Late start at the Somme because hotel breakfast didn’t start until 8. It was going to be hot and windy and besides, we’re struggling to find places to stay within our daily cycling range. So we were happy to start late towards Laon, some 80 km away. Komoot decided we should follow the Somme rather than the ‘official’ Francigena because Komoot is a smart app that seems to know what’s good for us.
An Osprey flew across the road as it patrolled the Somme. I added it and Cetti’s Warbler and the Short Toed Tree Creeper to my ‘lifers’, first time seeing any of them.
We left the Somme behind us as we paced ourselves hour by hour, break by break including a lovely forest lunch in Frières-Faillouël, the Aisne commune in Hauts-de-France. The setting started us on a discussion on how art works are inspired: as David Hockney said, “We always see with memory”.
We got hot and very bored with the headwinds, and dropped our breaks to 45 minute intervals. We reached Laon around 5 and after settling in to another hotel, we were delighted to catch a bus up the very steep hill to the Cathedral for dinner. I think we cycled 84 km and I don’t know how many calories I ate at dinner. The tarte tatin for dessert was huge and must have been 700 by itself.
21°C Cloudy
1 Place du Marche aux Herbes, Laon, Hauts-de-France, France
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