Lille to Artres
A comfy bed, zonked out sleep and a classic French breakfast, it’s feeling more like a ‘holiday’ today!
The morning’s challenge was to get out of Lille, another city where red lights magically turn red as cyclists appear. A group ride through a busy city is not my favourite activity, but I tucked in behind James the guide and stayed out of trouble.
Today’s riding was Paris-Roubaix territory with the ‘opportunity’ to ride on the infamous cobbled sections. Paris-Roubaix is a one day event also known as the ‘The Hell of the North’ describing the route of the race after World War I. Organisers and journalists named it this in 1919 after seeing its condition after four years of shelling and trench warfare. Fortunately for poor old Bob and my bum, most of the cobbled sections could be avoided apart from the essential photo opportunities.
Lunch was sourced from an award winning boulangerie/patisserie and it was delicious, I do absolutely love a French picnic!
Today was a ‘short’ day so it was a very civilised and relaxed arrival at the hotel.
My room was beautiful until I arrived..
Dinner tonight was a set menu so much less hangriness inducing and absolutely delicious. Ben the guide did a talk about Caesar, the historic reference for this trip and we were given the route sheets for the next week - 94 miles tomorrow are going to require a lot of patisseries.
The morning’s challenge was to get out of Lille, another city where red lights magically turn red as cyclists appear. A group ride through a busy city is not my favourite activity, but I tucked in behind James the guide and stayed out of trouble.
Lille morphed into Roubaix and the first stop was at the velodrome, famous for the shower room with open, three sided, low walled concrete stalls, each with a brass plaque to commemorate a winner. Sadly it is being renovated but Bob could still pose for a photo.
Today’s riding was Paris-Roubaix territory with the ‘opportunity’ to ride on the infamous cobbled sections. Paris-Roubaix is a one day event also known as the ‘The Hell of the North’ describing the route of the race after World War I. Organisers and journalists named it this in 1919 after seeing its condition after four years of shelling and trench warfare. Fortunately for poor old Bob and my bum, most of the cobbled sections could be avoided apart from the essential photo opportunities.
Lunch was sourced from an award winning boulangerie/patisserie and it was delicious, I do absolutely love a French picnic!
Today was a ‘short’ day so it was a very civilised and relaxed arrival at the hotel.
My room was beautiful until I arrived..
Dinner tonight was a set menu so much less hangriness inducing and absolutely delicious. Ben the guide did a talk about Caesar, the historic reference for this trip and we were given the route sheets for the next week - 94 miles tomorrow are going to require a lot of patisseries.
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