"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.", Albert Einstein
- Introduction
- The statistics and metrics of the day
- The most memorable occurrences, moments and thoughts
- Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 11, from Bruay-la-Buissière to Ablain-Saint-Nazaire
- Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 12, From Ablain-Saint-Nazaire to Arras
- Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 13, From Arras to Bapaume
- Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 14, From Bapaume – Péronne
(incl. my awkward tent pitching video) - Pictures of the day.
This post complements the post I published on the 8th of August 2016 in which I described the experiences I had while riding between Bruay-la-Buissière and Péronne. I am not going to repeat the contents of that post in this one again, but I will add a few highlights for each stage below. I would strongly encourage you to ready the August, 2016 post before continuing on this one, though.
Statistics and metrics of the day
- Date: Monday, 1st of August 2016
- Route: From the Ibis Style Hotel in Bruay-la-Buissière to Péronne’s Municipal Camping site via Ablain-Saint-Nazaire, Arras and Bapaume.
- Distance: 85.29 Km
- Departure time from Alembon: 10:36am
- Arrival at Destination: 6:15pm
- Duration of day’s Journey: 7h 39min
- Expenses this day: Total = € 23.00
- €15.00 – Food
- €8.00 – Accommodation (Municipal Camping site, Péronne)
- Overnight Location: Camping Le Brochet (Municipal Camping), Péronne, +33 3 22 84 02 35
- Type of Accommodation: Camping
- Lightfoot Guide Stages:
- 11: Bruay-la-Buissière – Ablain-Saint-Nazaire
- 12: Ablain-Saint-Nazaire – Arras
- 13: Arras – Bapaume
- 14: Bapaume – Péronne
- Physical and Body Stats: Link to the Garmin Connect Page for this ride
- Duration: 7h 39m
- Moving time: 5h 6 min
- Average Speed: 11.1 Km/h
- Max. Speed: 54.5 Km/h
- Total Elevation Gain: 695 m
- Average Heart Rate: 132 bpm
- Max. Heart Rate: 169 bpm
- Calories: 2792 CAL
- Number of Pedal Strokes (Cadence sensor): 17,324
Most memorable occurrences, moments and thoughts:
- Via Francigena can be just bike touring, of course, but if you want your Testimonium when you get to Rome, you have to present your pilgrim’s credential and it needs to have stamps in it. They do do a deep analyses of the stamps, but they will expect that in a 2,000 Km bike ride you will have collected a few. In the digital age is getting more and more difficult to find stamps… so analogical (illogical?). In many of the small towns and villages the chance of you to find a government facility (town hall, tourist information office, etc) will depend on the day of the week (Weekends? No chance) and the time of the day as some of these facilities will be closed, e.g. lunch time, or may have public opening hours. I really tried getting my pilgrim’s credential stamped but as it was the case in Ablain-Saint-Nazaire and others, as I got there I could not find anything open. Even the pharmacy was closed.
- Arras is spectacular. Worth a visit if you can afford staying for a day. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site and is more than 2,000 years old.
- There is a “Route 66” café in Ervillers, between Arras and Bapaume, with a big statue of “the King” (Elvis). Coming across that reminded me of a friend who was about the ride the entire route 66 by bicycle. Her name is Cacá Strina. Check out her page here.
- Don’t completely trust technology. Have always some low tech option to fall back if technology fails you. For some reason I lost GPS connection between Baupame and Péronne and I was relying on Google Maps entirely. At the very least download the offline maps over a WiFi connection, if possible, before you leave. Getting to Péronne was no problem, I simply follow the signs, but finding the Municipal Camping site took some time and effort (about 5 Km more than necessary).
-
Tent Feast (Large Kebab Plate) By the time I setup camp, had a shower and was ready to go out to find something to eat, the nearby supermarket in Péronne was already closed and after almost 30 min walking the only place I could find was a kebab trailer. So I ordered an extra large Kebab plate for dinner (and a baguette sandwhich for breakfast next day) and had a feast in the comfort of my tent. In small towns it may not easy to find a place for a meal at night. Keep that in mind.
Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 11, from Bruay-la-Buissière to Ablain-Saint-Nazaire
Video Length: 5 min and 10 sec
To skip introductions and recommendations jump to time stamp 0:52 in the video timeline.
Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 12, From Ablain-Saint-Nazaire to Arras
Video Length: 5 min 55 sec
To skip introductions and recommendations jump to time stamp 0:52 in the video timeline.
Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 13, From Arras – Bapaume
Video Length: 5 min 15 sec
To skip introductions and recommendations jump to time stamp 0:45 in the video timeline.
Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 14, From Bapaume – Péronne
Video Length: 5 min 38 sec
To skip introductions and recommendations jump to time stamp 0:40 in the video timeline.
The next video is a time-lapse recording of my “awesomely akward” tent pitching skills. Took me “only” 20 min to pitch the tent. Thank God I don’t do this for a living… 🙂
In the municipal camping site of Péronne in France. Between the 3rd and 4th day of my Via Francigena pilgrimage. It raining a lot during that night and in the morning. Didn’t have a good night of sleept that day.
Pictures of the day.
Click on any picture for full detail
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