10 Years On - Part 3 of Account of Cycling Northern France

I remember leaving St. Omer without breakfast, despite having paid for it, because the staff bar, the maid told me, had not got up. Something similar happened in a place I stayed at in 2000. This was the day I was most mistaken for a Belgian. At 'La Coupole' museum which was a V2 base built by the Germans and looks like something out of a James Bond movie, they asked me (in French) if I wanted the tape recorded tour of the museum in my own language and when I said yes they gave it to me in Flemish. Fortunately I was able to retune it to get the English commentary.

The riding was not that tough and reading these accounts I seem a pitiful cyclist, worn out by some hills. I know from recent experiences on a bicycle that these days I cannot cycle even a a kilometre without getting nauseous, but in those days I had been doing 60Km trips on a Sunday. Years later I found that I had been making mistakes with handling my diabetes while on cycling holidays, but I do not think that explains how weak I seem to have been on these trips. I suppose I was driven by guilt more than pleasure in doing these holidays. Also I knew that I could afford nothing more expensive. When you are paying £50 per week rent and that is tough an expensive holiday was impossible, but I felt I had to have one. Looking at how unhappy I was afterwards though, I increasingly think I was wrong.

I remember struggling to clear one of the last hills before Arras and being overtaken by a teenager asking me why I was finding it so hard. I did have too much luggage, but he was right that I was very poor at my chosen hobby. A year later a more sympathetic elderly man overtook me on a lesser hill but was not derisory; discretion often comes with age, but he was probably thinking the same thing and I felt as low as on this earlier occasion.

One thing I have noticed in scanning in these pictures, is how few people appear in my photos. Arras, shown here, has a population of over 45,000 people and Amiens, featured in subsequent postings, has over 135,000 people. Yet my images seem to show these towns after an attack by a neutron bomb with most of human life wiped out! To some degree this shows how quiet French towns can still be even in June. Given that August is the month when most French holiday, this was not a time when most people were away and the schools had not even broken up, so these pictures are from normal days and evenings in these towns.


Wednesday 16th June 1999

Today I got up promptly and after paying the maid for the room left at 09.00. I knew the route would be long but not how hilly, almost immediately I was up and down hills. Most I could climb without getting off.

I took a side route to see 'La Coupole' the V2 launching base and looked around the interesting musem. I got sandwiches there for lunch so could keep on cycling.

After Therouanne it was a straight road but tough with a series of plateaux, the worst were at Ames and Divion so I simply got off and walked.

I managed to reach Arras at 16.00 and went to the tourist office. I had not seen places like yesterday in St. Omer though there were a couple. I was too exhausted to look so I went to 'Le Diamant' a 2-star place they recommended, right on the main square. It is 280F per night which seems standard for town hotels. Arras is a pretty town.

I showered and slept for ninety minutes. Then I walked around the town which has busy stretches and quiet streets. I ended up at a Tunisian restaurant just next to the hotel. My wander helped me get familiar with the town. The restaurant was 'Djerba La Douce'. I had a coffee outside the 'Café Au Bureau' then came back to read and watch television.

Weather: Sunny and very hot.

La Coupole near St. Omer, June 1999

Entrance to La Couple, June 1999

Ruins beside Road into Arras, June 1999

Place des Héros in Arras, June 1999

'Le Diamant' was to the right of the picture on the right-hand side of the road you can see leading off in that direction.

Details of the Town Hall in Arras, June 1999

Dutch-style Building Facade, Place des Héros in Arras, June 1999

Shop Fronts in Place des Héros in Arras, June 1999

Buildings around La Grand' Place in Arras, June 1999

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