In Amiens: a loop along the Noye

June 7, 2022

A wise old man recently reminded me that “Regen ist nur Wasser, das von oben kommt”. I mull over this bit of freely offered wisdom as I review this morning’s uncertain forecast that shows chances of showers at times during the day. We were rushed on our ride here yesterday, and mesmerized by the stunning landscape I gave short shrift to the tantalizing villages we zipped through too quickly. I’d like a second look, and with tomorrow’s weather looking wetter than today’s this looks like my best opportunity. I decide to take my chances but wait around until the morning showers have ceased for the moment at least before bracing myself for the chore of lugging my bike down three flights of stairs.

Rachael won’t be joining me today. She’s feeling a bit beaten up from the rough roads and saddle time and is happy to sit this one out. She’ll take a modest walk around town and perhaps take a nap later.

It’s not raining when I leave but the ride gets off to an unpromising start. First though, a stroke of luck: since we’ll be here tomorrow also I plan to just bike out of Amiens without stopping anywhere, saving my time and photo stops for the countryside. I change my mind when I bike past the cathedral just two blocks from home though and decide I should just take one quick shot. This is lucky because it lets me discover that I’ve forgotten to bring my camera while it’s still convenient to return home and have Rachael bring it down to me, and before she’s already left for her walk and l’m left locked out because she has the only key.

OK, so now we’re really on the road.

Better take a photo of the Amiens Cathedral before it tips over. Looks like it could go at any moment.

But my resolve doesn’t hold for long. Within a few blocks I’m biking across and along canals and decide that I should stop while I’m here because who knows what tomorrow may bring. This part of Amiens is very attractive, with the Somme spitting the town and with the flats on either side of it riddled with canals, ponds and wetlands. Canals and capillary sized rivulets stream into the slow-moving river from either side and you’re constantly crossing or passing them.

It might help in understanding this section to see a map of this part of Amiens. Note especially that the Somme curves around the northern edge of the city, but also that splinters of the river split off and then reconverge west of the city, effectively chopping the area north of the cathedral into a parallel series of islands.

Also, look at the astonishing maze of waterways and ponds just to the east, between Amiens and Camon. Also, note the reference on the map to the Hortillonnages of Amiens. This is an area of 300 hectares of former marshes, the remnant of a much larger area developed in the Middle Ages to create an environment for market gardening. Originally an area of up to 10,000 hectares, as recently as the 19th century there was still a population of a thousand market farmers living here in what was once a giant peat marsh.

Northern Amiens, the Somme, and the Hortillannages.

The bike path goes right along the Somme for several miles, offering one reason to stop after another. It’s a great bike ride but really it’s better suited to a leisurely walk; and in fact I passed many walkers and I think not a single other biker in the few miles from Amiens to Camon.

Amiens is bisected by the slow-flowing Somme.

This is also the Somme, flowing through one of its smaller splits. The land on either side is actually a small island.

As I said, the ride got off to an unpromising start. While taking the photo above I heard a crash and turned around to find my bike lying on its left side. Annoying, but there are worse things to break than the mirror, bad luck though that is - a derailleur hanger, as one example.

One especially appealing feature is the procession of passerelles, the small arched bridges that span the small channel paralleling the river and giving access to the homes and farms on the other side.

There are dozens of these passerelles along the bike path, and I imagine many in the hortillonnage interior. They’re all unique and characterful, many with ornamental wrought iron gateways.

Looking into the hortillannages from a gap in the trees. I’m sure it’s a fascinating area to wander through, but I didn’t see a public access point anywhere. Needs more research.

Not surprisingly the waterways are filled with waterfowl: swans, herons, mallards, geese, coots, moorhens, and great crested grebes like this photo here. My favorite photo that got away today was of a tiny mallard duckling standing on a lily pad.

It took me at least an hour to bike/stop/shoot my way along the canals for the three or four miles to the eastern end of the hortillannages. Toward the end it started showering, leading me to sprint for the nearest overpass and shelter until it subsided. I was thinking this might mark the end of my ride, but it soon stopped; and after that weather conditions gradually improved for the rest of the day.

If you read or leafed through the previous post you already know a lot about the rest of the ride as I made a loop south along the Noye River for a few miles and then climbed up onto the low plateau above it, cycling through a series of closely spaced villages separated by agricultural fields - a lot of wheat and canola but also lettuce, peas, and a variety of other row crops. Country similar to what we biked through yesterday on our way in to Amiens, unsurprisingly since I’m only a few miles further east today. And remarkably enough I saw another fox run across the road in front of me today, the third sighting in as many days.

I’m in luck again. Not only did the sky brighten up considerably but I have the wind in my favor too for the twenty miles north on the back half of the ride.

This country again. I’d be happy to make another pass through this region and stay longer one of these years.

So what is this turquoise-blossomed crop?

I wish I could have seen more of this overgrown house, but it’s really disappearing back into the jungle. There’s what looks like must have been the access path, but it’s so densely overgrown with nettles and brambles that I wasn’t tempted to fight my way in.

With my tailwind helping along the last fifteen miles go fast, taking not much over an hour even though I cross a series of low steepish ridges. Still, I’m over an hour behind schedule when Amiens finally appears on the horizon. I don’t make it back until almost 4:30, late for our social engagement. We have a special guest! Susan read yesterday’s post, saw that we had a fold-out bed waiting for her, and decided she’d just hop the train and hand deliver my Pendleton shirt to me. Thanks, pal!

Susan arrives at Amiens Gare eight on schedule (of course; this is France) at 3:24 , and Rachael’s there waiting at the top of the stairs to greet her.

We haven’t seen each other for several days, so of course there’s a lot to catch up on - especially the state of Vivian George and the question of what her injury means for the planned tour of Slovenia. But that’s a tale best told in a different journal. We’ll leave it here for now, with us going out to dinner together and then walking around in awe at the Amiens Cathedral, which we’re glad to see didn’t fall over after all.

At the Brasserie de l’Horlage. Hey, there’s that shirt! Let’s see if I can’t hang on to it this time.

Admiring the Amiens Cathedral, its southern face aglow in the evening sun.

Here, I especially liked the shadows cast by the filagree lining the arch.

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Ride stats today: 41 miles, 2,100; for the tour: 2,496 miles, 119,000’

Today's ride: 41 miles (66 km)
Total: 2,524 miles (4,062 km)

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