Day 3 - Tuesday 14th September, 2010
Dieppe to Pont de l'Arche (via Rouen)
57.2 miles
6:02 moving time, 9.5 mph moving ave (excluding ferry!)
After a short burst of energy on the ferry trying to find onboard power sockets to charge the GPS's etc, we gave up and found the recliner chairs and tried to get some sleep. John fell asleep pretty quickly, but I was still awake and despite being exhausted, I'm a light sleeper and as the crossing got rougher and rougher, the chances of me sleeping got slimmer. An announcement said the outside was of limits due to weather. I drifted off a few times but the smashing of the ship against the waves woke me up. A few truck drivers had the right idea - laying down on a duvet on the floor between the seats so you can lie down flat.
An announcement that the ships stabilisers would be turned off as we came into port made me wonder what it would be like out at sea without them.
Tired and cold, we rode the short distance from the ferry to the waiting room. It wasn't what we'd hoped for. There were no comfy seats to have a chance of getting any kip. I asked a staff member if there was anywhere we could lie down and he said not really, and then said that he assumes we know that the building gets closed up at about 5:30am, and everyone kicked out. No, we didn't know that actually, we were told it's 24 hours.
True to his word soon after we'd changed back into cycle gear, we were very politely asked to leave, and in the cold and dark wind we cycled off into Dieppe sleepy.
We'd been here before in daylight, and we figured some cafes or a bakery might be open, but it was just a bit too early and it was quite deserted. Only the odd person out. So we decided we'd just have to cycle on in the dark.
We were on a totally different route this time. On the Paris trip we took 'Avenue Verte' which is about 30km of flat through as disused railway line towards Paris. On this route, we immediately hit a long, big, steep hill, before we'd even left Dieppe. We couldn't believe it.
We cycled on through some villages until the streetlights weren't frequent enough to see any more, and a quite busy, unlit road meant we had to sit on a verge and wait half an hour or so for sunrise. It got quite cold, and the tiredness kicked in, but we'd clocked up another first.
Just before 7am we were on the move again as dawn broke and we could finally see the road surface.
After some really pretty villages and countryside scenery, we pedalled for what seemed like forever on a fairly bland D road - albeit excited because we were now cycling on the other side of the road (have to keep forcing ourselves to remember that fact) and we're now in France. We were hungry. The hunt for breakfast was on.
We knew that this part of France can be quite remote and a little bit run down in places, because we did the Paris test run. We were really surprised on that trip how remote northern France actually is - we were expecting (without any justification or reasoning) that it would be packed full of beautiful villages with cafes and boulangeries every half a mile. We deliberately routed more southerly on this trip, having taking advice from other tourers, but we were still surprised by the lack of places to stop/eat/drink. But that's also the excitement of cycle touring - you never really know what to expect. It might be that there are loads of more interesting villages just off track, but we'll never know. And since this is much less about sight seeing (sadly) and much more about getting the miles done, we can't explore too far 'off track'.
With each village or hamlet coming into view there's renewed hope of breakfast. But it's not to be. Not yet. Strangely, there's never a shortage of pharmacies or hairdressers, but cafes seem few and far between. Two hours later, a bit cold, and super-tired, we find a little roadside cafe-cum-truckstop and grab the chance to get some breakfast of tartine burre (bread, butter and jam). The lady spreads the butter thicker than the bread itself, but right now that seems like a really good idea. A coffee warms us back up.
Hit the road again and about an hour later seize the opportunity for another coffee, a croissant, and a spot of shopping (bread, cheese etc) for the route - having made the decision early on that on this trip we'd learnt our lesson (apart from on day 1, and day 2) and would make sure we're always carrying some sort of food for lunch, just in case.
After many more miles through lovely scenery, and with the sun warming us, we come across a pretty park where we sit in the sun for lunch of baguette and brie - now the trips starting to get enjoyable!
