Pont l'eveque to Compeigne (33 kms cycled)

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It was raining as we ate our breakfast this morning which did not bode well for our day's riding. Fortunately, by the time we finished breakfast, cleaned out teeth and got on deck to unlock and prepare our bikes, the rain had stopped!!

Our first stop this morning was at Ourscamp Abbey, a Benedictine monastery not far from Pont l'eveque. The abbey is on the Santiago de Compostela pilgrims' route and offers accommodation for pilgrims. Out the back is the most incredible ruin that attests to the fact that the site must have been spectacular in its heyday. A team of archaeologists were working in the ruins. They turned out to be American so they were able to tell us that this is their second season at the site (2009 and back again this year) and they are trying to map the whole site and find a chapel that is believed to have formed part of the original cathedral.

After the abbey we cycled through the forests of Dom Dourscam and Dom de Laigue as we headed towards the site where the Armistice was signed on 11 November 1918. The signing took place in a railway carriage in the middle of the forest to lend the occasion a degree of privacy. The site was also used when Nazi Germany forced France into an armistice treaty during WWII. Hitler ordered that the original carriage be destroyed so it was transported to Berlin and burnt by SS troops. A replica is now displayed at the original site that was restored after the end of WWII.

We ate our lunch in the gardens at the Armistice site with a cuckoo calling for all it was worth!! It got quite tiresome after a while. After our lunch we did not have very far to cycle to Compiegne where we will be spending the night. Everyone was very pleased that today's ride was much shorter and much easier than yesterday!! We arrived in Compiegne by about 1.30pm leaving us some time to explore the town before dinner.

After returning our bikes to the Elodie we walked back up to the road that goes over the canal and into the centre of town. Two policemen were hunting through a planter box on the footpath ... searching for a murder weapon, maybe??

Arriving in the centre of town we photographed the City Hall. The City Hall is a good example of late Gothic architecture constructed between 1498 and 1530 and renovated at the end of the 19th century. An equestrian statue of Louis 12th adorns the facade and the clock in its belfry is one of the oldest city clocks in France.

We picked up a map of Compiegne from the Tourist Information Office and went to sit on a bench in the square opposite the City Hall to study it. There was a strange man watching us from the other side of the square who then came and stood on our side of the square watching us intently. We're not sure if he was a beggar or if he was just a few sandwiches short of a picnic?? Anyway we decided to head off towards the Imperial Palace and leave him to hassle other tourists!

The Imperial Palace is the last royal chateaux that was reconstructed in the 18th century on the site of Louis V's "Louvre" a favourite royal residence. It was further renovated by Napoleon I. During the Second Empire (the reign of Napoleon II) it was famous for the "Series de Compiegne" when people of note would be invited to join the Emperor's entourage at the Imperial Palace for the Spring season.

We gained the impression that we could only explore the interior of the palace if we were in a guided tour. Having just missed a tour, we decided to head out into the gardens instead. WOW!! From the front the palace just looks like it is in the middle of town, but behind its facade hides the hectares of gardens that make up the Parc du Palais Imperial which in turn opens up into the Foret Damaniale de Compiegne. You would never guess that all of this open space hides behind its street frontage.

With black clouds rolling in we started heading back towards the palace. We encountered Carolyn and Stephen in the tunnel that leads to the gardens and they told us that they had just wandered into the palace apartments without being part of a tour. With the rain coming down pretty heavily we went back into the palace and just started wandering around!! No-one challenged us so we did our own self-guided tour of the State Apartments!!

The rain cleared up while we were in the palace so we were able to walk from there to Saint-Jacques Church without getting wet. Joan of Arc prayed at this church the morning that she was captured in 1430. The parish was later enriched by donations made by Louis XV.

Anxious to make it back to the barge in time for a shower before dinner we returned to the Elodie at about 5.00pm. Freshly showered, we enjoyed another fabulous meal prepared by Sander. Food tastes so good when you have earned it with a day in the saddle!

A few of the others were telling us that they had been watching people checking in the grass alongside the canal during the afternoon. They had decided that drugs must get dropped there to be picked up?! When we mentioned about the police searching the planter boxes at the top of the road all of the behaviour did seem to fit in with some drug activity??!

To check if Sandra (Ashley) is paying attention, I have to mention the other activity that we noticed alongside the canal when we were having drinks out on the deck after dinner. As the sun went down, the rats came out to play!! A few of the girls were a bit bothered by that and were asking if the gang plank would be brought in for the night so that the rats couldn't get onto the barge. Bernie very helpfully pointed out that the rats would be able to climb aboard using the mooring ropes ... if they really wanted to join us on the Elodie!!

Bernie mucked around with the SIM card this evening to see if we could get access to the internet access. He put the micro-SIM into John's phone (because it is not compatible with the iPhone SIM) to get a phone number so that he could get a password that he thought he would be able to use from the laptop to gain access to the internet. EVERYBODY on the barge had their fingers crossed that he would succeed, but no!!

Ah well, the lack of internet access is forcing us all to take a real break!! Bernie found out that Sander bought the same SIM to access the internet. He managed to gain access, but sucked the account dry in just a few minutes. The internet really is so hard to access and so expensive here! The funny thing is that there are virtually no internet cafes here and yet mobile broadband is virtually non existent too?!

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