October 14, 2022
Day 38: Newhaven - ferry - Dieppe
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We were too upset by our contact with the nasty landlady to sleep well last night, and were up extra early, eager to leave the place and England in general.
With the help of the poor NCN signage, I once again had the experience of looking around me at a nondescript wasteland, with no immediately obvious way out. Thank goodness for the GPS, and thank God (I guess) for two Jehovah's Witnesses out on the street early, noticing that we looked like people searching for the ferry, and steering us the right way.
From the moment we entered the ferry terminal our spirits began to rise. This was due first to the friendliness of the (admittedly English) ticket agent, who reviewed when the boat would come, where we would go with the bikes, where we could wait, and so forth. But the best was that while we were sitting he brought us over a Route Verte tourist map. Route Verte is our track to Paris, and few things makes Grampies happier than tracks and maps.
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Boarding the ship was also fun, since we still have our childlike thrill about going on a boat, a plane or train, or if desperate maybe even a bus!
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I am typing this bit in the cafeteria on the boat. There is time, because it's a four hour ride. We are both feeling gleeful, not so much for leaving England or for anticipating France, but right here we have an uncrowded space, and a food service with real bread, real veggies, real cake, etc. What's more, we brought out our rusty French, and it worked! Well at least the green beans I asked for came out green.
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Because so many hotels in England refused to take cash, we have come away with quite a few pounds in our pockets. While we could exchange them somewhere, it's kind of like anything we buy on the ship now is free, since they accept pounds. It's the same "whee, it's all free" that we experienced in the Spring on leaving Czechia with a stash of Korunas in our shorts. Oh, Dodie just remembered that we can go to Spain on another trip, and then use the pounds in Gibraltar. Ok, no more cake right now for us!
It could be self delusion, but immediately off the ferry we felt safer on the bikes. In this photo you see a bike lane, and also a speed limit of 30. 30 here means 30 km per hour, of course. Typical speed limits in English towns were 50, which means 80 (kph), and the lowest we ever saw posted was 30 (which means 50 kph).
In minutes, we were in Dieppe. How different it looks from English towns. Both are quaint and attractive, and house by house maybe it would be hard to clearly describe the difference. But the photo below is so clearly France!
The Eglise St Jacques was directly on the path to our B&B. Again, the difference with England is immediately apparent. There is certainly no flint used in the walls, and also the extent of maintenance is much less. In fact the church really is crumbling. This "crumbly" nature of French stuff is something we have noticed a lot before. There are whole villages in the south that we refer to as crumbly white villages. When you cross from Germany you especially see this maintenance difference.
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2 years ago
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We carried on a little bit toward our place, noting with amazement that cars stopped immediately for us at crosswalks. There was also virtually no traffic in the town. It also did not escape our notice that in a few blocks we passed three bakeries. This is France!
Also, wouldn't you say the shot below (around the corner from our place) says France!
Our place for the night was one of those using a key box and code. We had not noticed that in the messages sent through Booking, so we found ourselves standing outside a blank door at the appointed address. We called, and got a message machine. So now what? So now actually read all the material that had been sent to us. Aha, the key code!
But the place still held a few mysteries for us. The key let us in to a little space that on close inspection actually contained a bathtub and sink, and mostly only that. wtf? But closer inspection revealed a stair, more like a ladder, going up. We sent our mountain climbing team up there, and half way up was found a platform with a mattress. wtf, again. But hand on, the ascent continued, and at the top was a nice large room with sink, micro, and utensils, a real table with five chairs, and an Ikea pull out sofa bed. There was also a toilet and sink up there.
So here we are in a high ceilinged, quite elegant old space, with everything we could want. There is also a "secret" door that opens to a wide and normal staircase that can take you back to the enclosed courtyard where our bikes are. The ladder-like access was obviously to better accommodate the key box arrangement. If you find all that hard to get a grip on, so did we, and we are here!
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2 years ago
2 years ago
We will soon offer a page to summarize what we me of our month long cycle tour of England. It sure had its highs and lows! Right now we are readapting to France, which we have been away from since Grampies Tour de France in 2018. That Route Verte beckons, and we are ready to go.
p.s. "Ready to go" is not quite, since the one e-assist is now totally kaput. In Paris we may still try to find a repair shop, but we think maybe the motor and torque sensor as well as the controller are gone. Most likely, I will just pedal the darn e-bike unassisted. I will be super strong or broken by the end of that. We thought about renting a bike in Paris, but we would have to return it to Paris, and change our unchangeable air flight. Not to mention the fiddling to get panniers and handlebar bags to fit. We'll see!
Today's ride: 6 km (4 miles)
Total: 1,510 km (938 miles)
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Now we will have to eat French food like crazy, until we begin to wish we were in Germany!
2 years ago
2 years ago
2 years ago