Follow a river for a bit, then some hills, all the while the scenery doesn't disappoint, and now it's sunny things are really great. The sense of freedom and achievement is already high - we're cycling in France! That just seems so amazing. The planned route on the GPS takes us up an unimaginably steep farm track, where we can barely keep the front wheels on the ground. Finally reaching the top, hot and exhausted, we realise the road we'd planned to take is actually a motorway, and there's no way we're going on it or across it. Feeling just a little bit peeved and grumpy, we ride all the way back down and route around. We switch to letting the Garmins auto-route to the destination for us - ignoring what we planned on the computer at home - and actually it's bike routing is pretty good and much easier to follow. So we abandon our carefully planned route, and just cross-check with the map that the Garmin hasn't done anything too stupid, and from here we'll let it take us wherever it wants. More adventure, and if it throws us anything unexpected we'll just deal with it as we go.
A few more steep-ish hills and we finally roll into Rouen (through some less than attractive outskirts) around lunch time.
We have a quick cycle round and try and see some of the scenery and the cathedral (which unfortunately is part covered-up for repairs), and pick a place in the sun for lunch. While waiting for food we plan the afternoon and work out where to try and stay. We've bought sections from the Michelin France camping guide (it was too big to justify bringing the whole book), and also have a campsite list from the tourist office, as well as the Garmin databases. Using all three we find there are some sites quite close, so, since we haven't slept properly for a long time and have covered quite a few miles, we pick one on our track just a bit out of Rouen. Plan made.
Another quick cycle round and then, Garmins fired up, we head down and follow the river (which turns out to be the Seine) on a traffic-free path - which changes the mood of the trip totally and now this really feels like an adventure! It's scenic, it's sunny, the river's beautiful, we've got a campsite in mind, and a backup, and we're heading there, and its still early.
As on our previous days, some roads are empty and scenic, others busier and less 'romantic' shall we say. As we leave the river and get back onto the roads it's relatively busy and we have heavy traffic passing. We've got scenery at least, so it's not all bad. Finally we break away from river, and climb up. And up, and up, and up. This, we decide, is the steepest, longest climb we've done so far - even steeper than the road out of Dieppe or the wrong turn this morning. It rounds a bend and continues. Almost a park road, we barely see another car, and we take a nice long rest at the top. For not the first time, I'm glad I swapped out those gears.
Approaching the campsite (only a mile or so away according to Garmin), we stock up on more food, and get a bottle of wine. We don't really know what to expect of where we'll be camping - if we can buy food etc - so we go prepared for the worst. Some amazing villages take us close to the edge of the river and the campsite should be just the other side. A land owner calls out to us and we have a conversation in French - or rather John does since his French is excellent, and mine basic. As it turns out, we can't actually cross the river here, but it's a confusing conversation and we can't work out if they just don't want us to go through their stables or if we really can't get across. (later it proved correct - there was no bridge so no idea what the Garmin had in mind). With new directions, we turned back, out through the village, a few extra miles, and then a huge bridge takes us over the very wide Seine. The traffic's stationary, so we feel even more proud of our bikes as we ride through it all.
The campsite's in Pont de l'Arche (Camp 'Eure), and as we approach, the little town looks beautiful and historic, and there are lots of signs of life and restaurants and cafes. Hooray! We scurry down to the campsite which is right on the edge of the town, and idilically placed next to the river, and check in.
It's towards the end of the season, so it's relatively quiet and we're told to pitch wherever we like, so we find a little place as close to the river as we can get, and set up camp. 7 Euros for both of us, now that's a bargain and makes the expense and effort of hauling camping gear seem worth it. An English couple are parked in their campervan next to us and they say hello. They're driving back to the UK from Spain, and have just pulled in for a break, a quick nap, and a cup of tea. They're about to head off but before they do, as we set up camp, they very generously make us a lovely cup of tea and we chat about our plan of cycling from London to Cannes - which they think is a bit mad. They're a lovely couple, and meeting such nice people on the journey makes it all seem worthwhile.
We grab a quick cheese, bread and wine then hit the showers (which are OK but certainly don't live up to the stories of French campsites being luxurious). A quick change, then onto looking at the plans for tomorrow. Weather = not so good with a thunderstorm forecast overnight! Maybe we'll get lucky. We make the decision, that depending on how bad it is tomorrow, we may not pack up early if its raining and everything's soaked. Although proud of our achievements, looking at the big scale northern France map, we've hardly made a dent in it, which makes us a bit nervous. We've got to get all the way to the bottom of this map, then all the way to the bottom of the next map too! What were we thinking? Gulp.
