Rachael was coughing pretty heavily last night when she went to bed, so we left open our plans for today until seeing how she’s doing in the morning. We’ve even prepared ourselves for the possibility of staying here in Dunkirque for a second night by cancelling our stay in Calais while it was still possible.
She seems better this morning though and over a substantial breakfast (not a surprise since we’re staying at the Best Western) she says she’s game to ride. We wait around until after nine to leave so that Rachael can go to the pharmacy on the corner to pick up some cough syrup, but as soon as she’s back we start packing up. We’re about ready to leave when she fortunately remembers that we don’t have a room booked for tonight any more so we hurriedly make a reservation at the Ibis Styles that we’d been planning on.
It’s a longer ride than yesterday and weather conditions are less favorable (a moderate headwind with a chance of rain later in the day) so I agree that we’ll mostly just ride and let her GoPro do the shooting as long as we can take a few minutes to look around Gravelines at the midpoint of the ride when we get there. It’s the only spot I particularly care to see on the way, and then only because its belfry is included in the UNESCO Belfries of Belgium and France citation. I don’t want to miss my chance to see it, thinking maybe we really will come back someday and I can complete a quest to see them all.
We’re about to bike down the street when we realize we don’t have the right route loaded onto our Garmins - a failing that happens with enough regularity that it drives my partner nuts. Again?? Why can’t we ever get this right, Scott? It’s worth taking the few minutes to download it though and replace the one I mapped out months ago. I changed it at the last minute to shorten it by three miles and route us through the center of Gravelines rather than skirting the town as the EV route does.
The first third of the ride goes quickly and uneventfully, but then comes a slight unexpected hiccup when we ride the altered stretch I just sketched in this morning. Its a two-part surprise, beginning with a a patch where we leave the road and find ourselves on a narrow, rough path through the brush.
Like I said though, it’s a two part surprise. The second part is more significant, when we discover that our path through the weeds ends at a ditch separating us from some railroad tracks. RideWithGPS is just having some fun with us again apparently, acting like there’s actually a crossing here.
It’s not a deep ditch fortunately, and it’s also a plus that it’s dry at the bottom. It’s steep and rough enough though that it’s a four hand job getting each bike across one at a time, which we do after I cross the ditch alone first to scope out the situation and confirm we really can get across the tracks before schlepping the bikes up to them.
It’s a situation we won’t want to forget - it reminds me of a similar crossing in the Alentejo years ago - so I take a shot of my bike after it’s been pushed up by the tracks as a reminder.
About a fourth of the way done. Now we just have to get her bike up there too, and then get across the tracks without getting crushed or bisected by a train; and then figure out how to get back on the road on the other side. No problem!
It’s not much of a photo but I’m thinking it will have to do. So imagine my delight when we discover later that Rachael forgot to turn off her GoPro at the start of this little project.
So really, that’s the highlight of the day. We come to Gravelines about three miles later and it really is a pretty interesting spot. In addition to the rather modest belfry it’s a fortified town surrounded by a moat and a system of star-shaped walls designed by Vauban, generally considered the greatest engineer of his time. There’s an unassuming hotel and restaurant here, and it wouldn’t have been a bad spot for an overnight so we could take our time to explore it better.
The star-shaped walls of Gravelines are largely still intact.
Actually, there’s another surprise in the day - the weather changes on us almost as soon as we leave Gravelines, and for the remaining fifteen miles we bike steadily and as strongly as we can into a 10-12 mph headwind, with the goal of arriving dry. It starts lightly misting almost right away and soon amplifies enough so that when we see a bus stop ahead that offers the first shelter we’ve seen in two miles I suggest to Rachael that we might want to stop here and have a think or two. She makes the right call though and we keep going and finally pull up at our Ibis in Calais basically dry.
Video sound track: Teimosa, by Anat Cohen & Trio Brasileiro
I know what you’re probably thinking - this isn’t the ideal way to spend the day if you’ve got a significant cough, as Rachael does. She’s proud of herself for how she did, but as soon as we’re in the room she takes a dose of the cough syrup she bought this morning and is out like a light for the next two or three hours.
I rest for a while too, but after that I head out with the camera because of course I can’t leave Calais without seeing its belfry, which when I come to it really is impressive. And on the way there and back I find several other good reasons to stop too, although in general Calais is an almost totally rebuilt city after it was razed and then occupied and fortified by the Germans during the Second World War.
The war memorial figurine in Richelieu Park represents Peace and clutches an olive branch. Erected in 1962, it replaces the former war memorial destroyed during the war, which in turn replaced the famous Rodin statue that now stands in front of city hall and the belfry.
Built from red brick and white limestone, the town hall and belfry were begun in 1912 and completed in 1925. It somehow escaped the ravages of war that destroyed most of the rest of Calais.
Rodin’s creation, The Burghurs of Calais, depicts the six leading citizens of the city who were taken to England after the Seige of Calais in the Hundred Years War. You may recognize this sculpture from elsewhere - this is the original, but 11 other original casts of it were made over time and situated around the world. One is in the Hirschhorn Garden in Washington DC, and another at the Metropolitan Art Museum in New York.
The Burghurs of Calais. The story is that King Edward III offered to spare the residents of the city if six of its leaders would surrender themselves to him, presumably to be executed. Edward demanded they walk out wearing nooses around their necks, and carrying the keys to the city and castle.
Rachael was just coming to from her cold medicine stupor when I called up and arranged to meet her on the Place d’Armes for dinner. She was still pretty groggy at first but soon came around and we enjoyed a fine meal with a window seat overlooking the square.
The Tour du Guet, another of Calais’ monuments that survived the war. Built in 1214, it has served as a lighthouse, a watchtower, and a military post.
