Mike and Jen

Belgique, you are magnifique!! We were sad to leave Oudenaarde, not only because of the memorable brewery tour, my dears, but because we had little time to tour the city. We left Chiel and Jantien to sail Elodie down river whilst we headed off for another very pleasant cycle. Mostly along the canal paths with the occasional foray into the Belgian countryside. First detour was to a nature school for children. They had some great stuffed animals and birds and videos of birds in their natural habitats. Soon after leaving the school I discovered I had a flat tyre. A quick stop to reinflate it and we were on our way. Next stop was a wonderful patisserie and coffee shop. It required a couple of hill climbs to get there but was well worth the effort. ... read more

We must be in the Irish region of France as Murphy has been everywhere today. We awoke to find that French public servants had pulled a lightening strike and the lock operators had not turned up for work. Uncertain as to when the strike would be lifted Henry decided that we should head off for our bike ride and check in with Chiel later in the day to see whether we should return to Valenciennes or continue on to Tournai. We were berthed right in the middle of Valenciennes but were just resting against three pillars so poor old Chiel had to manoeuvre the boat to align the offload point with the jetty. This was an exacting task which involved much friendly banter (in Dutch) between Chiel and Jantien (forward deck hand aka chef). After completing ... read more

Back in the saddle again!! After a delightful but moving day yesterday, it was back in the saddle again today for the ride from Peronne to Marquion. The day started with the transit of a couple of locks and then we offloaded the bikes and headed upstream along the Canal du Nord, pausing briefly on a bridge to take photos of Elodie as she passed beneath us. The riding today was at a very pleasant pace and the weather was kind, with light winds and scattered cloud. Temperature of around 15C. We rode through picturesque village after picturesque village. Very quiet as it was Sunday. Henry found a café open for morning tea and we stopped in a lovely picnic location in Moeuvres for lunch. We made such good time that we arrived at Marquion at ... read more

Today reminds me of that Beatle's song "Long and Winding Road". 55km of long slow inclines and short whizzes down hill, all into a 20km/h head wind. Those with battery power were certainly at an advantage today. Not a great deal to see today other than the gothic cathedral at Noyon. Built in 1140 to 13th Century with various additions over the centuries including France's oldest religious library built in the 1400's. Noyon had its first Bishop in the mid 6th Century and a Pope came from Noyon in the 14th Century. The other significant feature of the ride today was our first Commonwealth War Cemetery near Brie. A small but very moving tribute to those that gave their lives for our French colleagues in the Great War. When you read the ages on the tomb ... read more

Can this be possible??!! Yet another great day. 45km ride of pure bliss, mostly along the banks of L'Oise, mostly flat and mostly on quiet bike paths through farmland and forest. And the weather - perfect!! Life doesn't get much better than this!! Along the way we witnessed the Thalys high speed train from Brussels to Paris whizzing past on an elevated track at around 300km/h. We saw farm animals (horses, cows, chickens), plenty of swans on the river and ponds, ploughed fields and vegetable patches. We even had time for a coffee break (tea for Warwick) and we still got back to Elodie in time for a stroll through the beautiful town of Compiegne (how many times have I used the term 'beautiful' in these travelblogs? I'm sorry if my use of this superlative is ... read more