Well... I kind of promised to write another blog post about life during and after corona, and some thoughts that go along with it. Unfortunately that didn't happen. However, things are moving; the corona lockdown measures were relaxed, borders opened up again and so we decided it was time to spread our wings again! Borders with France opened on 15/6, and we left 17/6! Destination: Les Ulmes, in the Loire region, where we will be spending a week with our friends in a holiday home. After that week we don't know yet; if all goes well, we'll continue cycling but where and how long - no idea yet!
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Back on the bike! The French borders opened up again, so here we go!
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Departure from Leuven station
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| Arrival in De Panne. As we want to reach Les Ulmes by 27/6, we opted to take the train from Leuven to the station closest to the French border near the coast. to gain some distance. From here we cycle along the coast for a couple of days, until we turn inland. |
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These first days we had lots of rain. 4 hour non-stop on the first day - but hey, no complaints!
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The first campsite we had planned to stay at was... not open. Not yet cleared to reopen after corona - we hoped this was not going to be common, but so far it was the only one... So we continued another half hour and once we arrived at the next campsite - open this time - it stopped raining for a little while. Time enough to pitch the tent and get a few things out to dry a little. It continued to rain the rest of the evening and night, so dinner was inside the tent!
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Beautiful and very diverse landscapes on this ride! Hills, forests, cliffs, beaches, historic places, charming villages, and mostly small roads to ride on.
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This region is well known for the role it played during WWII - and reminders of this are all over the place.
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Day 2 - and more rain!
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Not too many sheltered places, but sometimes you get this! A brief sunny moment for lunch, in Calais -with some effort you'll notice the ferry to England in the back.
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We have been following the Eurovelo 4 long distance cycling route for quite a bit. It is hardly signposted (luckily I had downloaded the gpx tracks) and definitely not always that nice, yet it gave some good options sometimes. From time to time the route went through not so cyclable terrain - fine for mountainbike, not fine for loaded tourbikes. But: really really beautiful...
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In terms of views, no complaints! Notice the white cliffs of the English coast across the channel.
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Rolling hills, green pastures, ...
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Off road: definitely heavier, definitely more beautiful
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You can never get enough of this kind of landscapes I guess
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A sunny break at the end of the day. We had a lot of hills on this day, often quite steep climbs that brought us from sea level to 100-150m high and then down again. Repeat. So with about 80km and lots of these hills under our belt, we needed some snacks - and a beautiful sunny place to enjoy!
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Near Le Touquet, time for a coffee break. Rain again... Not so easy to enjoy a coffee break in the rain.
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The Eurovelo 4 went over a dike, very muddy - again nice road, but rather for a mountainbike without panniers
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A friend recommended a campsite (thanks TC!) near Le Crotoy, and near a very nice nature park. This area gets flooded with sea water during high tides, the plants can grow in these harsh conditions.
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Lilas de Mer, or Lilas of the Sea
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While walking you are constantly reminded to check the tide tables and leave this place well before the tide rolls in. Very strange, while it looks like a grassy plain.
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Just wanted to include this picture. A sunny morning, the tent fly already removed to dry - it was soaking wet from morning dew
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One of the most beautiful stretches of cycling along the coast, near Le Hourdel
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Le Hourdel, another beautiful natural place - there are often many seals here, we saw one in the distance, too far for a picture unfortunately
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Further on the way towards Ault, and we started to see the impressive white cliffs in the distance.
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No idea why these snails like to live there?
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Rustic campsite in Berneval-Le-Grand
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View over Le Treport, after a steep climb out of town
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And back down again on the other side
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Impressive cliffs at Berneval-Le-Grand
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And a very steep little road through the cliffs all the way down to the beach
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From just before Dieppe we turned inland. Initially we thought we'd continue to Caen and then change direction, but we adjusted our plans and headed for Rouen. More wind and rain was awaiting us, yet the region was beautiful, very green, rural and peaceful, and great for cycling.
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Wonderful place for a... coffee break of course!
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Lunch break, sheltered by a large tree and luckily so, because while having our lunch it started to rain again - pretty much until we reached Rouen at the end of the afternoon
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In Rouen we have booked an AirBnB studio in one of the historic houses in the centre, a nice and cosy place to stay. Notice the bikes in the aisle. We stay here for a day, one day of rest before continuing the 300+ km or so towards Les Ulmes.
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