Day 14 - I hope it doesn't rain tonight

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So how did we go answering our questions:
1. Work out where we meet the Rhine
Cologne

2. How many days it will take to get there
Same as if we hadn't changed course

3. Where we are heading tomorrow
Boulonge sur Mer

4. Work out our first rest day
Monday or earlier

5. Book a hotel for tomorrow
And here's were the fun began.

There were no rooms available in Boulonge, or anywhere else we looked (under $1000 / night). This, we worked out was because July 14th is Bastille Day and happens to be on Friday as well, meaning everything is booked out. After spending over an hour looking for hotels we went to bed not knowing exactly what tomorrow would hold

New Day (Day 13). First we checked if we could stay another night in our current hotel. The guy at reception supressed a laugh when I asked him. We packed our bags discussing options. We decided we'd ride about 40kms to the town of Berck and see if we could find any accommodation.

The ride to Berck was flat and, with a tail wind, mostly very easy. Lots f wheat and corn in the fields, as well as hay. We got to Berck just before 1pm and had some lunch. We had seen both hotels and camping grounds on the maps we were looking at. I was desperate to find a hotel.
I tried two hotels I saw from the street and neither were operating. It was time to check out the camping grounds.
To Jeff's dismay, they were all full, and most of them don't allow tents. Camping consists of cabins or mobile homes mostly.
We were now in a quandry, what do we do? Since it was still early we decided to head another 20kms up the road. We wanted to be in or near a large town for supplies but our last option for accommodation was wild camping which I was not keen on.
About 6kms out from Toulet we saw another camp ground. With little hope we stopped to ask the questions and the girl at reception politely told us they were overflowing. Just as we were about to leave the boss came from out the back, muttered something in French and then said, "You can have site 140". I almost leapt over the counter and kissed her.
So I sit here now, once 3 legged stool forlornly typing today's blog. I started pitching my new tent (for the first time) and when it was up I realised I had pitched the fly, and not the tent. Ah well, looks like I'm sleeping under a fly tonight.
There is a concert on at the bar attached to the Camping Ground. It's starts at 8pm and we can get some food there as well. So that's dinner sorted.
The plan for tomorrow is get as far as we can, 60 to 70kms and book a hotel!

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Comments

[Mike1234]

"Fly" please explain.
What's a Fly. You should have crawled under the Big Top. Stay safe. All good at home