Its still early so we take a wander into town, and we're surprised again at how much is shut. Surely we're not that far out of season, and surely people who live here need to eat? We eventually find a little restaurant, and I tuck into a nice, protein giving omelette. The GPS's at the table for the last bit of planning for tomorrow, and exhausted we stagger back to the campsites and hit the sack, wondering how the tents will fair if it does thunder.
I finally drift off into some well needed sleep.....
Next Day
An announcement that the ships stabilisers would be turned off as we came into port made me wonder what it would be like out at sea without them.
Tired and cold, we rode the short distance from the ferry to the waiting room. It wasn't what we'd hoped for. There were no comfy seats to have a chance of getting any kip. I asked a staff member if there was anywhere we could lie down and he said not really, and then said that he assumes we know that the building gets closed up at about 5:30am, and everyone kicked out. No, we didn't know that actually, we were told it's 24 hours.
True to his word soon after we'd changed back into cycle gear, we were very politely asked to leave, and in the cold and dark wind we cycled off into Dieppe sleepy.
We'd been here before in daylight, and we figured some cafes or a bakery might be open, but it was just a bit too early and it was quite deserted. Only the odd person out. So we decided we'd just have to cycle on in the dark.
We were on a totally different route this time. On the Paris trip we took 'Avenue Verte' which is about 30km of flat through as disused railway line towards Paris. On this route, we immediately hit a long, big, steep hill, before we'd even left Dieppe. We couldn't believe it.
We cycled on through some villages until the streetlights weren't frequent enough to see any more, and a quite busy, unlit road meant we had to sit on a verge and wait half an hour or so for sunrise. It got quite cold, and the tiredness kicked in, but we'd clocked up another first.
Just before 7am we were on the move again as dawn broke and we could finally see the road surface.
John, capturing the sunrise (and the sheep)
We knew that this part of France can be quite remote and a little bit run down in places, because we did the Paris test run. We were really surprised on that trip how remote northern France actually is - we were expecting (without any justification or reasoning) that it would be packed full of beautiful villages with cafes and boulangeries every half a mile. We deliberately routed more southerly on this trip, having taking advice from other tourers, but we were still surprised by the lack of places to stop/eat/drink. But that's also the excitement of cycle touring - you never really know what to expect. It might be that there are loads of more interesting villages just off track, but we'll never know. And since this is much less about sight seeing (sadly) and much more about getting the miles done, we can't explore too far 'off track'.
With each village or hamlet coming into view there's renewed hope of breakfast. But it's not to be. Not yet. Strangely, there's never a shortage of pharmacies or hairdressers, but cafes seem few and far between. Two hours later, a bit cold, and super-tired, we find a little roadside cafe-cum-truckstop and grab the chance to get some breakfast of tartine burre (bread, butter and jam). The lady spreads the butter thicker than the bread itself, but right now that seems like a really good idea. A coffee warms us back up.
Hit the road again and about an hour later seize the opportunity for another coffee, a croissant, and a spot of shopping (bread, cheese etc) for the route - having made the decision early on that on this trip we'd learnt our lesson (apart from on day 1, and day 2) and would make sure we're always carrying some sort of food for lunch, just in case.
After many more miles through lovely scenery, and with the sun warming us, we come across a pretty park where we sit in the sun for lunch of baguette and brie - now the trips starting to get enjoyable!
Follow a river for a bit, then some hills, all the while the scenery doesn't disappoint, and now it's sunny things are really great. The sense of freedom and achievement is already high - we're cycling in France! That just seems so amazing. The planned route on the GPS takes us up an unimaginably steep farm track, where we can barely keep the front wheels on the ground. Finally reaching the top, hot and exhausted, we realise the road we'd planned to take is actually a motorway, and there's no way we're going on it or across it. Feeling just a little bit peeved and grumpy, we ride all the way back down and route around. We switch to letting the Garmins auto-route to the destination for us - ignoring what we planned on the computer at home - and actually it's bike routing is pretty good and much easier to follow. So we abandon our carefully planned route, and just cross-check with the map that the Garmin hasn't done anything too stupid, and from here we'll let it take us wherever it wants. More adventure, and if it throws us anything unexpected we'll just deal with it as we go.
A few more steep-ish hills and we finally roll into Rouen (through some less than attractive outskirts) around lunch time.
