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Day 11: The winds and the Hills...
Day 11: The winds and the Hills...
Wednesday June 24, 2009, 58 km (36 miles) - Total so far: 438 km (272 miles)
Wednesday June 24, 2009, 58 km (36 miles) - Total so far: 438 km (272 miles)
World > Europe > France > Nord-Pas-de-Calais > Azincourt - map
World > Europe > France > Nord-Pas-de-Calais > Wisques - map
neither of us got a very good sleep last night... not sure why... maybe it was too much rest the day before, or too much coffee, or what...???... so we woke up a little late and headed off about 9am, knowing that today wasn't going to be easy....
We were heading over towards Azincourt to visit the museum there as a break on the trip... but the first thing to do was to climb out of the valley that the hotel was in.... easier said than done...!!!... The first photo is the river at the bottom of the valley.... and then there's the view from the top, and Drew making the top of the hill...
... and then as we went through azincourt village, we came across a road block that probably wasn't the biggest problem a thte time of the battle, but we waited anyway...!
... the museum was massively unimpressive, being a strange mix of art and creepy video faces.... but this was the most fun we had....
... then out of azincourt (more hills!) on to the main road... and it turned out that this area of France is really into wind-farms.... there were a lot of them, and we came across them all day....
There's a video that Drew took here.
... we then had lunch in Fruges, which is a lovely village except that it's at the bottom of another valley.... and the climb back up was not easy....!!... and at the top, while I waited for Drew to catch up, there was a guy in an advertising van just sitting there... it's obviously what he's paid to do... but he started asking about what we're doing and even offered us a few bottles of water.... (gratefully received!)... but it should be noted here that 95% of the French people we've met and interacted with have been very nice, friendly and helpful.... ignore all sterotypes, they're not arrogant and dismissive...!... anywaY, he seemed to be a cyclist also, and wished us a good journey, and off we went... but I think he got bored, so he made like he was our tour de france caravanne, driving in front of us all the way to the next town (about 8kms!)... this was him, as I caught him before he sped off again...!!!
... and then, coming back down into the valleys that we followed all the way to Wisques (except that is at the top of the tallest hill around!), I might have hit 60km/h coming down the hill.... but it was a bit dodgy as the wind was blustery all day today, and made progress that little bit more difficult.... This was the view from the top of the hill before the fast descent....
... we stopped a bit later on for a rest, where I took a few more photos, but the hill back up to Wisques was a loooooooooooooooooooooong one.... let's just say that by the time we both got here, we were done for....!... but that's the last of the 50km days done... 35kms tomorrow and even less on the last day...!!!
We think we'll be up around 500kms for the whole trip once we've finished, and the distance today certainly helped us to achieve that...!!
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