We left the campsite and headed into Saint Omer. We parked at a free Aire with the intention of staying there the night. Having walked into town we soon realised that very little was open on a Sunday apart from the bars! Not fancying a drink that early in the morning we stopped for a coffee. Although we couldn’t find anywhere you cold get a pastry to go with the coffee so we picked up a couple of the biggest, stickiest buns at a boulangerie and took them back to the van to eat.
From here we headed off to La Coupole History Centre. This This is one of the “special constructions” (Sonderbauten) that were built on French soil by the German army, 1943-1944, to allow the implementation of new weapon systems: the flying bombs (Fi 103/V1) and rockets (A4/V2) constructed to strike England. This was a truly sobering experience that made us both grateful to the men and women who gave their lives during the World Wars.
Next stop was to Parc Departmental D’Olhain, this is a paid Aire I found in All The Aires Northern France book. It was €10.50 for the night which included EHU, water and waste. The pitch was perfect. Nestled in the trees with a couple of other vans there. In the morning we cycled up to the centre and chose route 7 to follow. This was labelled as moderately difficult. I beg to differ! I know I haven’t been on the bike for 3 months, but this route was hard. The terrain was muddy, the sort of mud you get from clay, it was rocky in places and hilly! Still, I’m glad we did it even if I was shattered.
When we returned from the ride we decided it was time to get going. Next stop was Amiens. I had found a park up on Park4Night that was on the banks of the River Somme a 20 minute walk to the town centre. When we arrived it seemed a bit deserted but it was getting late and we were both tired and hungry. So we thought we would give it a go.
We walked into town and found a really nice restaurant, Les Bouchees Doubles, where we had a rib eye steak and a carafe of wine.
The following morning we walked back into town to see The Cathédrale Notre-Dame d’Amiens which is one of the largest ‘classic’ Gothic churches of the 13th century. What an incredible building this is.
After stopping for breakfast at a Crêpe we headed back to Wike to plan the next stage of our tour.
Mileage – 122
Routes:
St Louis to St Omer – 24km D943
St Omar to Parc Departmental d’Olhain 92.8km D942 D642
Parc to Amiens – 80km D1
Costs:
Parc Departmental d’Olhain – €10.50 per night incl EHU, water and wast
Amiens – Free
Looks like you’ve got into the swing of it!!!!
So far so good, but it has only been a week!