picardie
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six
A strong tide pushed the ferry sideways up the channel last night, it docks later than usual. Through passport control a few minutes after 6am. Cinema ticket booked for 6pm. Two hundred kilometres, twelve hours. Or eleven if I want to wash and lie on a hotel bed for a bit first. Up on the…
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three
The call and response of owls fades. The bell of a church concealed in the blackness strikes seven and the incoming day is heralded by the abrupt dawn chorus of crowing cockerels. Almost and hour later the arrival of the sun lights the sky aflame, incandescent all around with all the hues of red and…
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Somme Friendly
After one of the recent Normandie trips Claire mentioned she was interested in riding over there sometime. A few minutes later a weekend was pencilled in and an email sent out to some of the usual suspects to see if we could get a little social weekender sorted. Cal and Josh were both up for…
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Armistice Day 200
After storms on the south coast and a rough crossing we rumble down the ferry ramp into France in calm, dry weather. It’s really early, a bit after 4am local time, body clocks on 3am and barely a handful of hours of sleep. Rather than heading straight onto the road we nip into the port…
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Tour de France Sojourn Day 4
Headwind. Headwind. Headwind. Three hour nap on a ferry. Headwind.
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Tour de France Sojourn Day 2
The best thing about camping is being gently woken by the dawn chorus. The worst thing about camping is the dawn chorus starting at 5 a.m. And thus starts another long day. A few hours later I am diverted by the first of many Route Barrée signs in Abbeville. I follow the trail of yellow…
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Tour de France Sojourn Day 1
I rattle and rumble down the ferry gangway into early morning France. It’s around 5am and I’ve not had anywhere near enough sleep. Out of the port and it’s left up the first hill of the day. An old woman shouts “ALLEZ!” from a high, unshuttered window. Light seeps into the sky, I can see…
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Weekender
Last weekend was the opening of the Art Cities Landscape project in Amiens. As my friend Will Nash has work in this years show, and as he could carry my tent and sleeping bag in his campervan, it seemed daft not to dig out the panniers I’ve had since I was 16 and book a…
the man from icon 