Skip to main content

Dunkirk (D20)

My cunning plan for today, a plan that has been brewing for a few days now, was to have a sneaky day off. I have been adding extra distance most days and at 791.88 miles I am achingly close to my initial 800 miles in 20 days plan. People always ask how many miles in how many days so having some simple numbers helps. I have been rounding down to the whole number of kilometers each day but even if I add those back in (19 lots of 0.5 of a kilometer is 9.5km) I am still shy of the mark. You can see I did the maths. Numbers aside, the sun is shining, I am here to cycle and I visited the Operation Dynamo museum on an earlier visit to Dunkirk. So, my new cunning plan is a trip out to Bergues which, if it's the place I think it is, will be a good destination and at under 40km for the round trip I can have a late start and an early finish.

On the way out there is a brick hut with murals on each side. This is what I think I look like. 
This is more realistic. 
And it was good to see some balance.
Such a good route today going out through Boir des Forts.
My destination was as I remembered. This is a former slaughterhouse which was still running up to 1969.

I still haven't mentioned the weather much and that is because I have enjoyed perfect cycling conditions for the last 20 days. Cool at times like today and up to 20 degrees Celsius other days. I usually catch at least one wet day - you remember those days - and this time it is forecast for tomorrow when I ride 10 miles to catch the ferry home.
Image taken from the BBC Weather app

Then on to the lake.
If judged by PPK (photos per kilometer) today has been a great day out.

So, an excellent day and today's 36km takes me to 1303km or 814 miles if that is your preferred unit of measurement. 800 miles in 20 days done.

Popular posts from this blog

Index

Posting daily updates is good though I do tend to go back and edit putting everything out of sequence so if you want to read sequentially this Index may help as might  the  Introduction  which sets the scene.  Index Introduction   Day 1 - Dieppe   Day 2 - Ferriéres-en-Bray Day 3 - Clermont   Day 4 - Chauny   Day 5 - Sorbais   Day 6 - Charleville-Meziere (arrival) Day 7 - Charleville-Meziere Day 8 - Charleville-Meziere Day 9 - Fumay (arrival) Day 10 - Fumay Day 11 - Fumay Day 12 - Fumay Day 13 - Fumay   Day 14 - Fumay Day 15 - Fumay Day 16 - Lobbes Day 17 - Tournai Day 18 - Ypres Day 19 - Dunkirk   Day 20 - Dunkirk   Concluding Notes Dunkirk Little Ships Bonus A monumental start on the ride to London Bridge. My bike looks so tiny.
Read more

Dieppe

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.  T.S. Eliot Dieppe is an excellent arrival point for a cyclist because you roll off the ferry and you are immediately in a beautiful port town. Docking at 14:45 means you miss lunch though that just forces a ride around town in search of pain . Saint Malo in Brittany is another example of a great arrival whereas the Dunkirk ferry terminal is somewhat remote and the feeling can be more of landing on a hostile shore; a feeling probably fuelled by the rich diet of WW2 films we get in the UK. Image generated by ChatGPT I say in search of pain and hopefully the italics has alerted you to the fact that I am referring to French bread. The un-italised version I don't need to go in search of because last Sunday I ran my first marathon and spent the days after wondering if I'd ever be able to walk without pain let alone ride a bicycle. I don't suffer from muscle soreness after exercise and it came as a ...
Read more

Fumay (D15)

did I not explain to you once before that no one is ever told what would have happened? Aslan in response to a question from Lucy about what could have been had things been done differently. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis.  My tours normally run from a beginning to an end with perhaps some rest days and I tend to think that, in part, it is the journey and the journey's end that keeps me motivated to move forward. Today is my last full day in Fumay where I will have stayed a full seven nights doing day rides and I haven't felt the need to be moving on and I haven't contemplated what would have happened if I'd arranged my traditional tour. In fact I have enjoyed the relative luxury of having access to a kitchen, beautiful surroundings in which to cycle and building some small degree of familiarity in the area. Today, I am heading out to do a repeat of yesterday's ride but hopefully without the dreaded bonk. With that in mind I will try not to re...
Read more