Weather, wheels & wonderings

Blog post number 4, and to coin a phrase from my brother in law, I think I'm getting the hang of this!

It's now Tuesday, and since my last post a full 8 days ago we have covered a few kilometres, and seen quite a variety of weather (you might have taken the Billett's out of Britain, but our obsession with the weather remains for now at least!).

We ended up staying at Bailleul for a full week in the end. It was a site that had really looked after us in the cold weather, and allowed us to find our feet in the van. During our time there, we did another couple of bike rides, last Tuesday did bring the sun out for most of the day, although it was still fairly cold. We did an enjoyable local ride, and ended with a nice picnic lunch in the town under a clear blue sky!

Wednesday dawned and the sun had once again lost his hat for most of the day, but this was an exciting day as we had our first foray into the full Classics programme. For the non-cycling reader, these are a bunch of world level bike races run through March and April mostly around Northern France and Belgium. They usually encompass short, sharp hills, cross winds, road furniture and of course and lots of cobble sections. As with any kind of sport spectating, there is a fair bit of hanging around, trying to get the "right" spot, and getting pretty cold. However, as soon as you start to hear the police sirens, motorbikes and helicopters circling, any cold toes are quickly forgotten in the excitement of seeing hundreds of riders pass you by at speeds you can't ever hope to match!

Wednesday also brought the end of week one, so time for a budget recount. £50 under for the week, mainly probably to being pinned down by cold weather, but still a positive start.

On Thursday we finally moved on, and took the short drive over the border into Belgium and to a campsite we've stayed in many times before. It was an expensive morning though as we had to do both diesel and food shopping - it's really surprising how quickly I've found myself obsessing about the "most cost effective" vegetable, or seeking out the best diesel price. It's a reality of really having to live within your means I guess.

Unfortunately the weather really wasn't playing ball today. which left us feeling a bit down for the afternoon. Although we always try and say "skin is waterproof" or "no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothes", it is still probably unwise at this early stage to get too many clothes and shoes completely soaked though! We did however, make the best of things with a lovely van coffee & pastry!

Friday was again race day, so determined not to let the weather get into our heads, we doubled all our clothing layers from Wednesday's trip and headed to watch the E3 race. A good field for this one, and with our bikes and a 40km ride we were able to see the riders 4 times. An added bonus on this was meeting our good friends Rusty & Kay on the way down the hill for a perfectly timed cuppa!

Saturday was another moving on day, and a fairly early start as Jase and Rusty were planning a ride out together. It was another first for us, as we'd be spending the next 2 nights in a lay-by in preparation for the Gent-Wevelgem race on the Sunday. Again, massive thanks to Rusty & Kay as they had scoped a great spot and saved us a space. As far as a "bit of free" is concerned, this is pretty much spot on! Pretty level, nice views and thankfully lovely weather. Entirely off grid for these sort of stays, so little peaks of the sun is hugely welcome to keep the battery topped up (more to keep the phones alive than anything else though!).

The rest of the day was spent enjoying the surroundings & watching for wildlife.

Sunday was again race day, and thankfully, after an initial mist, was dawning clear and with less of the biting wind we'd been enduring since we arrived. We also had some fun and games at the start of the day with the clock change! Europe follows the same pattern as the UK, but trying to work out which of our devices had auto updated and which hadn't, isn't the ideal way the start the day. Turned out we were awake an hour earlier than really needed, but hey ho!

Great spot to watch the race and enjoyed a beer stop both ways! We figured we were saying on free nights, so it was only right to celebrate that!

The 2nd picture here shows the current world road race champion who went on to win the race - I'm fairly sure my broad Bristol shout out is what clinched the deal (mainly I suspect to get away from me!).

So with our first couple of free nights under our belt, we headed to Ypres for a few days on a proper site. Monday was lovely, a real feel of spring in the air, so we made the most of the sun and enjoyed a 7 mile walk around the town.

Today (Tuesday) is proving more challenging as the weather is somewhat more miserable, hence spending a morning downloading photos and catching up with things. We hope to get out for a walk later, but time will tell.

The next blog will probably be after next weekend which sees our annual trip to Flanders for the Ronde. There is an air of familiarity with this one as we've done it for the last 6 years. Be nice to see some familiar faces too.

Till then, stay safe & please send the sun back x