10 Years On - Part 2 of Account of Cycling Northern France

One thing that comes back from reading these accounts is how often I got lost cycling and wasted so much time especially entering and leaving large towns. The other interesting phenomenon of this part of the trip was just how many cyclists I met in this area between Dunkerque and St. Omer. One time when I stopped to consult my map (partly for a rest) at a crossroads, in a matter of moments six cyclists coming from the different directions stopped to help me out. Farmers would shout out 'Bon Route!' from the fields as I passed. Cafe owners expected me to come back through there sometime in the future, though I found later that was because they thought I was Belgian rather than British. This area of the Nord and Pas-de-Calais departements run up to the border with Belgium. In those days there were two currencies, the French Franc (worth about 10FF:£1) and the Belgian Franc (worth about 80BF:£1), so it would have been far harder simply to cross the border than it is these days with the Euro in both.

The Logis hotels and restaurants are an association of establishments with a high quality of food and reasonable prices. They were a little out of my price range in 1999 though came into it in subsequent years. I carried far too many guidebooks on this trip none of which I used and one of them listed the Logis outlets. I was pleased with myself in St. Omer where I startled some British schoolboys in a postcard shop by suddenly speaking to them in English and helping them out to buy their postcards. However, later in 'Le Seven' I was rather changrined when a party of three Midlands businessmen and their wives, seemingly stereotypical of the middle management of many British companies revealed very fluent French to the extent that they were joking in that language with the proprietor. It shook up my middle class, Home Counties assumptions.

Interesting is my fear that I would be unable to find anywhere to stay each evening. Given how early it was in the season and the price range that I was willing to consider I should have been more relaxed. However, it reminds me of how terrified I was of things going wrong in the 1990s and on this holiday often expected to have to sleep in a field. I cannot believe I actually quoted the very naff single 'Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)' by Australian director Baz Luhrmann (born 1962) though it did reach Number 1 in the UK charts in 1999.  Niewlet is actually Nieurlet.


Tuesday 15th June 1999

Today I woke early and breakfasted at 08.00 and chatted with two Australians heading off to Brussels. I then dozed before setting off at 09.00. I took some photos around the town and found my way out of it, South along the canal, without problem. Coming up to Berques the diversion threw me out a bit and I had to navigate around the villages to get the right route.

There were a lot of serious racing cyclists out training who wished me luck or gave directions. I encountered my first hills and got a great view over the valley. I turned off the road outside St. Omer and had a light lunch in a village called Niewlet.

I got to St. Omer at 13.00 and feel a bit of a cheat as I was only cycling for a few hours. Tomorrow it is much farther to Arras. If it gets tough I may stop at Bruay or Béthune which are nearer. I came along the canal and around the centre seeing some British coaches, the first British vehicles I have seen since leaving Calais harbour and there were school parties in town. I followed the signs to the hotel district and was tempted to stop at a Logis, not one in Dad's book, but went on and found a room above a bar, single but very clean and cheap.

I showered, then wandered around the town. It is very typically French with old alleys and buildings. I spent much of the afternoon in the main square doing postcards and drinking Diet Coke. I looked around the cathedral then returned to my room and slept for two hours.

I just hope I can find a place as simply tomorrow, especially arriving later. As the Baz Luhrmann record says "do one thing every day which scares you". This holiday is up to scratch so far.

I returned to the same restaurant 'Le Seven' this evening and had fish soup to start then a huge bowl of mussels. I came home through very quiet streets and read and finished postcard writing.

Weather: Sunny and hot.

Old Lighthouse in Dunkerque, June 1999

Roadside Chapel on Route from Dunkerque to St. Omer, June 1999

Alleyway in St. Omer, June 1999

My mother particularly likes photos of alleyways so I had a tendency to take pictures like this wherever I went even though often they would end up as not particularly good photographs.

Church Spire in St. Omer, June 1999

Dutch-style Roof Facade in St. Omer, June 1999

Bas-relief on Palais de Justice in St. Omer, June 1999

Road over Bridge in St. Omer, June 1999

The reason for this photo is that I stayed in the bar which is the white building with the dark grey roof to the left-hand side of the road. Note the young cyclists in matching cycle helmets.

