Chelmsford to Albert

 It was up early and on the road by 6. 

A quick trip down to Folkstone and a date with a chunnel. We arrived well before our scheduled 8am check in. It is so easy. You arrive at an unmanned kiosk, enter in your booking number and the machine spits out a pass which we taped to the windscreen. Then down a slip road into a large carpark where there is a shop and amenities. Wandering around the carpark are workers who let you know when you are required to board. We no sooner arrived at the carpark when we were told we could proceed. So its along another slip road of maybe 1km then English passport comtrol and 100m later French passport control then into holding lanes similar to our ferries. We were only there 5 minutes and down a ramp and drive into the train. The whole was less than 20 minutes.  25 minutes later we were in France riding on the wrong side of the road. Brilliant. 

Our tomtom navigation directed us on all country roads through many many farming villages. Many of the villages didn’t look prosperous with lots of boarded up houses, nevertheless most of them were very pretty and obviously very old and the style of them, really you couldn’t be anywhere else. 

The countryside was pretty but unspectacular. Just crop farmers and a few beef and dairy herds as well. The roads were generally pretty good and I enjoyed travelling at a reasonable speed while getting used to the unfamiliar right side of the road. 

We were on such remote roads, we didn’t see a cafe or gas station at all so we had to deviate off route to find gas. We found gas ok but I am embarrassed to say our first dejeuner in France was McDonalds. 

So back on the bike and to our destination for the night Albert. 

It was too early to check in so we went to the WW1 museum here. Albert is in the Somme district and there are many memorials and war graves dotted around nearby. The museum which is situated in a tunnel with a different entry and exit point, under the large cathedral. The people of Albert sheltered in the tunnels during the war. 

A really good display amd quite sobering especially in light of current world events. 

Just the ultimate exercise in futility, 1.2 million men killed or wounded and the gain in ground for the allies was 10km. Will we never learn!

After this we checked into our delightful little apartment which is located in the centre of the town. After unpacking and freshening up we had a nice walk around. 

There is a nice garden to wander in and a very impressive cathedral just across the way.

 Surprisingly there isn’t a lot else going on here. I think because we are quite close to Paris most tourists just come for the day and then head back there. 

We have enjoyed our first day in France. 

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