Day 6 - Cambrai to Compiegne - Tuesday 2nd September

Day 6 and what an odd hotel we were in last night in Cambrai. Premier Classe. Not sure I would refer to it as that.

The wash/toilet area was all one box. So you could sit on the loo, brush your teeth and have a shower at the same time. Class for time saving. Apparently Phil commented that he didn't know what to do with his newspaper though.

8.20am start and rolling hills followed. It was dull, dank and damn right miserable weather…. drizzle and spitting rain but onwards we went.

We saw familiar signs for Peronne from previous sorties into France.

A stop off on the way to a mass grave site from the war gave an idea of the many battles in the area and the numbers of people buried there. Immaculately kept and a very sobering place.

Further up the road we saw a sign for an Australian war cemetery but unfortunately didn't have time to investigate.

About 1030am, we were parked outside Mc D's in St Quintan. The french definition of 24 hours opening is quite different to mine. After catching the gaze of staff, they were forced to open.

All fed, with minor language issue involving eggs, we set off for the remainder of the days cycle. The roads were long and undulating but we are both really getting into it now.

A short time later we stopped for a wee breather and... well...

A coffee stop some time time later broke the day up once we had negotiated our way down a road blocked by police as there was a fun fair show dismantling in progress.

... and prior to reaching our final stop for the day, we made our way to Armistice, where the 1st world war ended as the Germans surrendered and the French surrendered in the 2nd. All very interesting with 2 train tracks running parallel, 1 with German gauge and 1 with French.

A few photos taken and we were off into Compiegne, where we have stayed previously on different tours. Our destination for the night was a Campanile to the west of the town.

A quick turnaround with a couple of beers (€6 a pint) thrown in and we were off to the City Centre for a night out.

A great meal, a few Leffe beers and we were ready for bed. We still had to walk back from the town though and that took 30 minutes.

All tucked up now and looking forward to the run to Paris and the strawberry tarts that come with it (well they did in previous years).

Nite nite.