I spent yesterday afternoon in Amiens which is a very nice city with a huge cathedral, nice places by the river and a thriving pedestrian mall in the centre.
I woke feeling very tired and still full of my headcold. The sun was out when I left the hotel and that meant I was optimistic for a nice day. Grabbed croissant and espresso in town, turned on the GPS and started the ride out of town.
Of course, the good weather lasted all of five minutes before the heavens opened and I found myself exiting Amiens through suburbia while getting drenched.
I thought the route today spent a lot of time on a bike path, but when I saw the actual ‘path’, it was muddy, wet and just a grass path. So I rerouted around it for about 20kms. This was pretty easy and the roads were mostly empty. What drivers there were, were very courteous and respectful, and I was beginning to feel very comfortable on French roads.
I stopped at a supermarket to get out of the rain and wind and got some goodies for lunch. A lady parked her car just near me and pretty soon, the smell of petrol was wafting all around. You could see the petrol leaking and she was concerned and called someone for help.
She then went into the store. As I was leaving, I saw a young guy light up a cigarette just near the car. He quickly put it out as soon as he got a whiff of the petrol. Crisis averted.
Today’s route was lovely. I felt good until the 30km mark and then felt drained.
I went through many farms, wind turbines, then onto a fairly busy road for last 15kms. The last thing a cyclist wants to see is a wind farm where all of the turbines are facing away from you. It just means it’s a headwind.
I’m really not fit. The last uphill to the hotel felt much harder than it should have, but the people at the hotel made up for that.
I’m staying at fantastic and unassuming old hotel with nice hosts. Unfortunately, there are no restaurants nearby that are open. So, I walked into town which was about about 1km or so, for a great poke bowl for dinner.
On my way into town, I walked past the church of Notre Dame du Thil. It’s old and simply beautiful and the bells were ringing on my way past. The scene was great – sun low on the horizon, old beautiful french church, bells ringing … which drowned out the noise of my stomach growling. Gee I was hungry 😁
I slept like a log. I think that trying to exercise with a headcold really tires me out and sleep is the best answer.