The walk from Abbeville to Amiens has been fantastic, the best part we’ve experienced so far. It’s taken us along a canal and early in the morning it can look really quite magical! The characters that have passed us and there lives have also looked equally as enchanting, one sight stood out, an English couple bopping along on their barge with their scooter and bikes on board shouting “it’s a fantastic life this” they looked like they really ment it too, allowing yet another idea to pop into Chris’s head!

We’d read in the Lonely Planet that Amiens boasts the best Gothic Cathedral in France. Thomas came through Amiens on his journey. After being kicked out of a Nunary that morning, he went into the Cathedral to see John the Baptists head, but found himself disappointed that they were unwilling to show him. He would have gazed upon the statue of St Christopher that we too were now looking at some 400 years later. The Cathedral looks impressive enough with the sun shining on it’s now pale stone, but by night they put on a light show which shows the true colour of the Cathedral in the 1300’s, which was amazing and I was dead impressed!

Amiens has been a great city to visit, the vibe here is really good and it also seems pretty undiscovered by tourists, seeing as it’s August there’s really not many British here. We’ve also splashed out and tried the local cuisine along by the quay side, which is particularly vibrant at night. I have to say it’s probably the best meal I’ve ever eaten out, I even ate the ice cream which would have just excited my friend Carloyn (the biggest ice cream fan) far too much!

The next city we visit will be Paris, which we are hoping to reach in 2 weeks, so it’s back to camp fire meals.

France is full of dogs, the city streets are covered in their poo. The villages are full of guard dogs of varying degrees of scariness, they even put them in the castle turrets ! This is our favourite so far. Click on Barker to see him in action !!

We naively thought that August in France was going to be all flip-flops and bikinis/Speedos, but alas……

Only our third day, Sangatte to Audinghen, we found ourselves in a torrential down pour for hours, by the time we reached a local village, near the campsite we were heading for, we looked like we’d forgotten to take off our clothes before getting into the shower that morning. Chris bravely ventured into the local bar, and with his best French (think of the Policeman from ‘ello ello’) found out that there was no room at the Inn, however an extremely kind Dutch family overheard Chris’s story of woe and offered to help us out - the Dutch, my family has always been fond of them.

Week 2 yet more rain, it just kept coming for 3 days. We’d managed to walk 20 miles inland to Bezingham in 29c all day, to a campsite in the countryside set back by a lake, it looked like an idyllic place to chill out for a day. We went to bed with blazing sun and woke to the thunderous sound of rain on the tent. Having eaten all of our food supplies the previous day, we were then faced with a 10K trip just to buy some pan au chocolat, my feet were having none of it, luckily my bum had recovered from the week’s exhilaration on the tandem and when the offer of bikes were put our way I found myself very pleased to be back in the saddle.

The lessons we’ve so far learnt are that ponchos aren’t just for emergencies there for life and maybe walking is a bit loco as a form of transport in this day and age. I’m sure Tom would’ve flown easyjet given half the chance.

Oh yeah and never download Travis on your ipod.

So were back online again, and this time with some pictures !! We’re currently in Amiens, where we are going to stay for a couple of days enjoying this impressive city. so here’s a quick summary of our journey to date.

Day 8
Thurs 11th Aug

Dover to Calais. Overcast.

See Michele’s post on the first day in France.

Day 9
Fri 12th Aug

Calais to Sangatte. Overcast and windy

A short walk for starters, The campsite was full of tourists.

Day 10
Sat 13th Aug

Sangatte to Audinghen. Hardcore wind and rain.

A long days walk as campsites were just full. Thank god for the Dutch.

Day 11
Sun 14th Aug

Audinghen. Hardcore wind.

First rest day since Odcombe and a chance to dry out after yesterday. Michele passed her Complementary Therapy exams. We celebrated with some excellent food and wine.

Day 12
Mon 15th Aug

Audinghen to Boulogne. A bit cloudy but no rain, good walking weather.

A good walking heading for the first night in a Youth Hostel in a town. We ran out of food due to lack of shops (and planning) on route, it’s hard to walk on an empty stomach. Boulogne is a disappointing town.

Day 13
Tues 16th Aug

Boulogne. Hot.

Needed a day to update web, buy food and do some washing. Boulogne still dull.

Day 14
Wed 17th Aug

Boulogne to équihen-plage. Hot.

Didn’t get up early enough to make any distance. Decided to stop at our last view of the sea.

Day 15
Thurs 18th Aug

équihen-plage to Bezingham. Really hot.

20 mile walk along GR123 into the cuds (see Long Way Round Book) !! Really hard work, especially as we ran out of water and food, not a good idea. Thankfully the campsite had a bar !!

Day 16
Fri 19th Aug

Bezingham. Torrential rain.

