France and home

on - 09/09/2017

We entered France at Lille and what felt like the worlds longest continuous highstreet. It went on, and on, and on. We spent so long on it that it started to feel like a timeloop. Every 10 minutes the same tram station would go past, and I would stare at it until I realised that it was ever so slightly different. We eventually got onto a canal and followed it for 40 miles to a camping municipal.

4 months later and I definitely need a haircut! My hair at the beginning…

Entering France at Lille meant that we cycled straight through the Somme and the Western Front in World War One. The length of time it took to cycle, combined with the constant signposting for war graveyards really enforced the scale of the fighting.

The next part of the cycle was terrible, we checked the forecast and saw there was a massive rainstorm coming in and so decided to cycle to a small country station and catch a train to Amiens. We arrived to find that the entire line was closed for repairs and so we cycled the whole way to Amiens as fast as possible as we wanted to catch the 5pm train. We made it with 10 minutes to spare and had to dodge all the commuters heading home.

I was using my phone to navigate and took a quick photo enroute, but the water on the screen changed the settings into faded black and white. I think it came out even better!

My phone broke after that incredibly wet ride. I later dried it out at home and found that it stills works other than the WiFi circuits were fried. I decided to make do as it it works perfectly for everything else.

Rouen Cathedral and the Abbey of St. Ouen were really hard to photograph properly due to the size. Though I quite like the doorway with my bike and a boy with his hands clasped in front of him.

Rouen is also famous for its medieval half-timbered houses that brighten the cobbled streets.

From Rouen we needed to follow the Seine river straight to Le Havre and board our ferry by 5pm. We got half way and suddenly thought that maybe we should double check the ferry time. Much to our dismay we had misremembered the time and actually needed to be there by 4pm. So we did 90km in about 5 hours without stopping. The route led us through small riverside towns, a national park and the Esso oil refinery that was belching huge gouts of fire into the sky from its chimney stacks.

Whilst in the queue we chatted with some fellow tourers, and one said “wherever you go, there is always someone who has gone further”. True words, though we only met someone who had done a comparable distance to us once and that was during the first part of the holiday. We made it onboard the ferry and sunbathed on deck until the sun set behind gloomy looking clouds.

After a quick stay with family in Fareham we were once again cycling through the Cornish countryside and the holiday was over.

The Route

My next update will be a recap of the blog posts from entire holiday, from beginning to end. But until then, here is the final high level route and the key blog posts.

4.5 months
5000 miles
13 countries
£3711 spent