France 1

Our first stop in France was Arras, and the second day without following the "knooppunten" network. We relied on the GPS to take us along the back roads as I had programmed in to avoid motorways and major highways, but allowed narrow trails and unpaved roads. It certainly made the day interesting.
We were led across farm tracks and several long stretches of cobbles, or "pave" which gave the bikes a baptism of fire. We rode them very slowly as I feared a serious breakdown. I decided to change the settings to also avoid unpaved roads and tracks. That fixed it.
We had a little rain early on, but it was dry the remainder of the day, quite windy, against as usual. The area is quite poor and has been extensively mined, the evidence is plain to see by the odd shaft structure and the many large slag heaps around the villages.
After a good night sleep in a brand new hotel, the cheapest to date, located near the motorway we rode off to Amiens at 8 am.
The countryside is quite rolling with long climbs of up to 7%, which was quite taxing for Veronica. We rode past numerous cemeteries, mainly from the Commonwealth forces who died in the first world war.  They are beautifully maintained and are a credit to whoever is responsible for them. We spotted one sign to an Indian and Chinese cemetery, I had no idea that they were also involved in the battles of the Somme.
To see so many graves with so many crosses is quite a sobering experience and makes one sad that things haven't changed that much today.
The next day we rode from the hotel around the south of Amiens, avoiding the city all together. We got to the "green route" at Nampty and carried on South to the planned Village of Le Grand Marseille. There was no accommodation so we ended up in St Omar en Chaussee, in a delightful small hotel in a converted water mill. The new owners for just 6 weeks, are the most delightful and helpful people. We have our rest day here tomorrow, well deserved for Veronica, who has been coping with the hills well. It is day 10 on the bike and we have past the first milestone at 622 km and have climbed over 1600 vertical meters so far.