Éclusier-Vaux

This morning we were awake for 7:30am. The temperature stayed good inside Wanda last night even though it was just 7°c outside this morning it didn’t feel to cold in Wanda so I put the fire on when I got up.
We had nothing planned for today except hiking along the river Somme and finally the rain had stopped and we had blue skies and winter sunshine, so we had a slow start to the morning and both had breakfast before setting off to explore at 9:30am.
We set off in our coats, hats and scarfs turned right at the top of the road leading to the airè crossed over a bridge and crossing the Somme before turning left onto the canal path which is also known as the Somme veloroute.
It was a beautiful morning, the canal was like a mirror and it was so clear we could see the bottom. We saw herons, kingfishers, buzzards and woodpeckers and it wasn’t long before we started getting warm and taking layers off. The only problem was a biting wind so as soon as we took something off it soon went back on.
We walked the Somme veloroute for just over 3 miles ending up in a beautiful little village called Frise. It was a proper chocolate box village with tiny houses circling the ponds of the Somme with a church on the hill and no traffic.
Then we turned around and headed back the way we came to Wanda.
We got back to the airè at 1pm and for lunch we had a vegetable soup that we had brought from a local supermarket and fresh bread. The french just can’t do soup like the Brits. I’ve tried it twice now and been disappointed twice and they don’t do a range of soups like the brits either. Ellie made it taste better by adding a chicken stock cube.
Once lunch had gone down I decided I’d go for my final bike ride and unhooked my bike, got dressed in my warm gear and then went back towards the Veloroute.
This time I carried on past Frise through to the next village of Feulliers and onto the village of La Chaplette. I rode for 45 mins which was 18km and then stopped for 10 minutes before heading back the way I had come. It was a lovely ride on a tarmac route with beautiful scenery. The wind was still biting cold and as the sun started to set it got colder still and at 4:30pm just as the last rays of sunshine were peaking through the clouds I got back.
While we’ve still got access to water we’re both going to have showers here and then refill before we leave in the morning so I put the hot water on, got my cycling kit off and waited for it to heat up. Once the water was hot enough I then put the fire on so everything was toasty especially the bathroom which is like a sauna.
After a quick shower we had our final cooked meal for this trip. We just had a womble dinner trying to use up the junk from the freezer section but it was still tasty.
Then it was time to relax and watch tv and reminisce on all the things we had seen and done on this trip.
Tomorrow we’re heading for Calais.Read more