Albert - Loeuilly - To France the Long Way

July 28, 2009

Albert - Loeuilly

It's a cold morning when we set out, but we have now decided to "just ride", i.e. not question whether we want to or not, until our time runs out. On our way southwest, headwinds guaranteed, to Amiens we pass through pretty countryside of fields of grain, small villages and the last bit close to the Somme River.

Once in Amiens, we spend some time visiting the magnificent Gothic cathedral, Cathédrale Notre-Dame d'Amiens, completed in 1266. The Amiens Cathedral is the tallest complete cathedral in France, with the greatest interior volume (estimated at 200,000 m³). The figures are impressive as is the cathedral itself.

Decapitated saints on the facade of the cathedral

Interior of the cathedral: The vaults of the nave are 42.30 m high, the tallest nave vaults in any completed French cathedral.

The cathedral was built to house a major relic, the skull of St. John the Baptist. Here his beheading as depicted in the cathedral's interior.

We enjoy a lovely lunch outdoors in a restaurant next to the cathedral, finish up with coffee on the main square, and then get down to business.

A little gourmet sampling of macarons de Paris and other sweets to go with our coffee

We buy a camping guide for France, a bit heavy but very useful for planning the next legs of our route. In an Internet café we plot the route to Rouen using bikemap.net and then sitting outside on a park bench with our Asus eee, we upload the track onto our GPS's. Ready to ride. We hadn't planned our route through Belgium and were sorry. We ended up on roads which were direct but lacking in charm.

The afternoon's ride is a bit hillier, we have small roads and little traffic. We aim for the camping ground in Loeuilly, very quiet and idyllic. I see no tents, only campers in caravans who come for their summer holidays near the little river behind the camping. There isn't much of a town here, the brasserie is closed but a small store has a few basic staples. I find us a can of lentils and two beers. Simple fare but good. We're content with the day and, yes, tired.

The bill for our camping site, everything accounted for down to the last cent

Today's ride: 56 km (35 miles)
Total: 2,243 km (1,393 miles)

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