Stings, bites and allergic reactions complicate the day: good to stop early, Cappy to Peronne

July 30, 2016

Yesterday's ride gave us a glimpse of how the condition of route may be deteriorating as we continue further along towards Peronne and St. Quentin. There were times yesterday when we saw that the route became grass with a hint of a trail - this is not good for a loaded bike or a trailer - so we took the road. This led to huge hills and many detours. However, most of the way was pretty good. The start today at Cappy was the same problem with no route that was usable along the canal - so we took to the road. It was quiet, pleasant riding on secondary roads. As we rode up the hills, we looked wistfully down at the flat terrain by the canal. Once again, most of the day was on the canal- with a few notable exceptions.

We have discovered that the official "new" trail ends at Peronne, so we have decided to leave the canal there and head inland to Cambrai where we hope to find the area where Barry's grandfather fought during the WWI. We had planned to continue to St. Quentin and the source of the river, but we are finding the deteriorating conditions and infrastructure too frustrating. We'd rather ride on secondary roads that lead us to where we want and need to go.

Both of us had a tough night trying to sleep with our sore, swollen legs from the stings yesterday. For some reason, the wasps liked to attack only our right legs and so we each had multiple stings on one leg.

As we predicted, we stopped early as Barry, particularly, felt very unwell from the wasp stings. He is quite allergic to them, so we were lucky that it wasn't worse.

We would like to note however that the Somme Canal route is one that we would highly recommend. It is very beautiful, leads you to the gem of Amiens and is at yet undiscovered. We didn't see other cyclists touring this route at the height of the summer season. At this point, the route is not complete - and we would recommend that the best of it (at this time!) is St Valery sur Somme to Amiens. However, don't miss the hour of riding beyond Amiens as it takes you through the magnificent delta of Hortillonnages, also known as The Floating Gardens. It covers 300 hectares of small islands which are criss crossed by 65 km of canals. The ancient marshes were originally used for its peat, but later for market gardening purposes. The route does not go through all of it, but it does follow an extraordinarily beautiful path through it.

Nice rural camping on the canal - large hedged pitch with lots of privacy. However, as usual, we were the only cycle tourers camping there.

War memorial for the fallen soldiers of the community of Cappy.

We have been seeing this in the villages in this region- the Mairie (town hall) in the middle and the boys school on one side and the girls on the other.

This Norman era church in Cappy has survived for centuries through many wars - only the side section was rebuilt.

The trail is getting more difficult to ride. It is time to take to the road

The terrain is becoming hillier, but the panoramas are worth it. The canal would be flatter and more direct, but we can't manage the disappearing trail with our loaded bike.

Today's ride: 29 km (18 miles)
Total: 1,669 km (1,036 miles)

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