March to the Sea: Amiens to St. Valery sur Somme

August 1, 2013

The rain promised for last night never materialized, but the atmosphere was noticably cooler today. As in 10 degrees cooler. After a largish breakfast at the hotel, I again debated about wearing a jacket, but the sun was shining so I decided to do withoout. Amiens is a very cyclable city, but as is usually the case the way out of town on a bicycle is not at all obvious. I followed what looked like a promising northward cycle path, only to be dumped onto the rocade, or ring road built to shunt trucks around the city. Fortunately, there was a quick exit to a shoping center, and I wiggled myself out of there onto the road I had wanted in the first place which went to Flessels and onward from there to Naours where I could get my card stamped.

Every village and city in France has a sign like this at the limits of the "agglomeration". In areas with language minorities, there is often a second sign below the official French sign written in the minority language (Breton, Alsatian, Basque, Catalan, etc.). This is the first time I ever saw a sign written in Ch'ti, the Flemish-influenced dialect of French spoken by people in the north of France. The "s" sounds of French are replaced by "ch" or "sh" sounds.

Naours broved to be a rather uninteresting village nestled along the banks of a small stream. The only business open was a tourist "attraction", which wanted 11 euros to go in. I declined, but they were kind enough to give me a stamp on my card.

The windmill is the principal attraction. They might get more business if it were easier to hide!

From Naours, I rode to Crecy en Ponthieu, site of a battle that pitted Edward the third of England against Philippe VI of France. The English longbowmen won the day against the French knights, thus beginning the long decline of chivalry. It was also the first battle that saw the use of cannon, fortelling the end of the castle building age.

There is nothing to see on the battlefield itself. Its just an open field. The good people of Crecy have put up these plywood cutouts all over town in an effort to capitalize on the fame of the battle.

There is one genuine memorial in Crecy to the fallen heroes of Luxemburg, who rode to the defence of France, and were, to a man, cut down by perfidious Albion's archers.

From Crecy it was a relatively short ride to Noyelles on the Baie de la Somme. Noyelles is the beginning of tourist land, and as this was the first weekend in August, it was packed with vacationers. There was no space available at the campground, so I rode on toward the sea.

Noyelles is also the starting point for a quaint tourist train which serves the area in the summer time. Run by volunteers, it goes to Cayeux sur Mer, le Crotoy, and St. Valery sur Somme. I followed the tracks to St. Valery.

From St. Valery, I continued toward le Hourdel, where I could get my last stamp for the department of the Somme. There being nothing much there, I made my way back to St. Valery and found a space in the campground there. I joined the throngs in the center of the village for a beer, and then supper.

The Baie de la Somme is largely a giant salt marsh, most of which is a bird sanctuary. This is not one of the birds, but an old Piper Cub airplane done up in WWII invasion colors.

The rooftops of St.Valery, looking out on the bay.

Today's ride: 123 km (76 miles)
Total: 557 km (346 miles)

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