Day 2: Andres to Abbeville – A series of unfortunate events

MONDAY 31st August

Kms cycled today: 70
Kms left: 1216

The day in numberd:
1 lost passport
2 lost credit cards
1 Banjaxed bike
3 Mud tracks
1 guy with a chain saw
8 strawbery, yogurt and cheese sandwiches
1 bike procurred
2 Road blocks-ignored!
5 winds

6:30am – Early start as a lot of ground to cover
7am – All ready to go but no!! I lost my passport, credit cards and driving licence! Unpack/repack/unpack/repack panniers….no sign of it anywhere…think I must have left it in restaurant
8am – Head back to Guines (in the rain), restaurant opens at 11am, manage to find the owner but its not been found. Gendarmerie and Mairie couldn’t be less interested.
10am – We decide to get going, cancel credit cards…Head along a cycle path which turns into a track, very muddy then a lake appears THEN Dezzies derailleur derails, gets mangled and is wedged in the wheel oh no!!
It is coming down like stairs rods now and we’re in the middle of a field but there’s a rainbow to soften the blow (!). We decide to walk back to the road, which is obviously just as wet, so Danny and I cycle back to Guines whilst Dez walks with sad bike
11am – Finally find a bar that is open to get a coffee, we’re all soaked but we slowly formulate a plan of action. I’m literally just about to cancel my passport when the landlady from previous nights accommodation messages to say she’s found my wallet with passport…hooray!!
Noon: Danny and I are to head out of town to le Touquet whilst Dez walks back to accommodation pushing banjaxed bike. He is going to pick up my wallet, leave his bike in a shed and get a taxi back to Calais where there is the only open bike shop BUT the friendly landlady offers him a lift…fabulous
The plan is for him is to buy a new bike then train to Abbeville where we’ll meet him
Noon-7pm It’s a day if wind! Luckily the rain has subsided. It is called the area of “cinq vents” and didn’t we know it, sometimes having to pedal downhill. (I think it should be called “quatre winds” as there was never a wind behind us)
This is August in France…absolutely everything is shut so we luncheon on wine gums and blackberries. But then…Joy!… about 4pm we find a farmers vending machine full of meat, yogurt, fruit, veg and bread!! It is a gift from god, we are so happy and sit in the carpark feasting like kings.
A couple more mud paths through a forest then a cycle path into town, we meet Dez, have a much needed beer then collapse into bed and more of the same tomorrow but maybe with less drama!