The Three H's - heat, headwind and hills - Riding In My Grandfather's WW1 Footsteps

July 20, 2016

The Three H's - heat, headwind and hills

Well, we may not have gotten far today, but we sure worked hard.

The day began well at Camping des Roses. This delightful campground on a farm at Esquelbecq was just what we needed. Our own huge, shaded pitch, quiet but for the sound of doves and ducks at the pond, was idyllic. We have found that these campgrounds are not reflected on our Garmin or the local maps, however, the local tourist office knew about it. We know that France is full of campgrounds, even in the smallest villages, so we are trusting that when we are ready to stop that a campground will be there.

We got a good start to avoid the heat later in the day. Yesterday, the heat really knocked us out.

We are riding predominately on secondary roads - and this is a big change from Belgium. Another big change is the patience and friendliness of French drivers. They slow down, signal to show us that they see us and always give us the right of way. Thumbs up, smiles and greetings are common. We feel welcome here and not in the way.

The strong headwind was our constant companion today. At times on the flat, we were working as hard as we could and our max speed was about 10 km/hr. It is truly annoying to have a headwind slow you down as you descend a hill after working so hard to ascend it.

Today, the terrain was very hilly and 10+% grades were not uncommon. The difficulty was that we fought a strong headwind most of the way. A few times we had to resort to the strategy we used last year in Italy on the bigger hills: Barry rode and Mary Ellen walked to lighten the load.

Most of the villages today offered few services. It seemed to us that hard times have hit here as many businesses have closed and those that are open have abbreviated hours.

We stopped for a break at The Blockhaus of Eperlecques, a site from which the Nazis launched V2 rockets against England. We didn't tour the site but we did take advantage of the picnic tables in the shade .

We decided to stop when accomodation presented itself along the trail at Tournehem sur-la-hem. The other option would be an additional 10 km, and we decided that we had had enough.

A cold shower followed by a cold salad dinner in the room and an early night are just what we need. It made us feel better about our decision to stop when we saw that a couple of young guys whom we had met last night at the campground had also decided to stop early as they had found it rough going too. Not too bad, that us 60+ year olds kept up to a couple of guys in their early 20's.

Camping at the farm in Esquelbecq. It was a good place to camp.

The farm had many animals which we enjoyed.

This young goat had a sweet disposition and came running to visit.

It is beautiful country but the hills keep coming.

An historic windmill - we would have stopped to look but it was on our way down a steep hill and we were having too much fun to stop.

The bus stop offered us a shady place to enjoy a cold coffee and a pastry from the local patisserie. Unfortunately this was on a busy road of large trucks, but we didn't mind.

The village of Tournahem sur Hem where we will be staying tonight has some interesting historical features that have survived, like this original city gate.

Today's ride: 38 km (24 miles)
Total: 1,298 km (806 miles)

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