Day 38: Newhaven - ferry - Dieppe - Grampies Go To England and France Fall 2022 - CycleBlaze

October 14, 2022

Day 38: Newhaven - ferry - Dieppe

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We were too upset by our contact with the nasty landlady to sleep well last night, and were up extra early, eager to leave the place and England  in general. 

With the help of the poor NCN signage, I once again had the experience of looking around me at a nondescript wasteland, with no immediately obvious way out.  Thank goodness for the GPS, and thank God (I guess)  for two Jehovah's Witnesses out on the street early,  noticing that we looked like people searching for the ferry, and steering us the right way.

Now where, NCN?
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From the moment we entered the ferry terminal our spirits began to rise. This was due first to the friendliness of the (admittedly English) ticket agent, who reviewed when the boat would come, where we would go with the bikes, where we could wait, and so forth.  But the best was that while we were sitting he brought us over a Route Verte tourist map. Route Verte is our track to Paris, and few things makes Grampies happier than tracks and maps.

We think we also picked this up some time ago in France and thought "One day we need to go on that"!
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Although the Route Verte map is best, this one is of the type I often favour.
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A friendly check in crew. Friendly people were particularly welcome for us this morning.
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Boarding the ship was also fun, since we still have our childlike thrill about going on a boat, a plane or train, or if desperate maybe even a bus!

We will be first on the boat.
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The thing prepares to swallow Dodie
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There is lots of room if anyone else wants to come!
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I am typing this bit in the cafeteria on the boat. There is time, because it's a four hour ride. We are both feeling gleeful, not so much for leaving England or for anticipating France, but right here we have an uncrowded space, and a food service with real bread, real veggies, real cake, etc. What's more, we brought out our rusty French, and it worked! Well at least the green beans I asked for  came out green.

Leaving England, into the wide bay at Newhaven, with its white cliff at the end.
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As you might expect, the ferry cafeteria had both English and French influences. This saw them offering both roast beef and boeuf bourguignon, and as you see on the pastry shelf - tarte au citron and tarte aux pommes above and cream cake below. Paradoxically, for people eagerly leaving England, we went for the roast beef and cake. The difference was that the clearly French people running the cafeteria made these with quality. We were quick to grab our piece of cake after this photo, because it looked like it would be all gone soon. It was, but they brought out another whole one!
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Because so many hotels in England refused to take cash, we have come away with quite a few pounds in our pockets. While we could exchange them somewhere, it's kind of like anything we buy on the ship now is free, since they accept pounds. It's the same "whee, it's all free" that we experienced in the Spring on leaving Czechia with a stash of Korunas in our shorts. Oh, Dodie just remembered that we can go to Spain on another trip, and then use the pounds in Gibraltar. Ok, no more cake right now for us!

It could be self delusion, but immediately off the ferry we felt safer on the bikes. In this photo you see a bike lane, and also a speed limit of 30. 30 here means 30 km per hour, of course. Typical speed limits in English towns were 50, which means 80 (kph), and the lowest we ever saw posted was 30 (which means 50 kph).

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Thanks, Channel ferry
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In minutes, we were in Dieppe. How different it looks from English towns. Both are quaint and attractive, and house by house maybe it would be hard to clearly describe  the difference. But the photo below is so clearly France!

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The Eglise St Jacques was directly on the path to our B&B. Again, the difference with England is immediately apparent. There is certainly no flint used in the walls,  and also the extent of maintenance is much less. In fact the church really is crumbling. This "crumbly" nature of French stuff is something we have noticed a lot before. There are whole villages in the south that we refer to as crumbly white villages. When you cross from Germany you especially see this maintenance difference.

Eglise St Jacques
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We are not sure when this church was built, but it was destroyed by fire in the 12th century and rebuilt in the late 13th century. That makes it about 800 years since its last overhaul.
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Keith AdamsIf it's been handled with what seems to an outsider as the typical French disregard for routine maintenance and upkeep it's no wonder it's a bit "crumbly".
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1 year ago
St Jacques. Note the coquille on his hat. This is all familiar to us from our 2017 Paris to Santiago de Compostella journey.
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We carried on a little bit toward our place, noting with amazement that cars stopped immediately for us at crosswalks. There was also virtually no traffic in the town. It also did not escape our notice that in a few blocks we passed three bakeries. This is France!

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Also, wouldn't you say the shot below (around the corner from our place) says France!

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Our place for the night was one of those using a key box and code. We had not noticed that in the messages sent through Booking, so we found ourselves standing outside a blank door at the appointed address. We called, and got a message machine. So now what? So now actually read all the material that had been sent to us. Aha, the key code!

But the place still held a few mysteries for us. The key let us in to a little space that on close inspection actually contained a bathtub and sink, and mostly only that. wtf? But closer inspection revealed a stair, more like a ladder, going up. We sent our mountain climbing team up there, and half way up was found a platform with a mattress. wtf, again. But hand on, the ascent continued, and at the top was a nice large room with sink, micro, and utensils, a real table with five chairs, and an Ikea pull out sofa bed. There was also a toilet and sink up there.

So here we are in a high ceilinged, quite elegant old space, with everything we could want. There is also a "secret" door that opens to a wide and normal staircase that can take you back to the enclosed courtyard where our bikes are.  The ladder-like access was obviously to better accommodate the key box arrangement. If you find all that hard to get a grip on, so did we, and we are here!

The entry
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Half way up!
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At the top
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Dodie is ascending the "ladder" at our "fire station".
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Beth ArtOh this made me laugh. After all your grumbling about narrow steep staircases in England. I'm glad you found a proper staircase to get back to the ground.
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1 year ago
Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Beth ArtEvery night there is a different accommodation layout to get used to. At the end of the stay we are experts, knowledge which becomes instantly useless. This one was pretty unique, but you are right, there would have been much grumbling had we found it in England!
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1 year ago

We will soon offer a page to summarize what we me of our month long cycle tour of England. It sure had its highs and lows! Right now we are readapting to France, which we have been away from since Grampies Tour de France in 2018. That Route Verte beckons, and we are ready to go.

p.s. "Ready to go" is not quite, since the one e-assist is now totally kaput. In Paris we may still try to find a repair shop, but we think maybe the motor and torque sensor as well as the controller are gone. Most likely, I will just pedal the darn e-bike unassisted.  I will be super strong or broken by the end of that. We thought about renting a bike in Paris, but we would have to return it to Paris, and change our unchangeable air flight. Not to mention the fiddling to get panniers and handlebar bags to fit. We'll see!

Today's ride: 6 km (4 miles)
Total: 1,510 km (938 miles)

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Suzanne GibsonWelcome to the continent! Happy that you got here safely!
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1 year ago
Steve Miller/GrampiesWe did not see the immigration man counting on his fingers to see if we were eligible to return, but he did scan the passports so presumably the computer gave us the OK. We are actually a few days late for coming back in at the earliest possible moment.

Now we will have to eat French food like crazy, until we begin to wish we were in Germany!
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1 year ago
Susan CarpenterBienvenue en France! When do you expect to be in Paris?
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1 year ago
Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Susan CarpenterWe should arrive in Maisons Lafittes on Tuesday the 18th and are thinking of staying for at least a few (?3) days. Will you be in town then?
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1 year ago
Susan CarpenterTo Steve Miller/GrampiesNo, unfortunately I'll still be touring down south. I'll probably catch a train back to Paris from Lyon on the 27th, if things go as planned. Sorry to miss meeting you and Dodie. Wishing you a great time in France.
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1 year ago