Skip to main content

Sorbais

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   
But I have promises to keep,   
And miles to go before I sleep,   
And miles to go before I sleep. Robert Frost.

These lines from Frost's poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" felt appropriate as looking at the itinerary there are two more long days ahead before my arrival in Charleville-Meziere where there is opportunity to rest.

After a late and relaxed breakfast I do a bit of chain maintenance comprising a simple wipe clean, lubricate and wipe down as there was a little bit of chain noise yesterday I don't plan on taking any lubricant home. After a brisk start I take the first opportunity to stop, take off a layer and settle in to a relaxed day on the bike; I am enjoying the pedalling and the rolling scenery of villages, lanes and canal towpaths. 
I had forgotten I'd be following the EuroVelo 3 and it's not long before I start to see the pilgrim cyclists heading south. This is also a reminder that I've ridden into Le Départment De L'Aisne which I hadn't heard of before; you might know the historic region of Picardy which includes Oise, Somme and L'Aisne.
The other cycle tourers are mostly sporting the standard badge of the clan which comprises a full set of four Ortlieb panniers and maybe a handlebar bag as well. The alternative brand is Vaude for those that want to show their individuality. 

This morning's language lesson related to boiled eggs. Oeuf dur is hard-boiled and Oeuf á la coque is soft-boiled though I didn't know this and when presented with a choice it was fortunate that I didn't give voice to my thought process which started to go down the road of "well maybe ERRF COCK is from a cockerell....". Anyway I chose á la coque and in 10 minutes found myself enjoying a perfect soft-boiled egg from a hen.

I am following a river while cycling on a disued railway embankment; the warming sun, cool breeze, rolling countryside, meadows ablaze with buttercups and woods carpeted with white wild garlic. Among all this spender I see that Robert Louis Stevenson fell out of his canoe here. Yes, just here.

Though best known for Treasure Island Stevenson was a travel writer and in addition to canoeing the rivers in northern France and Belgium he also walked, with a donkey, and wrote Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879). He has a walking trail named after him in France somewhere near Puy-en-Velay. Cycling along this long stretch of railway embankment I am reminded that France has converted alot of its railway network to a cycle network and all of that helped by Robert Stephenson who was a pioneer in locomotive development including the innovative Rocket.

The woods are still lovely, dark and deep, and reluctantly I progress to my journeys end for today.
It was a good but routine morning along the canal and a stunning afternoon on the railway embankment with glorious weather. It is close to the end of the day now and having eaten all the supermarket food bought today - including tomorrow's breakfast - I will set off hungry in the morning and now need to locate a likely breakfast stop.

Popular posts from this blog

Concluding Notes

I always squeeze as much out of a tour as possible and ultimately that leaves me feeling a bit frazzled. I usually have options and seldom do more than I want. The main pleasure for me is the cycling and I try to maximise distance covered just for the fun of it. 40 miles a day has worked well on a generally flat route with hills and shorter days in the middle week and no tent or camping.  This is a photo I took of a large billboard advertising a trade electricals outlet; not sure of the message here but I encountered it at the end of a tiring day. The Ardennes along the river Meuse is a flexible location as road, rail and cycle paths run up and down the valley and then you have interesting rides with some hills but nothing extreme I think an altitude of 450m was as high as I got and the Ardennes is rolling forested hills rather than mountains and certainly nothing above 700m. Charleville-Meziere is a good base for day rides and for day trips on the train to places like...
Read more

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

Ypres

War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. Faramir, a reluctant warrior in Part 2 of Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.  It's hard not to look back to World War I when approaching Ypres and this from Tolkien felt appropriate.  I was staying at a B&B last night which means a good breakfast this morning. There was a generous breakfast table laid out for me and, only slightly worryingly, two lit candles and fresh roses from the garden. The scene reminded me of the film Misery which stars Kathy Bates who does everything to stop her guest (played by James Caan) from leaving. I shouldn't have worried as part of the way through my meal my host announced that she had got my bike from the garage so I was 'free to leave'; and this was said with no trace of malicious intent. Lots of ...
Read more