Day 32 - Kautenbach to Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise

Saturday 28th July 2018

After an excellent Rudi breakfast we saddle up and head west. We are staying off the motorways again today. The main routes in Belgium are uniformly appalling, desperately in need of resurfacing and usually full of heavy traffic. It’s a lousy way to complete the penultimate leg of the tour.

However the route we choose through the Ardennes forest is lovely. Little holiday villages and windy routes through the trees and up and over the hills.

Leaving the Hotel Huberty (photo taken by our host Rudi)


Our Ardennes route follows the Semois river valley to its confluence with the Meuse. We stop for lunch in the ancient walled town of Rocroi, where a famous battle of the 30 Years War in 1643 saw the French finally defeat the Spanish invading army.
Parked up in the main square of Rocroi


Lunch stop in Rocroi


After lunch we ride across the vast landscape of northern France on arrow-straight A roads bypassing Cambrai and Arras and on into Pas de Calais with its wide far horizon vistas. There is very little traffic.
The fertile plains of the Pas de Calais stretching to the distant horizon

 Our destination is another favourite haunt where I have stayed on numerous occasions at the beginning and end of European jaunts. It is about an hour’s ride south of Calais.

Les Ballastières is an old French farmhouse, its barns and outbuildings built around an enclosed courtyard and is quite charming. It is run as a B&B by Sue and Paul, an English couple with impeccable biking credentials. Of particular interest for us is the ‘indoor camping’ concept of the old barn. The upper level contains a number of cubicles with basic beds, reminiscent of a Scottish bunkhouse. Below is the games room with cooking facilities, pool table, TV and DVD player, dart board etc. full of bike mags and pennants and biking memorabilia. Guests should provide their own sleeping bags and towels. 
It’s inexpensive and has proved ideal for my needs over the years.
The gateway into Les Ballastières

We are greeted warmly by Sue and Paul and recount our latest tales as we sup a complimentary beer. We have heard rumours about problems at the Channel Tunnel so I get on-line to see what’s going on.

It seems that the air conditioning systems on some of the tunnel trains cannot cope with the hot weather. Many have been taken out of service and a backlog of delayed and no doubt disgruntled passengers has built up at the terminal. 

The response of the company seems to have been to increase prices for the few remaining places and they are now asking for £60 or more for a motorcycle crossing. So I get onto the ferry companies and soon find a crossing from Calais to Dover for £24 each leaving at 10:00 tomorrow morning.

I haven’t used the ferry since the tunnel opened. Tomorrow we will.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 27 - A day on the Nockalmstrasse

Image
Monday 23rd July 2018 Today’s dawn brings blue skies over the Nockalmstrasse. There is a cooling wind blowing but the conditions will be close to perfect. The last time Mick and I rode here it was a wet day which spoiled the fun a bit. Another time there was a classic sports rally event on with some of the drivers treating the road as a race track, completely ignoring that it is a two-way road. So the prospect of finding a 50-year-old souped up coupe in your face as you round a blind corner was rather unnerving. Then one of them blew its engine and left a 400-metre long trail of oil down the road. That was scary as hell. Empty roads and perfect curves But there are none of those problems today. The road is empty in the early morning. It’s great to ride without the weight of the luggage on the bike. The K1200rs has a sporty side that needs unleashing every now and again. It is a heavy bike but beautifully balanced and it’s 130+ ps is more than enough for this sort of roa...
Read more

Day 25 - Kamnik to Kobarid

Image
Saturday 21st July 2018 The hills on the other side of the valley are bathed in sunshine at 6am but it will be another hour before it makes it’s way to our camping place. We pack up the gear and move the tents over into the sunshine that is creeping slowly across the field. There has been a very heavy dew and they are very wet this morning. But we’re ok as we make an impromptu breakfast on the little sheltered bench next to our camp. We set off just after 8am and ride back through Moste to the A2 motorway that will take us to Kranjska Gora at the foot of the Vrsic Pass. Just before the highway we stop at a fuel station and buy a 7-day Slovenia vignette for €7.50. Dark clouds are gathering and after 30km or so of fast highway riding the rain starts.  Fortuitously there is a rest area just ahead and the loo block has an overhanging roof. We scoot under before the heavens open and a short sharp rainstorm hammers down turning the highway into a maelstrom of spray. But...
Read more

Day 1 - Let’s Begin With France

Image
Wednesday 27th June 2018 It's that time of the year again, EuroBimble2018 is all set to go. This time Mick and I are heading south to visit some old haunts and some new. We will ride down through the Alps before taking a ferry to northern Greece from Venice. Then back the long way round, looping through Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania and Hungary and back into the eastern Alps in Slovenia. So it'a mixture of old and new routes. I am riding my trusty old BMW K1200rs and Mick is on his BMW R1150GS. Both bikes are now 16 years old from a time when BMW still made quality machines.  At Mick's house, all ready to go It’s a lovely morning, a little bit misty at first but as we head down the A1 the sun burns off the last of the cloud and the day starts to really heat up. We are going via the Eurotunnel so the ride down from Yorkshire to Folkestone is the usual boring drag. But at least there are no holdups so we are in good time for the crossing and are allowed to ...
Read more