France and Belgium

Pictures first, since I seem to be having problems finding time to write this post. I finished quite a lot of the text, but I'll add some more at the end when I get time.

Sarah and I took our bikes and got the train down to Dover last Wednesday and crossed to Calais on the ferry. The crossing was lovely and smooth.


We wheeled around Calais, looking for a canal that our colleague told us about. The countryside around as we followed the canal was fantastic--fields, the canal, quaint houses, and people fishing in the canal.

After a couple of hours we realised we weren't really going in the right direction! We pushed on and made it to Bergues before we collapsed. Finding a hotel was really easy--we just found a local sign and walked in and booked a room. The hotel was really comfortable and the breakfast was huge. In the town square there was a crazy statue--I am going to use this picture in lessons to talk about ratio, or something.



We felt a lot better the next morning and easily made it to Veurne in Belgium by lunch time. We crossed the border on a tiny farm road. I took this picture from France and the yellow sign is at the entrance to the Belgian village.


We had lunch at a picnic table on the side of a smooth, wide cycle trail that led into Veurne. Here we are eating our croissants, tomatoes, sliced cheese, and apples. We pioneered the tomato-cheese wrap--made by wrapping three cherry tomatoes in a slice of cheese. Basic and delicious!


At the larger crossing back into France.


Outside a village grocery store--Sarah's and my bikes and the cool Batman bike. Note Sarah's new pannier bags, which she bought in Belgium.


A village church outside which we took a break.


The white cliffs of Dover on our return on Saturday.