Mons: The GPS fights back

16.07.2009 - 16.07.2009 32 °C
View Calais to Chiasso on Tom.Calver's travel map.

This has been very tough going. We began with a slight setback as our GPS hadn't been charged the night before, and despite our best efforts in the morning we were only able to get around 4hours worth of power. With this in mind we opted to use it sparingly, which wouldn't be a problem as, for the most part, or route consisted of following one canal and one river to Mons (there's that "M" word again...). On the way out of the hotel we spoke to some Englishmen who were friendly and sponsored us £10 and €10 for our journey, and I hope will comment on this if they check the webpage as I didn't catch their names. The way out of Lille-Roubaix was predictably confusing, though not as bad as past experiences leaving cities, and before long we found the canal we intended to follow - the atmosphere slowly changed from graffiti to countryside and some miles later we found ourselves at a lovely café that sat on one side of a lock. On the side with the café it was France, on the bank immediately opposite was Belgium (pictures soon, I'm having difficulty finding time to tag them).

The route along the canal was beautiful, yet the paths were of various integrities. John had a puncture after one rough section (he hasn't had much luck, and it's only two days in - there may be need for a nickname soon) and we had some difficulty finding the next river, but really things were going well.

Then the GPS took a turn, and things started to go to hell. Cycle paths ranged from perfect tarmac to miles of rough gravel so unpredictably we needed to start using the GPS and our pre-programmed route, but the GPS would either throw up random towns where they didn't exist (leading us at one point to think we'd travelled in a 20mile ellipse around Wallonia), or suggest routes so bizzare that at one stage we were told to circumnavigate Mons by 15miles, when we knew the city we needed was just ahead of us. Hopefully a full charge will take care of it, but really, today has been tough - we cycled 15miles further than necessary, often into the wind or on such terrible terrain there was a constant risk of punctures. Tomorrow we intend to get up early to give us plenty of time to make Namur.

Well, even though I've showered I still have hundreds of small bugs stuck to my arm; time to call it a day! Anyone who's donated can trust me we're working hard for it.

Tot ziens,
Tom

P.s. I received an e-mail from Mr.Main today, the Cambodian headmaster; I'll put it up now x

Posted by Tom.Calver 17.07.2009 00:45 Archived in Belgium Tagged bicycle