(Backup) Day 3 - Calais to Boulogne- 52 kms

17 Jun

We started early from Dover as we were both awake at about 6.00am with a fire alarm.Chris and I made our way out of the building but others seemed oblivious to the alarm...

Our room by the way was made for Quasimodo as we both had to crouch to get around.

As we had no access to our bikes we undertook a walk around Dover to find a coffee shop.... nothing doing in Dover apart from coffee at the BP servo opposite our hostel

Dover as a city seems rather run down we both felt with vacant shops and vagrants sleeping on the Main Street

After coffee in our room we packed and made our way down to pick up our bikes for the quick ride to the ferry. Lucky we had done our homework on this the previous evening as the route was rather confusing and there were a lot or trucks and buses making the trip to Calais.

Once on the ferry we had breakfast and coffee and settled in for the chanel crossing of about an hour

Arriving at Calais we had to wait for about 40 or so trucks to embark before we could ride off finally!!

Lucky for us we received an escort by one of the ferry employees in a van which made things easy...

After finding our way to Calais town we took out cash from the bank had lunch....bread rolls and juice and set our selves for the ride to Boulogne....easier said than done as the roads were confusing and getting used to the guidance with the Garmin took some time

Finally we were on our way initially along some canals with bike paths then along roads which were not busy at all

The country was basically cropping farms with wheat, corn,potatoes as well as dairy. The roads were undulating with a few biggish climbs where the gradient was over 5 pc.

We had good weather with sun temps about 25 degrees and a slight headwind.

Finally we reached Boulogne at about 3.15 but finding the youth hostel was a real challenge

We took a break in the centre of the town to figure our our final route

It took nearly an hour to navigate the final 5 kms of the trip!!!!

The youth hostel is very good and the staff are terrific

The city of Boulogne is famous for being a staging point for the assembly of Napoleons grand armee as he tried to invade England and there is a monument which overlooks the English Channel atop a hill where you can see the English coast in the distance....

All very interesting really

Tonight we will go to the city for dinner and have an early night ahead of our 150 km ride to Amiens!!!

An early start will be required

Chris on the ferry