Avenue Verte Day 3 Beauville to Chantilly Day 4 and Day 5

 Wednesday dawned bright and sunny but unfortunately it was to be the worst day for many.  Over half the party rose itching terribly with raised spots and had had an extremely uncomfortable night.  Bedbugs were the cause though the reception staff looked blank and in denial.  The bedbugs became a secondary issue when it was discovered Helen's bag had been stolen with her passport, money, phone and other stuff.  She was distraught and plans were made to backtrack to the police station in Beauvais to begin the slow process of getting a temporary passport to enable her to travel home.   WE REALISED THE IMPORTANCE OF HAVING YOUR PASSPORT NUMBER WRITTEN DOWN SOMEWHERE OR A PHOTO OF IT ON YOUR PHONE .

This was the day with two ride options, a long and a short.  The majority had opted for a shorter day and this enabled them to support Helen in Beauvais but still ride in the afternoon to reach Chantilly.

Lillian, Christina and I set off in very hot weather but did have a great day on the Avenue Verte route, visiting  Bresles, Clermont, Sacy le Grand (where we lunched at a traditional restaurant) , Senlis and finally climbing up to an area of national forest with many footpaths running through it.  We descended to the magnificence of Chantilly with its extensive parkland, stabling and chateau.  A memorable day for many reasons.  We were pleased to learn that Helen now had an online form to complete however it was difficult for her to access her mail accounts on someone else's phone so she would not easily be able to receive the document they wanted to send her.  (In the end a visit to the Embassy in Paris on Friday secured the temporary passport at the very last minute and she caught the train with us to Dieppe.)

Accommodation at Le Avenue in the centre of Chantilly provided us with comfortable rooms, a garage for the bikes and good dinner. 

Day 4 - Chantilly to Pontoise

The group set off together to view Chantilly chateau before joining the route to Pontoise.

A lovely day on small roads that followed the River Oise and the small villages along it.  A lovely lunch was had at Beaumont-sur-Oise with supplies from an award winning boulangerie and drinks at a bar opposite.  More gentle meanderings, at one point on a narrow track by the edge of a field of sweetcorn until we climbed to the significant village of Auverrs sur Oise where Vincent van Gogh and his brother are buried and where he painted some of his most famous paintings.   It was a very relaxing afternoon in glorious sunshine.  At Pontoise Lillian, Paul and Maggie stayed at L'Hermitage, Tim and Pat said their goodbyes and headed off for further adventures, and the remainder lodged in Le Petite Reine, apartments a little too close to Pontoise Station, but very bike friendly with bike parking on the ground floor below the apartments. The 3 storey town house was tradionally shuttered and charmingly decorated with a bike mounted on one wall and 3 wheels on another.  We felt at home until the hourly express trains made themselves felt in the rooms at the front !

Day 5 -Pontoise to Paris

Helen got an early train to get to Paris first and obtain the vital temporary passport.  Pinky's cousin who lives in Paris was a huge help at this point.  The remainder of the party were ably led by Paul and Maggie in an impressive debut partnership to get us directly to Gare Lazare for the 3.45 train to Dieppe.  There was no time for anything but the briefest of photos and we were so glad we'd left time to negotiate the lifts, the platforms, the carriages (we were looking at the wrong numbers ...1 and 2 being first and second class).  Eventually on carriage 3  - some had there allotted bike spaces others just had to stack them and help bemused Parisians lift their suitcases over us to find their seats.   Helen arrived in the nick of time.  Madelaine was staying on in Paris.  With a combined sigh of relief we departed to raid Dieppe.

Avenue Verte - Day 2 Forges les Eaux to Beauville

 Fortified by a better than expected breakfast we wheeled forth into brilliant sunshine, crossed the purpose-built cycle path over the railway and entered the green rolling hills of the open country towards Gournay en Bray. 

Having pushed the pedals over flat terrain the previous day the pleasures of rolling downhill were enjoyed and the party was in good form knowing we had a full day to do our mileage rather than the mid afternoon start from Dieppe the previous day.  Gourney en Bray has a market on Tuesdays so the town was pleasantly busy and we lingered in the sunshine over various provisions from the local bakeries.

We were then on another long straight stretch of off road cycle path beautifully surfaced and through attractive woodland towards Beauvais.  The highlight of this town is the magnificent towering cathedral with its astronomical clock.  More time for refreshments and chat.  We sorted out the glaces from the glasses and the iced coffee from the coffee ice cream at a cafe opposite the cathedral.  

Onwards, led valiantly by Tim through the rush hour traffic into the out of town supermarket zone where our beds for the night awaited.   KFC sufficed for some , others went on a tour of the huge supermarket opposite finding enough to picnic on on the outdoor tables.  Forty miles in fantastic weather.

Sou'westers Avenue Verte to Paris - Day 1 Dieppe to Forges les Eaux

 Ten fully refreshed and enthusiastic Sou'westers (Tim and Pat, Paul and Maggie, Helen, Christina, Steph, Madelaine, Pinky and Lillian) rolled off the ferry on Monday afternoon into glorious sunshine with the French countryside waiting to embrace them.  The closure of the blue metal bridge into Dieppe town meant a crowd of passengers off the ferry were waiting to file through the footbridge.  Our destination that evening was Forges les Eaux so we bypassed the town and cut through the side streets to the beginning of the route as it was running alongside the railway out of town.   Very soon we were passing lakes, cows, allotments, fields of flax not yet in flower and views across pleasant countryside scenes.  We made good progress on the wonderful surface, stopping for regular drinks.  Just before Neufchatel (our hoped for tea stop) we stopped for photos and to admire the chateau at Mesenieres, a welcome rest off the saddle with jellybabies on offer.  At Neufchatel we knew we d be too late for the creperie on the route so we diverted into town and found a bar one side of the road and a bakery the other.  Christina managed to take advantage of both facilities buying beautiful quiches and then joining us for tea/Ruby leffe at the bar.  The back room was cool and the adjoining toilet provided amusement as the lock didn't quite catch.  Only a few miles to Forges les Eaux the route becoming more interesting as it wound round and through woodland as it approached this pretty little spa town.  It was 8 pm and we d cycled 34 miles. 

Quick showers and out to eat massive plates of food at the local kebab cafe where we sat outside nattering and watching swallows/swifts (Maddie knew and now I ve forgotten which ones).  Helen and I accompanied Lillian back to her accomodation where she showed us round a beautiful period town house with high railings and curved stone steps each side of the impressive front door.  We watched a few bats fluttering at speed then returned to our less impressive but equally welcoming hotel du Colvert for a good night's sleep.