What’s with this weather ? Had to rest due to very sore bits and huge blisters.

Day 17
Sat 20th Aug

Bezingham. More rain.

This is getting annoying, nothing is dry, we can’t sleep because the rain is so loud on the tent. The campsite does have a bar though !!

Day 18
Sun 21th Aug

Bezingham to Montreuil. Not much rain.

We had to get to some civilisation, Montreuil is a splendid walled town, Tom stopped here on his journey, we went in the church that he would have gone in, a very strange feeling.

Day 19
Mon 22th Aug

Montreuil. Drizzle.

Finally a proper rest day with sleep and an interesting town.

Day 20
Tues 23th Aug

Montreuil to Beaurainville. Grey start got brighter.

Really awful campsite, more of a soulless trailer park really. We had no choice though, so we get on with it.

Day 21
Wed 24th Aug

Beaurainville to Toutefontaine. Hot start rain later.

Great walk with another miserable campsite.

Day 22
Thurs 25th Aug

Toutefontaine to Crécy. Sunshine and showers.

Excellent walking again, really getting into our stride. Arrive in Crécy on the eve of the anniversary of the Hundred year war battle. The Brits won so we kept a low profile, although with my accent most people seem to think I’m Spanish anyway !? I must stop using my own brand of Italian/Spanish.

Day 23
Fri 26th Aug

Crécy to Abbeville. Sunshine and showers.

Walked through a fabulous forest on our way to Abbeville. Back into a town and back to full hotels/hostels/campsites. The Tourist Information person offered us a bed in a B&B only 10 K away ??

It felt a little strange standing on the ferry deck, calling my friends/family and watching Britain fade into the distance, the realisation that we were indeed now about to begin this long adventure suddenly dawned on us both. Paris at this point, the first major milestone, feeling like another world away and with France as a whole feeling even more foreign than it should. I had been waiting for the nerves from both of us to kick in, this was it they finally had.

Typically, having left Dover rather hurriedly, having not wished to hang around any longer than necessary, we’d rather hastily jumped on the ferry without booking a campsite place the other end - which of course we discovered was full once we got there!

We sulkily checked into a motel hoping that sleep would take our nerves away. Tomorrow the really hard work would begin.

Hello all,

We are in Amiens now and have finally got some internet access !! We have loads to tell, but firstly we’ve put a few picture on the pictures page, so please check them out. We will do some posts tomorrow.

Cheers
Chris

Intrepid travellers to be recognised in Hall of Travelling Fame

Our heroes Michele ‘Bobbie’ Roberts and Christopher ‘Curly Wurly’ Worledge can count themselves among some of the World’s greatest when you consider other members of the travelling gang.

Irish gypsies aside there are a whole host of factual and fictional people who have felt it difficult to stay in one place for more than a short amount of time. THE WHITE ROOM is taking a moment out to recognise them.

And of course being a centre for interactivity, we want to hear your suggestions for other famous travellers.

Tom Coryate
The Peregrine of Odcombe who started this crazy adventure

Thomas Cook
The man who almost single-handedly changed the whole concept of travel in the modern world. Taking advantage of technical innovations (the railways in particular), Cook made it possible for the first time in history for working-class and middle-class travellers, including women, to move cheaply and safely across Europe and eventually the world.

Christopher Columbus
Columbus spent some of his early years at his father’s trade of weaving and later became a sailor on the Mediterranean. Then he discovered America

James Cook
Described as “… the ablest and most renowned navigator this or any country hath produced. He possessed all the qualifications requisite for his profession and great undertakings …” Whoever said that hadn’t met Bobbie or Worledge

Walter Raleigh
Went all over the World in the name of good Queen Bess, and as is famously depicted in Blackadder II, brought back the potato to England. Was executed by James I for being treasonous.

Dorothy
Quite through no fault of her own, ended up in the mysterious land of Oz, killing a couple of Wicked Witches along the way, helping the munchkins find their inner love. Came back in a terribly scary sequel later which involved, among other things, making a sofa fly.

The Littlest Hobo
“The Littlest Hobo” was about a dog called London and was originally created by Dorrell McGowen for a TV movie in 1958. After the film became popular, a television series was filmed in black and white between 1963 and 1965, with a total of 65 episodes. In every episode the dog arrived in a new place, made new friends, solved their problems, then left. “There’s a place just keeps calling me…”

Dogtantian
Rip off of D’Artangian by Dumas, majestically turned into a cartoon of never ending episodes. Dogtanian and his friends, the three Muskahounds are sent on a special quest to rescue the Queen of France’s diamonds. Talking mouse and everything.

Shrek
Modern day fairytale hero who looks like Wayne Rooney has a donkey for company in the quest to save Cameron Diaz.