Four Tour Dieppe
Day 2, Sunday 16th August – another hot sunny day and straight after breakfast, I made a start on my front tyre. Not wanting to risk another problem, I threw the tube away and had to re-position the rim tape as it had slipped half an inch. The tyre had signs of wear on the sidewalls but it still looked quite good so I pumped it up and was all set to go.
As we were near the coast, there were only three directions you could go in so today, we decided on an easterly route. This part of the coastline of Northern France is basically an extension of the southern coast of England simply separated by the Channel and as we were roughly opposite the Severn Sisters - which also happened to be the name of the Transmanche ferry – the French coast undulated in sympathy. This meant that after crossing the bridge in the centre of town....
....there was quite a climb over to Puys where we re-grouped by the church.
A few miles further on, we came across a familiar place-name in cycling genre, Belleville!
After passing a large nuclear power station belonging to EDF, we cycled on amongst a throng of wind turbines stopping briefly below one to listen to the wind noise coming from the tips of the blades which towered above us.
It was now nearly midday so we headed down to the coast at Criel where the weekly ‘bring & buy’ in the high street was in full swing. Moving along the coast, we had lunch at Le Coq Hardi in Mesnil de la Plage where the ever adventurous Richard tucked into a pot full of Moules.
Suitably refreshed, we set off back along the coast road to Criel before turning inland and followed the valley of the river Yères to Touffreville-sur-Eu on route to St. Martin-le-Gaillard.
Time was marching on so we decided not to go any further down the valley but to head back towards Dieppe. Naturally, all of the valleys run north/south so any cross-country route involves climbing out of one into the next but at least most of the climbs, although lengthy, tend to be at a fairly easy gradient. On arrival at Bailly-en-Rivière, we stopped to take photos of the interesting church with its coat of arms in the foreground and a war memorial flanked by two, silver & black-painted, shells.
We now enjoyed a long descent into the valley of the Eaulne and the town of Envermeu before another bit of a climb over to Arques-la-Bataille. A good 74kms ride and back at Peters place, we enjoyed a light evening meal in the warm evening sunshine on the patio – facing south-east and being sheltered by hedges, it is a real sun-trap.
During the meal, the subject of our conversation wandered from understanding the universe to our own planet and global warming – it all started from some interesting cloud formations and Edwin saying that a series of three looked like galaxies!
Dave Galle
Next page - Day 3