August 17, 2009
Camping at Liques: A much better day
We slept well and got up and tidied up our amazing mess before the breakfast arrived on a tray at 8.00am. Then down the stairs with the massive load and saddled up. One baguette from 50m along the road then we were off Tricia I think feeling slightly nervous. We didn’t have any problem riding on the right side of the road. It was easy to get through Calais and onto the canal to Guines. The canal was quite pretty with lots of ducks and seagulls in places. We had to take a smaller branch and the GPS saved us from a navigational error. At one point there was a machine in the canal which was a cross between a header and a barge, it was clearing out weed.
We got to Guines rapidly and in the town centre found a bike shop, it was open on a Monday morning. I tried to explain the problem that I couldn’t get into my low front sprocket and he kindly put it up on a hoist and twiddled with it as they had in Brighton. With no load he got into it easily but once I was back on the road with a load on it it wouldn’t. No charge. Across the road was a café so we had a coffee and a juicy peach from the shop next door. It was a lovely sunny morning and we felt very happy to be in France again.
Out of town we took the D road instead of the suggested tracks through the forest. The country was lovely, crops of harvested wheat and lots of beans, potatoes and sugar beet. farmers loading and carting loads of big straw bales and later farmers with huge tractors and trailers spreading muck from their barns. We haven’t seen more than a handful of cows outside.
Then up a long hill, through a forest and down into Liques. We had only done about 35km but there was a great camping ground and I felt it was far enough for today. Tricia says she is feeling the best she has since the start of the trip so I hope it holds. We got a nice little spot surrounded by bushes, the tent was sorted out and we got it up. The place is full of happy campers, splashing in the pool, riding bikes, eating , smoking and just lounging about. I took a long walk to a Shopi and got a strange collection of things to make a meal and sorted out the route for the morning. The weather is great warm but not too hot and clear this afternoon.
Today's ride: 31 km (19 miles)
Total: 291 km (181 miles)
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