Bob and Mark cycled back into France this evening and are staying at a one star hotel in the Ardennes' Departement village of Rocroi - a 16th Century fortified place with a star shaped design. Fairly basic hotel, but not bad for 56 Euros.
Escape from the cheap and not so cheerful motorway hotel couldn't come sooner, but there were no cafes serving breakfast in the market town of Binches - just all manner of birds for sale in cages and the locals sipping beer at 10am. A coffee each was secured in nearby Thuin where the landlord supplied a map of local cycle routes. For almost 20 miles the boys were then able to avoid the traffic by cycling along the largely gradient free former railway line.
Highlight of the day was the town of Chimay, renowned for its Abbey, Trappist Ales and this weekend's motorcycle racing which meant Bob and Mark were forced to endure a 10 mile diversion. Nevertheless, the Queen Mary British themed pub was a real find, complete with Chimay beer on draft and Croque Monsieur (that's cheese and ham on toast for the unitiated) as a very late brunch at 4pm!
Bob outside the preserved Tram Railway in Thuin
This is a great facility, just being able to follow you with a mouse click which is probably less strenuous than you activity. One advantage of doing the cycling, however, is that you have morphed from "old codgers" to "boys". Hope you are both recovered from your scrapes, and are in good spirits. Rog from Loughborough
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