Day 27: Guines to Moulle (at mid day), then Auchy Au Bois, France

June 15, 2012

We are sitting on a bench in front of city hall in the tiny village of Moulle.

In my hand is a sandwich made from a hand made wood fired oven baked baguette that we bought in the similarly tiny village of Ardres. The sandwich has cheese from the farmers' market in Guines, and ham - also from near Ardres.

For after, we have brioche from Nordausques.

We also have local cherries. Ask me if we are having a good time!

We cycled the 30 km over to here without at all trying. There was no getting off the bike to dodge traffic in a roundabout, there was no orienteering. All there was was straight pedalling through the countryside.

The poppies blowing. We are quite near Flanders here.

The road runs through farmland, with mainly turnips and corn fields. There is an intense amount of signage, pointing to all the surrounding small towns, and more often than not also showing that there is camping.

Drivers continue to pass us with caution. Not only are there stops signs and crosswalks, but there are signs (sometimes illuminated) warning that there is a crosswalk coming up.

I mean, we loved England, but this is something else again (at least as far as cycling goes). From what people write, I expect to be even more impressed in Germany/Austria and then Netherlands, but that does not cancel the fact of how darn enjoyable today has been in France.

Free wifi, or any wifi, or McDonalds, or anything like that, is not part of life in the villages we are in. Up ahead is the megalopolis of St. Omer - so maybe there. In the meantime, here are just a couple of photos to give the idea:

St. Omer was a bit of a watershed. First off, the terrain became quite hilly, slowing us down a lot. And naturally, it started to rain. We soldiered on until it started to near time to find a campsite. Despite the apparent abundance of places in the morning, we now found ourselves on a wide open plain, with crops to the horizon. That meant not only no campsites but no cover for any type of camp. Dodie declared she was out of strength, and almost bonked. However she found the reserve to carry on.

We reached some small villages, but they had no accommodation. However small, though, there is always a baker, and we refuelled with some brioches,

More villages, no accommodation. In one, a young man on a motorbike saw us looking forlorn and turned around to ask if he could help. He directed usa to where he thought there was a B&B, but no luck. I went into a tabagie (cigarette store), one of the few businesses in Estree Blanche, and asked about any B&B. One man had an idea, but his french was so accented that Ihad too much trouble making him out. I brought him out to Dodie, who has a better ear, and with the help of our map we figured out where he was talking about. He was talking about Auchy aux Bois.

We slogged along towards Auchy, eyeing various possible stealth sites while worrying about the rain and soon to be darkness.

At Auchy, a board appeared directing to more than one Gite (B&B). We cycled off route about 1 km and came to a place called "Les Cohettes". I went through a door to find eight people at a table eating supper. I addressed the meeting in my best French, explaining that we were cyclists from Canada looking for a place to stay or a place to put the tent. The owner, Gina,appeared and I repeated my appeal. To my surprise she led us to a two room suite, with dining table, beds, a bar, etc. The price was 55 Euros, including breakfast. Done!

Gina was also very sweet and helpful. She had us put our bikes inside and brought us a large slab of pate. Then she invited us to dessert with the group, who turned out to be other patrons. We had a jolly time trying to converse in French with them all, and actually were moderately successful. We must have been, because we sat with them for a couple of hours.

At the end, Gina discussed with the group when breakfast should be, and if anyone wanted an egg. Now I had learned from my brother earlier that in France breakfast is a coffee and a croissant. So I should have taken the clue that the egg was something special. Certainly it was not something that you could order scrambled, sunny side up, boiled, etc. So when I was told it was to be boiled, and asked for fried, I got an astonished reaction and refusal. You can barely get an egg for breakfast, let alone specify the details on it! (And p.s. that's one egg.

So we went from wandering about in the rain to having our own suite and dining on creme brulee with a group of new friends. This is only partially the magic of the credit card, because you can not eat your credit card when caught in the middle of nowhere out on the road. On the contrary it's the magic of Dodie figuring out what the man was trying to tell us, and it's the kindness of Gina Bulot, who welcomed us to her B&B so graciously.

BONUS: TWO SPECIAL TOPICS

As we pedalled innocently along, in the middle of a field of crops we found this marker:

Dodie seemed to remember what it was all about, and Wikipedia later told us:

The Field of the Cloth of Gold or Camp du Drap d'Or (in French) is the name given to a place in Balinghem, between Guînes and Ardres, in France, near Calais. It was the site of a meeting that took place from 7 June to 24 June 1520, between King Henry VIII of England and King Francis I of France. The site is indicated by a commemorative plaque on the D231 road (Route de Marquise) at 50.8523°N 1.9229°ECoordinates: 50.8523°N 1.9229°E. The meeting was arranged to increase the bond of friendship between the two kings following the Anglo-French treaty of 1514. The form "Field of Cloth of Gold" has been in general use in the English language since at least the 18th century. It would be the last meeting between an English or British monarch and a French one until Queen Victoria met with King Louis Philippe I, the last king to rule France, in 1843, excepting the meeting of James V of Scotland and Francis I of France merely sixteen years later.

What's cool about this is that (in contrast to England) it's one of the first ancient historical landmarks in France that at least one of us knew something about!

BONUS #2: The grocery store.

We stopped in to a medium sized grocery, always being curious about what types of stuff are available, what the prices are and what the quality is. What we found was predictable: Stress on bread, cheese, and pate. Plus, of course, every other thing one could want.

Strangely, the very precise, portion controlled packaging of really high quality fruits, veggies, and prepared meals and desserts found in Sainsbury, was lacking. Yes, the stuff looked good, but the presentation was a notch below some of what we had seen in England. On the other hand, this was just a local establishment, and no doubt we will run in to some whiz bang grocery superstores later.

We were gratified to also see bikes for sale in the grocery store. They were quite economically priced!

We had been concerned about compatibility of our stove with European gas canisters. No problem. In the grocery store the canisters were of the connect/disconnect type compatible with our MSR stove. However, they are not compatible with screw on connectors!

Today's ride: 70 km (43 miles)
Total: 898 km (558 miles)

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