Skip to main content

On the Somme Again - Corbie and Beyond

Finally arrived in Corbie having passed the once elusive Red Baron crash site. This time I didn't stop. Once off the autoroute the new 80kph limit does seem to extend journeys.

I parked across from the cemetery and then went across. 

Corbie Municipal Cemetery Extension

William Devall.

After putting my RBL cross by the stone, I took a photo and then retired. I sat in the shade of the big trees to cool down. 

I was hungry and after some reflection I set off for Albert and the non-toll route home. 

Lunch in town at the Hygge cafe. Plat du Jour. Potatoes with Lyon sausage. The sausage is loaded with pistachios. 


Oh yeah. There was lettuce with a nice dressing. 

As I was riding I had Diet Coke rather than beer. 

Checking the time as I relaxed in the sun I realised I needed to abandon the non-toll route and revert to toll route. Time had got away with me and TomTom was showing an arrival time too late for my booked shuttle. 

On the way back to the bike, parked in the square, I tried out the new toilet. Many years ago on my first visit, it was an old style cast iron pissoir. Now it is brick built. C'est la vie. 

When in Albert a photo of the cathedral and the golden dome is de rigeur. 

Albert Basilica

The TomTom "ride home" route took me back towards Amiens and then on the A16 northwards. 

The Emovis tag worked on entry to the autoroute just as it had on the A26/A1. 

I arrived at the Shuttle just about 5.30pm and the guy managing the queues said "ride to the front" of both French and English border controls. 

Parked in the new bike bays

The trains were retardé. I had an H hanger and F was being retimed to H's time. In the end the bikes were loaded on the last space on that train, eventually leaving 12 minutes even later! Not too bad for me but the rest of the F people were about an hour late!! 

On the Shuttle

The TomTom stats for today

NB. Slightly over the 130kph autoroute limit. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Bikers Loft 3

The last day. After leading yesterday's run to Ypres, I decided to take a back seat, or a different place in the line of 8 bikes. And so after a repeat of the previous day's self cook breakfast we packed the bikes and headed off. Aiming for Nieuwpoort aan Zee as the first stop. The plan to follow a canal all the way there to where it meets the sea at a huge marina. I was bringing up the rear of the column and saw a sign like this one. "No Motor vehicles" After only one short section of the towpath/road. We tried to alert those ahead but Cal and I were the only two not heading past this sign. We chose to turn left across a lift bridge onto the other bank, where Nieuwpoort was signposted 15kms away. As we headed along we sounded our horns and waved at the "first wave" to no avail. Some miles further on their side came to an end. By then we were way ahead despite dropping the speed to 40. We carried onto t...

New Battery?

The weekend showed how weak the battery has become.  Having had to use the dbPower unit on four separate occasions during the day in Belgium was the giveaway. We are in the second winter of this problem where the battery isn't strong enough to start the bike. In the summer it charges and holds that charge and although I keep the dbPower unit to hand I rarely have to use it.  But in winter it barely has the power to turn the engine over. It's simply "clunk". The lights come on though and that probably doesn't help. So what to do? Being a fair weather biker nowadays I won't be using the bike that often until the new year. Do I get a new battery sooner rather than later? It might end up freezing away in the garage. I have a garage in a block away from the house with no power, so a trickle charger is no use either. I have been looking at a replacement though.  A  Motobatt  with a high cranking power should be around £75. So unlikel...