, brick farm house and outbuildings arranged around a courtyard. It was the home of the grandfather of Francois, who has restored it throughout including beautiful tiled and wood block floors. Somehow they manage to find time to tend the acre of garden from which they are self sufficient in fruit and veg.


C makes very tasty jam of which we sample orange and rhubarb and raspberry to accompany the delicious crepes F makes for breakfast next day. They have an album of cycle trips they made when their children were young, some 25 years ago. F had constructed a fantastic baby carriage, like a small Wild West covered wagon, which he towed (he said how heavy it was - 40kg!).
We continue on through a hedgeless farming landscape, spotting a deer watching from a wood edge. Every pond has very noisy frogs. The city of Laon is visible from many miles away as the Medieval Cathedral and old walled city is perched on a hill, rising out of the plain. We meet 3 Spanish touring cyclists here from the Canaries who are cycling to Paris from Maastricht.
Next we are on to Rheims, which also has an enormous fine Cathedral in the centre. The massive, intricate statues and lead gargoles are on a very impressive scale. There is canal path most of the last 5 miles to the centre apart from a long stretch of very potholed road, with no verge, where quarry lorries appear to be racing each other in both directions simultaneously - such fun! Our campsite is 5 miles on in a lovely wood. Two Dutch lady cyclists are camped here in the same type of tent as us and come over for a chat. They are cycling from Maastricht to Biarritz.
We look like a couple of laundry baskets the next day as we have hung our washing to dry on our panniers. It is dry by lunchtime. We have come across many"route barre" on this trip and ignore them, always finding a way round the road works. This time though the sign mentions something about the military. We decide that the sign doesn't apply to the footpath and carry on. Consequently we end up lost in the midst of an enormous military barracks! Glad to find a way out unchallenged, we then cross a large military exercise area, like Salisbury Plain. Next through farms with fields of white poppies. We lunch in a park at Sainte Menehould, where the Dominican monk who invented champagne was born in 1639 (Dom Perignon).


We have to take a rather busy road to avoid some big hills, then on farm roads again to a camp on a lake by Verdun. Tired after a tough cycle we treat ourselves to a meal in the camp restaurant - hungry enough to eat a horse, and as this is France, it was on the menu!


Tour miles to date 846.

Location:Albert to Verdun

Towards the Somme...

We continue to stay with cyclists contacted through the well organised"Warm Showers" cyclists website. Our hosts tonight live in a lovely former Marie's house in the centre of the village of St Laurent de Condel. Francoise is on the twinning committee for Dunsford, near Exeter! They have a German, custom built tandem with a recumbent position at the front, more stable for their udisabled daughter. We sample some VERY strong Calvados distilled by F's Dad, guaranteeing a goodnights sleep. We set off (with a bag of home grown cherries) E across a flat wheat plain, towards a wind farm, then through wooded hills. The houses are no longer stone but very pretty timber framed, with a few thatches. Honfleur is heaving with traffic and not at all cycle friendly but we make it safely to the impressive Pont de Normandie. The strong wind and the heavy lorries thundering past give an uncomfortable cycle across the bridge, as we are buffeted against the railings at a frightening height over the wide river. Our longest mileage at 74m (as we got a bit lost) so very relieved to arrive at Edith and Christian's home in Sainneville. Edith is a tennis "professeur" hence the tennis court in their garden. They cycle with a Bobcat trailer each, and have done a massive circular tour from France taking in Portugal to Poland & S to Italy. Their son Jan, kindly cooks us Italian pasta "for le energy". Despite our lack of a mutual language, a little Bordeaux and we are all chatting away fluently (?) about "velos".


The next few days we intend to camp, and head north to the coast at St Valery en Caux. The brilliant sunshine continues as we pass through fields of linseed, beetroot, but mainly potatoes. Our recommended municipal campsite is closed for the day! Despite a notice saying it is absolutely forbidden to camp, we skirt round the barrier and set up pitch early in the afternoon, next to friendly, English speaking, Dutch caravaners. We spend the remaining sunshine hours catching up on our washing, servicing the bikes, and cooking on our new gas Trangia. An evening stroll takes us down
to the harbour where a large lock gate is retaining just enough water for the many yachts whilst the outer harbour is a 20ft drop down at low tide. White cliffs stretch far to East and West.
By 8am the sun has burnt off the early morning mist and we are on roads nearly empty of traffic as it is national holiday (02/06). Mike's GPS has been very reliable at finding routes through tiny hamlets, apart from one slight hiccup (see photo).


We reach the Somme river at Abbeyville where we shamelessly devour a hearty Plat de Jour before setting off down an unmade shady track along the river bank SE. After a few miles we have had enough of all the bumps and swop to village roads, into a strong head wind all the way to Amiens. From the camp here a canal cycle path takes us to the city centre and the magnificent Cathedral. We join crowds at cafe tables to people watch in the hot evening.
The next morning we continue on along the river side on bumpy cobbles and then gravel. The only ducks are plastic decoys but we do spot a real otter swimming along. We branch off up the river Ancre to Albert to start the Circuit of Remembrance. Nearly every village in the area was completely destroyed in the battle for the Somme. For instance Albert was reduced from 7000 souls to 120.There are British War grave cemeteries dotted throughout the wheat fields. Lutyen's enormous brick edifice tops a hill at Thiepval in memory of 73367 troops who have no individual graves. In the nearby woods trench positions are still clearly visible. The wheat fields are all edged with wild poppies.
We camp at the sleepiest tiny hamlet you can imagine, but things soon hot up on this Saturday night as we join at least 300 on the village green, entertained by a rock band performing out of the back of a lorry! After joining 3 different queues we are fed sausage and chips washed down by good red wine at 1 euro a glass. We are definitely the only non-villagers here, but no one notices our terrible French because of the din. A thunderstorm releases a deluge just as the next band start playing. They ignore the hazard of electrocution and carry on (the lead singer is a cross dresser with lovely legs and fine beard). We return to the tent at midnight relieved it remains water tight.
There is no chance of a lie in as at 6am the church clock clangs, the first train rattles by and the donkey watching us over the fence decides it is time to bray extraordinarily loudly for his breakfast. The rain has cleared and we carry on exploring the memorial route.



Gap in gps cover caused loss of track from Abbeyville to Amiens down the Somme River.

Total tour miles to date 583.