Tour of the tour

[kabman]

Well, part of it .
I'm setting off on Friday to see the first three stages of the Tour de France, followed by a wander around Belgium, and maybe a bit of Zeeland, for two weeks.
I'll be getting a train from Warwick to London Marylebone, a quick ride to St Pancras, another train to Dover, ferry to Dunkirk and then ride towards Lille until I find a suitable village along the way to stop and watch.
I have no real plan apart from those first three days but hope to camp at a few bivakzones in Belgium, see some of the ww1 memorials around Ypres, and catch a classic car show near Brugges next Saturday.
I did a trip around the Netherlands with my daughter last year but she's maxed out her 90 days of visa-free travel in the EU so I'm on my own this year. That means not having two bikes to split the camping gear and using trains means I can't take the Bob Yak trailer that worked so well last time. Space is causing more of a problem than weight. With the trailer, you can just throw all the big stuff in and, if you stop at a market and buy loads of tasty treats, stack a couple of shopping bags on top without a care.
So I've repurposed a bar bag that usually carries lunch on my commuting bike, bolted a couple of extra bottle cages on the forks, and strapped the tent on top of the rear rack. I did look at buying a smaller 1 person tent but would rather utilise what gear I already have instead. It's a bit big and heavy for one but all the tents that focus on light weight do seem to sacrifice durability and space more than I'd like. At least there are minimal hills on this trip.
I'll try a post a few updates along the way if I can manage without a handy teenager along to handle the tech.

 

[Jameshow]

Well, part of it .
I'm setting off on Friday to see the first three stages of the Tour de France, followed by a wander around Belgium, and maybe a bit of Zeeland, for two weeks.
I'll be getting a train from Warwick to London Marylebone, a quick ride to St Pancras, another train to Dover, ferry to Dunkirk and then ride towards Lille until I find a suitable village along the way to stop and watch.
I have no real plan apart from those first three days but hope to camp at a few bivakzones in Belgium, see some of the ww1 memorials around Ypres, and catch a classic car show near Brugges next Saturday.
I did a trip around the Netherlands with my daughter last year but she's maxed out her 90 days of visa-free travel in the EU so I'm on my own this year. That means not having two bikes to split the camping gear and using trains means I can't take the Bob Yak trailer that worked so well last time. Space is causing more of a problem than weight. With the trailer, you can just throw all the big stuff in and, if you stop at a market and buy loads of tasty treats, stack a couple of shopping bags on top without a care.
So I've repurposed a bar bag that usually carries lunch on my commuting bike, bolted a couple of extra bottle cages on the forks, and strapped the tent on top of the rear rack. I did look at buying a smaller 1 person tent but would rather utilise what gear I already have instead. It's a bit big and heavy for one but all the tents that focus on light weight do seem to sacrifice durability and space more than I'd like. At least there are minimal hills on this trip.
I'll try a post a few updates along the way if I can manage without a handy teenager along to handle the tech.

Sounds fun. Show us a pic of your setup!

 

[kabman]

Here it is, about to set off to the train station. It's a Kona something-or-other-dome MTB I've had since 1995. Lots of things changed over the years, not least of which are several paint jobs from silver to purple to green to red. All the parts, including the mis-matched panniers, came from cycle jumbles for next to nothing. It's my winter commuting bike, it's not light but it's tough as nails. I chose this over the summer bike because I'm expecting some gravel tracks and a couple of days of thunder storms so wanted the extra strength and mudguards. Yes, that tent really is that big.

 

[kabman]

The first day went to plan. Met a few people on the train to Dover. Everyone seemed to be heading for Cassel but all had hotels or b&b. I spotted one fellow camper on the ferry, hoping he knew of a campsite on route. They are pretty thin on the ground in that part of France - just static caravans or parking spots for camper vans. He was just heading for Cassel and hoping for the best so I offered to show him the wild camping spot I'd scoped out previously. It turned out to be almost perfect, apart from some drunken Belgians in camper vans shouting all night.

Next morning we were up, packed and on our way by 7. Arrived in Cassel a couple of hours later for breakfast. People were already staking out their spots - the caravan didn't arrive until 2 and the race until 4. I left my comrade here and headed further south to Merville. At every junction on the route of the stage there's a Gendarme, some quite officious trying to prevent the inevitable swarms of MAMILs riding along the route, some happy to let you pass, probably just bored, having been dropped off at some remote crossroads and made to stand in the sun all day. This was probably the best part of the Tour for me. Getting a cheer or an 'allez' from every group of picnicking locals by the roadside.

After the race passed by I nipped east across to Armentieres to catch them again as they looped back to Lille. Then had to ride back west to the campsite, which seemed to take forever. It was very humid, I ran out of water and was checking out every farm building I passed, hoping for a hose or tap. That shower felt so good.

Sunday morning, set off about 8. The forecast was for rain but after about half an hour it started to pour. I sheltered under a bridge for a while but it was torrential and yhe sky was solid grey. I decide to cut the ride short that day, just stay where I was instead of cycling along part the stage, then get a head start towards the third stage.

I camped at Aire sur la lys municipal site. It's aimed at camper vans and has an automated barrier that you access with a debit card. No staff. No option to pay for a tent so, after chatting to a nice English couple, a bunged the tent on their plot for free. They even charged my phone. The Tour was coming through there the next day but I wanted to get further north, closer to where I had booked the next campsite. Not far out of town, I was passed by a group of bikes, being slip-streamed by a guy on a cargo-bike. I tried to keep up, thinking 'if he can do it....', but soon had to drop off when we got to a hill. A while later I caught up with the cargo-bike. He'd stopped to blag a free t-shirt off one of the vans that hand them out along the stage. We got chatting and rode the rest of the way together. He had come on the train from Berlin. We rode through Cassel again. It featured on 2 stages this year, which is why it was so popular with spectators. It was even more crowded his time but my German friend didn't want to stop for food at the many stalls, rather press on to a supermarket at the next town. So we haggled with the gendarmes all the way to the supermarket only to find it shut. Makes sense as the roads close about 4 hours before the Tour arrives so no customers could get there. There's a Lidl half a km up the road, which the gendarme assures us IS open. Not only is it open, and we stock up on cheese, baguettes, and ice creams, but Lidl are sponsors and have a truck in the car park, with a TV showing the race, pedal-powered smoothie makers, and free t-shirts and coffees.

One of their effervescent young staff, bounces up to my friend who's sporting his recently acquired Leclerc shirt, offering him a Lidl shirt to replace it. We watched the caravan from here, collected a few goodies and gave them to some kids next to us, then he set off towards Dunkirk to wait for the race while I stayed and had another free smoothie and watched from here.