Views from my Bedroom Window in St. Omer, June 1999

10 Years On - Part 1 of Account of Cycling Northern France

As I mentioned last August when I did '20 Years On' from my Inter-rail journey around West Germany and Austria, I have always been rather envious of those people who have blogs in which they recount their great travels and fill them with wonderful photographs of the places they have been. As anyone who has read this blog knows, my attempts to even go on a mundane holiday have generally ended in very troublesome failure. Now finding money short and my employment future uncertain it seems that as in the 1990s (when I had four weeks of holiday in nine years) trips will be a rarity for me. Given my bad luck, it might be sensible to leave it that way. However, I did feel that I could capture a little of the excitement of having a travelblog by digging out accounts of former holidays. I have kept a diary every day since 1st January 1978, so can dig out accounts of my trips and combine them with the numerous photographs I have taken over the years. What follows over the next few days is just that, reproducing my cycling trip which occurred on these days, 10 years ago.

All the written entries are from my diary of the time and the pictures have been scanned in from photographs I took on the journey. This was the first of three cycling trips I made around northern France 1999-2002 and even on these I ran into some problems, though they were generally pleasurable events that I look back on with affection. The trip was a real break from life living above a chip shop in East London. It was a tough time for me. I noted a few days after getting back from the trip that I sent in my 71st job application since the previous December, so, some things never change! It just takes a lot longer to complete the applications these days.

Some elements of the account bear elaboration. I only had half an A4 page in my diary for each day's events so I had to pick what I included originally. The 'ructions' at Dover Priory Station was when on a deserted platform I parked my bicycle, heavily laden with luggage in front of the disabled toilet, because I had been unable to make it stand up against a pillar when I popped into the gentlemen's toilet and a railway official shouted at me and the bicycle fell over to the ground disrupting the finely balanced panniers. He stormed off, but it upset me. Other incidents I do not mention in the account are dropping all my medicines trying to buy a ticket from the machine at Waterloo East station and being at the wrong end of the platform there, because the train had two guard's vans and I had been told to wait near the front of the train, but in fact it was the rear one that was in operation and I had to run the length of the platform wheeling my bicycle so that I did not miss the train.

The bar I stopped in on the way to Dunkerque was incredible. It certainly looked over 70 years old. The drinks were on a shelf, not refrigerated. There was just an elderly man standing at the bar and the elderly barmaid. The bar was full of old furniture including an ancient table football set. Riding into Dunkerque I found myself on a dual carriageway, which being on a bicycle I thought was illegal so I hauled my bicycle and luggage out of a cutting and up to the smaller road running parallel which a short way on simply merged with the dual carriageway. I was to do something similarly foolish in 2002 on the way to Pacy-sur-Eure. Staying at the youth hostel overnight I found myself without any water, the drinks machine had been switched off, the taps and shower had stopped working and being so thirsty I was forced to flush the toilet and drink water from the bowl.


Monday 14th June 1999

Today I woke early but did not get up until 07.00. After breakfast I went to Waterloo East, difficult to reach as you have to come through the main station. They only had ticket machines but fortunately I had the right notes. The train left at 09.33. I had to change guard's van at Ashford. I started reading 'Shōgun' on the train. Despite some ructions at Dover Priory station I got aboard the ferry with only problems with my front luggage.

The crossing was very smooth. We arrived in France at 14.30 local time. I got lost in Calais but eventually got on the way to Dunkerque by the back roads and passed through beautiful countryside in fine weather. I had a quick Orangina in a bar/petrol station out of the 1930s.

More difficulty when I got into Dunkerque, a sprawling port town. The maps did not reflect the complexities of the town. I found it difficult to find the way through the suburbs to the centre. Eventually I reached the the youth hostel overlooking the beach, it was very quiet.

I showered and set off to look for dinner. There are a range of places along the beach. It was great to promenade and eat overlooking the sea in sunshine eating at the "L'Orphie".

I have spoken quite a bit of French but people launch into complex responses then think me terse when I cannot reply, but there has been little recourse to English. I need to brush up more phrases. I surprised a German family at the hostel addressing them in German.

I am drinking Orangina non-stop for energy and refreshment. I may eat my way through my money, the meal contrasted with today's stress. Finding somewhere tomorrow may prove even worse. However, it is a surprise that I got here at all. I will just have to take each day as it comes.

Weather: Sunny and hot.

View West along Dunkerque Beach, June 1999

Notice the 'Mole', the pier along which many British and French soldiers reached ships when escaping in 27th May -4th June 1940.

View East along Dunkerque Beach, June 1999