If you're like me and only thought that Calais was a dump and expedited your exit out of there looking for somewhere else to stay then have I found the place for you. 30 km south east, just outside the village of Licques, is a delightful hotel in the countryside called Auberge Du Moulin. An old mill house-turned-hotel with a stream running through the foyer - it's a gem. Accommodation is basic but the dinner is to die for. Bed and breakfast and dinner for 65 EUR. The food was ridiculously good. Day 4 started up hill for 3km and then it was basically a straight road to Arras for the next 88 km. Whilst straight on the map we did a net climb of nearly 3,000 ft with plenty of dips and cursing along the way. Rode past some fabulously large wind generators which stood proud at the top of a hill I bust a lung to summit
Stopped for lunch and for 6.50 EUR we enjoyed two baguettes with ham cheese and mayo, two cans of lemonade and two chocolate / strawberry eclairs. Gotta figure if you're burning 3,000+ calories a day riding a bike you can eat what you like!
Got lost in a rapeseed field along the way ...
Admired the linear patterns of the potato fields we passed ...
Stopped to pause and reflect on those that lost their lives so we could live ours ...
And finished with visiting an abbey 10 km outside of Arras with a unique abstract art sculpture .
Ponderings of the day
Sometimes you use the biggest cog on your bike not because you need to but because you can. French drivers are ridiculously patient with a slow Aussie cyclist doing 6 kph up a not so steep hill French bread is the best. Hill of the day - too many contenders to be fair . They were all hard in their own way Another 91 km dusted .