We have a quick cycle round and try and see some of the scenery and the cathedral (which unfortunately is part covered-up for repairs), and pick a place in the sun for lunch. While waiting for food we plan the afternoon and work out where to try and stay. We've bought sections from the Michelin France camping guide (it was too big to justify bringing the whole book), and also have a campsite list from the tourist office, as well as the Garmin databases. Using all three we find there are some sites quite close, so, since we haven't slept properly for a long time and have covered quite a few miles, we pick one on our track just a bit out of Rouen. Plan made.
Another quick cycle round and then, Garmins fired up, we head down and follow the river (which turns out to be the Seine) on a traffic-free path - which changes the mood of the trip totally and now this really feels like an adventure! It's scenic, it's sunny, the river's beautiful, we've got a campsite in mind, and a backup, and we're heading there, and its still early.
Steve (not taking pictures of himself, honest) at the Seine in Rouen
As on our previous days, some roads are empty and scenic, others busier and less 'romantic' shall we say. As we leave the river and get back onto the roads it's relatively busy and we have heavy traffic passing. We've got scenery at least, so it's not all bad. Finally we break away from river, and climb up. And up, and up, and up. This, we decide, is the steepest, longest climb we've done so far - even steeper than the road out of Dieppe or the wrong turn this morning. It rounds a bend and continues. Almost a park road, we barely see another car, and we take a nice long rest at the top. For not the first time, I'm glad I swapped out those gears.
Approaching the campsite (only a mile or so away according to Garmin), we stock up on more food, and get a bottle of wine. We don't really know what to expect of where we'll be camping - if we can buy food etc - so we go prepared for the worst. Some amazing villages take us close to the edge of the river and the campsite should be just the other side. A land owner calls out to us and we have a conversation in French - or rather John does since his French is excellent, and mine basic. As it turns out, we can't actually cross the river here, but it's a confusing conversation and we can't work out if they just don't want us to go through their stables or if we really can't get across. (later it proved correct - there was no bridge so no idea what the Garmin had in mind). With new directions, we turned back, out through the village, a few extra miles, and then a huge bridge takes us over the very wide Seine. The traffic's stationary, so we feel even more proud of our bikes as we ride through it all.
The campsite's in Pont de l'Arche (Camp 'Eure), and as we approach, the little town looks beautiful and historic, and there are lots of signs of life and restaurants and cafes. Hooray! We scurry down to the campsite which is right on the edge of the town, and idilically placed next to the river, and check in.
It's towards the end of the season, so it's relatively quiet and we're told to pitch wherever we like, so we find a little place as close to the river as we can get, and set up camp. 7 Euros for both of us, now that's a bargain and makes the expense and effort of hauling camping gear seem worth it. An English couple are parked in their campervan next to us and they say hello. They're driving back to the UK from Spain, and have just pulled in for a break, a quick nap, and a cup of tea. They're about to head off but before they do, as we set up camp, they very generously make us a lovely cup of tea and we chat about our plan of cycling from London to Cannes - which they think is a bit mad. They're a lovely couple, and meeting such nice people on the journey makes it all seem worthwhile.
Idyllic pitch next to the river. There's even power!
We grab a quick cheese, bread and wine then hit the showers (which are OK but certainly don't live up to the stories of French campsites being luxurious). A quick change, then onto looking at the plans for tomorrow. Weather = not so good with a thunderstorm forecast overnight! Maybe we'll get lucky. We make the decision, that depending on how bad it is tomorrow, we may not pack up early if its raining and everything's soaked. Although proud of our achievements, looking at the big scale northern France map, we've hardly made a dent in it, which makes us a bit nervous. We've got to get all the way to the bottom of this map, then all the way to the bottom of the next map too! What were we thinking? Gulp.
Pont de l'Arche is very close to the campsite
Its still early so we take a wander into town, and we're surprised again at how much is shut. Surely we're not that far out of season, and surely people who live here need to eat? We eventually find a little restaurant, and I tuck into a nice, protein giving omelette. The GPS's at the table for the last bit of planning for tomorrow, and exhausted we stagger back to the campsites and hit the sack, wondering how the tents will fair if it does thunder.
I finally drift off into some well needed sleep.....
Next Day
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