Calais

The trip out of Paris is about what I expected. The city itself supports a bike share program that fashionable young people use, and scattered bike lanes are at least attempted in parts of the city. These got more scattered as I rode further north, and the quality of the bike lanes suffered in some areas. More important was the change in economic tone. There were a lot of ethnic stores, some areas that looked more run down. This made me feel a little uncomfortable, or that I stood out more then I would have liked. The $12, 2oz coffee cafes were way behind me. It was, however, refreshing to see the diversity in how the more practical “working class” people lived. This progressed as I rode into the countryside. In the 90+ degree heat, I stopped in a local bar to refill water bottles and get a coke. I was met with much interest and respect. I am starting to really value quick fixes like cold coke and dark chocolate on the road.

The new GPS has done a great job in keeping me off of the dirt roads that Google had suggested. This has greatly increased my riding speed and reduced frustration as I rolled nicely along flat, wide open farmland. The GPS shows road names and route alternatives which is helpful also. Some of the farmland I rode was so open that I was the only thing on the horizon among low cut crops. This became an issue when lightning moved in, and I was torn between sprinting for the next town or laying in a ditch for the storm to pass. I guess I was fast enough, but looking at the weather radar I saw afterward shows this may have been a close call, too.

 

Most of northern France is farmland, except for a few industrial areas. The tour guides I read offered little advice except for some war memorials regarding WW1 especially. There were graveyards and marked memorials along the way, and I tried to imagine what this same region looked like during WW1. I took a day in Arras, which was central to the war between Great Britten and Germany. I went through the exhibits in the visitors center and was left somewhat overwhelmed and confused by the long history of occupations, take overs, opposition parties that pot marked the cities long and troubled history. From the map it appears the city was near the front line, and received damage from both the Germans and the English during different periods of the war. The people who did not flee the city dug in, literally, creating underground civilizations to withstand the shelling. Some of these underground opposition groups were central in sabotaging the German war effort, or passing information to the allies. Most importantly, tunnelers managed to connect existing limestone mines to house 24,000 soldiers. The tunnels extended under the battlefield for a surprise attack where several towns and about 30km were recovered in what was generally considered a great success, not to end the war, but to stop the progress of the opposition. The tunnels were occupied again during WW2 bombing raids, but the tour I took focused mostly on the construction and April 9^th offensive they were built for. WW1 has some brutal history that is often forgotten under the farmland.

 

The trip to Calais was rainy, so I camped overnight and got a free drink from the camp owner who was jovially pulling beer for himself and singing what sounded like show tunes. The transfer to the UK was more then I expected. At customs office at the ferry port I was questioned, asked to wait, eventually searched and detained, waited some more, questioned again, asked to wait, got my fingerprints taken, and eventually told that I was declined entrance to the UK. This all took about five hours. They didn't like that I was unemployed, could not prove financial status, and didn't have flights back home. I explained my position, but did not argue the points. Somewhere along the line it became clear that I was not free to leave, and I felt like I was locked up. I was the only one there, and I half feel just picking on a smelly unshaven cyclist. Meanwhile busloads of people loaded huge ferries to and from the UK, and I almost asked my interviewer the employment status of all these people going by, but I thought better of it. Ironically, they had a BBC video in the waiting room concerning the evolution and migration of early man, and although the ice age seemed tough, they never had to go through customs. I had a good laugh which helped brighten the situation. 

So after spending some time in the clink, I got a hotel room and started pulling together bank documents and tickets for a ferry ride out of the UK, which although they are not plane tickets back to the US, do show that I plan to leave, which is what I think their concern was. I plan on trying for UK again tomorrow. I'll let you all know if I make it. Looming over the situation is the Schengen visa, which my time is expiring on. If I cannot get to the UK then I'll try for Ireland, another non-Schengen country. Otherwise it will be a long trip to north Africa, Croatia, Turkey, or other non-European country as my “visa” expires. Perhaps I'll return to the US and do some riding there, but I'm not ready to call it quits just yet.