London to Willeman

Tuesday 21 June

Today, 21 June, is the longest day in this part of the world, but UK and France are an hour apart

I think both countries do things different just for the hell of it.

In London the sun was down about 8pm I thought, and up again at 4am, so France have a bit more logic on this one being an hour later, or maybe the difference is a daylight saving thing.

Was all packed up and on the way before 7, overcast sky but took a punt it wouldnt rain and left the leggings in the box.

There's a heap of bikes in London, scooters and sport bikes mainly, everyone wearing full bike gear, even those on scooters, two main reasons I'd say,

one, it rains every half hour, and two, the chances of getting knocked off a bike look to me to be pretty high.

The English appear to be good competent drivers, after all they have that Stirling Moss, Graham Hill etc, legacy, but there's a big tendency to push the envelope with displays of skill smoothly zooming into impossible gaps.

I found myself late yesterday having to stop in the middle of a roundabout to avoid being smacked by one expert going for the slot in front of me, lucky there wasnt anything close behind.

Apart from that I'm reminded of the impression I got on my years ago visit, there's a noticeable civility in the way people conduct themselves. I recall being at Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard or something similar, people were climbing up onto the huge statues for a better look, and a bobby was going an endless circuit saying "Will you come down please", and as fast as he got one side cleared, there'd be a new lot climbing the other. Never lost his cool, patience and manners what this place is about, except if youre Stirling Moss. 

Traffic on the A2 and M20 down to Folkestone wasnt too heavy, leaving London it was all coming the other way, built up again close to Dover, which eventually split off for the ferry I suppose, leaving a light queue for the EuroTunnel.

Surprised myself coping with the auto check-in machine, pre-booked you just input your 8 digit booking code, the machine gives you a preference of departure time, press which one, and its off to the wait line. I was booked for 11.55am, but got on the 9.20am.

You ride down the quay, and Goodbye Pork Pie it straight in the door of a gussied up rail wagon, several of them linked in such a way you could drive from front to back of the whole train, and mostly double-decked as well. The train moves off imperceptibly and gets up to 140kph, so smooth you wouldnt notice, you ride in the wagon with your bike.

Took less than an hour and a chance to chat with the other 3 bikers, all Englanders, a couple, he on an MT01, she on a BMW Tourer, off to the south of France, and the other bloke on a GSX off to Germany.

Mount up and out the door onto the quay, and out the gate onto the freeway, all there is to it, French passport check on the UK side, but the vopo just waved me straight through.

Hardly on the freeway 5 km and spotted an off-ramp to the coast, sounds like me....

And then the bliss started...

little country lanes, excellent agricultural crops meticulous to the road edge, tidy little villages, and several diversions out to the seaside or cliffs, heavy with the concrete pill-box legacy of the War, most of which entranceways filled in and roses or poppies growing on the fill, the scene of thousands of deaths, hallowed ground really, with several military museums along the way.

Saw one German railway mounted 280mm Krupp gun, variable charge, with a max range of 82km at 14 shots per hour.

Fantastic amount of steel and concrete consumed in the whole coastal defence system. Had short stops at Cap Blanc Nez and Cap Griz, both figured in the wartime coastal defence system, hillsides pockmarked still with old shell-holes.

When you beat yourself to exhaustion trying to get everything done to get away for a spell, you wonder if its going to be worth all the effort, then in less than 50km it is.

Slotting into France's keep right was a cinch after the US, just the quaint give way to everything on your right, as opposed to UK's old right hand rule, keep left, just to be different.

Three other small triumphs accomplished this morning as well.

Finally got some cash off my fee-free card at an ATM in a little town the size of Marton, ditto for some fuel from a supermarket carpark, equally as beat up as the ATM, you slip your chip-embedded credit card in, wait for authorisation, then pump your gas and take your receipt, 95, 98, and diesel at the pump. Also got caught for E.70c at a freeway toll section, and managed to work my way round the French instructions at the booth, till an English language option pops up. Even in one's own language its a bit of a trial, without dismounting or de-gloving, and a queue up your derriere.

Generally, I've been able to let the GPS run the show, but we got stuffed up in a small town with cobbled one-way size streets twisting in no set pattern, it lost its way by insisting I go to the town centre waypoint, then u-turn back down a 10' wide  cobbled canyon... yeah right.

So here I am in the middle of this glorious rural scenery, 2 nights at this place near Hesdin, about 80km inland from Boulogne sur Mer, guests of Stuart and Janice Ross at their B&B. There's another couple staying here as well, drinks and dinner commence at 7. I've got the upstairs ash-beamed attic of the 200 year old farm house, couple of happy dogs, some chooks and ducks on the lawn, birds singing...., very relaxing.

Another lesson learned, stay away from roadside stalls signed up "Friteries", you get a massive pile of chips and 3x 5/8" slabs of burger beef closed in a split half breadstick. I gave up halfway through the chips, but the french bread was.... as only french bread can be.

Have to keep my eyes open rather for patisseries or french bakeries, there's one in nearly every village, or where I can get a decent coffee as well.

The agriculture here's a bit of an eye-opener alright, top farming all of it, big fat heads on the grain, a gently rolling vista of just coming ripe grain crops, interspersed with sugar beet, spuds, mustard or soy, chicory actually I remember, and you pass the occasional sugar processing plant with its multiple silos, most of France's sugar comes from the beet.

Jees, 3 weeks of this I'll be... dunno, lost for words

Most of the roads are less than secondary, 70 to 80kmph, plenty of nice curves, bugger all traffic, and the Bandit's doing it nicely. The secondaries have usually a 90k limit, and the road signage is easily understood and consistent. I've reset the GPS to avoid toll roads and heavy traffic.

When I asked the English bikers on the tunnel train for some comment on driving in France, they both remarked straight off the cuff, the roads are fabulous, much better fun than UK,

so there you go mates...  you'd love it here.