We cycled up the dreaded ramp onto the ferry with no issues, except I dropped my chain and Louis cycled us both up the top bit. On the ferry we took some sofas at the bow and fell asleep. Forgot to use the opportunity to charge items but, at least we got a nap in.
Once the boat docked in Calais it was about 03:30am and our rough plan was to sleep in the ferry terminal building, with its toilets, shelter, shops and all that jazz. We could see the building from the exit ramp.
However, the port staff had other ideas.
As we rode down the exit ramp, we were asked to follow behind a van that would take us directly out of the port. There goes our plan. So, we decided to find the canal we were planning to cycle along anyway and just set up camp at the first available opportunity.
The canal through Calais was understandably pretty built up, with no options except some front gardens. Calais then merged into the town of Cologne, and it was the same story there. Cycling out of town the canal then started to get flanked by more fields. Between two of these fields was a grass farming track that we decided had to do. There was a large ditch, on a slope and only 5 meters from the canal road but, it looked ideal.
We set up the tent in the dark in about 10 minutes just as some drizzle started. Somehow we managed to fit all our bags inside the little porch area. Inside the tent turned out to be roomier than the small footprint of our ultralight, 2 man, backpacking tent suggested.
We fell asleep instantly. At 5am. Fully expecting daylight and a shouting French farmer to wake us up in a few hours time.
Despite being a mere 5 meters from the canal road we both slept pretty good. Louis slept with his head at the bottom of a hill, but had no complaints. The canal road had a surprisingly high number of cars go past in the morning that we could hear, despite its farm track nature. Every car that I heard approaching I thought was slowing down, to stop, to tell us we couldn’t camp here. But, we weren’t bothered at all!
We started packing up camp at about 10:40am and it was a bit chilly. By 11:40am we had groggily got everything sorted and were ready to go, with the foldable solar panel set up, ready to be put to the test.
The EuroVelo 5 route that we’re hoping to follow generally south east through Europe isn’t fully completed from Calais, so we used Google maps to direct us to the town it starts from, Wittes. We started off cycling along the same canal we slept by. The road was pretty bumpy but not terrible. This quickly changed to gravel roads. And then pretty much unrideable farm tracks. This meant our morning progress was slow.
We started following Google less and just winging it and ended up on a French cycle route for a bit. This was a real treat. Quiet, smooth and flat roads meant we started to actually get some distance ticked off, rather than the slow, trying not to get a puncture or buckle the wheels progress earlier. The cycle route kind of ended, or we lost it, but we then took some D-roads that were quiet and great to ride on. We had a gradual but long hill that we just churned out in the low gears. Hard work, but good to get the blood pumping, and we still haven’t had to push it yet.
After about 20 miles we stopped at a Lidl on the outskirts of Saint-Omer. Finally we got some water which we’ve really been lacking after starting with little yesterday, we ended up having barely any today until now about 13:30. We really need to get better at this. Being in France we got some croissants and bakery item treats. As well as some bread, fromage and fruit for lunch later on.
The weather was awesome and the foldable 30W solar panel we have actually worked. Louis’ phone was charging rapidly, maybe even too quick. Good news for our first test.
We cycled on towards Wittes. Once there we found the fabled EuroVelo 5 cycle route and its signs. We stopped for lunch before then cruising along it in the afternoon sun. We stopped at some public toilets along the cycle route which were much needed, and had been since breakfast today. But it’s good to know how far you can push your body to resist these things.
We then carried on pumping the pedals and just gliding along at a nice but easy pace. We were mostly along a canal, on a segregated cycle lane and glorious sunshine.
Today there was no real end destination or aim. Seeing as we started late, we just wanted to see what we did but get an early night so that we’d be on track for the rest of the trip.
By 4pm we’d ticked off about 35 miles and both decided we’d go til about 5pm and then start scouting places to camp for the night.
Right at 5 the cycle path actually brought us to Saint-Venant and a natural place to stop and check our options.
As what seems to happen a lot, once we stopped the trike gathered some interest. The chattiest interested party however didn’t speak any English. Our French is non existence except saying “sorry I can’t speak French, can you speak English?”. However this didn’t seem to deter him. Some hand signals got involved and we then were pretty sure he was asking for directions to the place we’d come from, Wittes. This was easy as we were able to point him up the signed cycle path we’d come down.
However, when he left, he didn’t go that was and actually cycled back the way we came from. Guess this will just be another one of Earth’s unresolved mysteries.
We decided to keep heading south towards the town of Robecq on quiet roads to see what spot we could find to sleep.
We thought we’d found a spot amongst the fields but literally a couple minutes after we stopped, 3 tractors drove past and one stopped right ahead of us. We could see 3 more farm machines in surrounding fields and decided this wasn’t the place.
We cycled through Robecq and then joined another canal path before a little triangle of grass spoke to us. Just off the path, in the entrance to a field, it seemed a good spot. We decided to cook dinner and if no one had a problem with us, we would set the tent up after.
We cooked some pasta, dried our clothes in some bushes and set the solar panel up to catch the last rays. All while revelling in what a good day it had been.
Most importantly as Louis said, we didn’t get wet and the trike didn’t break down.
Despite not pushing off until 11:40am, having 5 hours sleep and not racing, we ticked off 81 km. Our solar panel worked. We ate croissants. We’d briefly found EuroVelo 5. We’d had a good day.
After dinner we set the tent up, a lot easier in daylight. Got packed up and were inside for 20:00. Hopefully a good night sleep and tomorrow we’ll tear along the open road again.
Hopefully some more pastries too.
Daily summary stats:
(4am): 5.7 km. 20 mins. 14m elevation gain
81 km. 4 hrs 27 mins moving time. 514m elevation gain. Max 46 km/h
Cumulative Trip stats:
150.7 km. 8 hr 13 mins moving time. 868 m elevation gain.
