London to Salzburg on a bike - Stage 1 - Lille to Tournai - 36km - RV6 Picardie-Ardennes

Course Found - turning up in Tournai - 6th September 2013
On the bike path to Belgium
Lille to Crupet 
I paced Lille station clutching my panniers and handlebar bag for about half an hour until Rosinante arrived. Made time for a Ham Baguette of course. Relief to get my bike though. It feels strangely awkward to have all the cycling paraphernalia of helmets, shorts, handlebar bag and panniers in public and no bike! Felt like bit of an imposter.
Lille Station - waiting for my wheels
Anyway, once happily re-united with Rosinante, we headed down the lift to a large square in front of the station. The difficulty then was to find the route I had downloaded, or 'course' in gps speak. I had an idea where it started but walked the opposite way until the route calculated and then tottered up the road in the correct direction. 'Course Found' is the magic message but today this was often swiftly followed by 'Off Course'. Took me a while to get out of Lille, my lack of Garmin operator skills not helped by heavy rain. At this point I had not developed the Garmin wet weather wipe. Being a touchscreen device its tricky to wipe the water off without changing the screen or setting. Once out of the City it was plain sailing through parkland and then farms before hitting Tournai. I am not quite sure where I crossed the border into Belgium but I think it was where the road turned to cobbles and the car number plates shrunk and had small red letters. Tournai was the only place where I booked my accommodation in advance. I thought a nice short afternoon ride of about 30km would allow me to get re-acquainted with cycling on the wrong side of the road and there was also a Youth Hostel in town which would be nice and cheap.

Oh cobbles - think this must be Belgium
Watch out for the wet patches - Belgian humour?
Grande Place - cafe culture - cobbled water hazard

More than one Museum to visit
Bit of character about Tournai
Decent decision I think. Tournai is a good-sized town but I had no problem finding my lodgings. Checked in at the 20 Euro Youth Hostel. For the only time on the trip Rosinante ( Don Quixote's Horse) had to stay outside in the rain. I asked the guy at reception if she could come inside. He started muttering something about people with Rolls-Royces wanting to park and sometimes he had twenty bikes to accommodate, blah-blah. I took that as a no and put a plastic bag over her saddle. I was in a room for four and made sure I got a bottom bunk. My roomies were a Spanish cyclist and an older guy who was a bit put-out that he had the elevated position. The cyclists hit the sack early but Grumpy came in about midnight, dropped an extremely smelly fart and then had a very noisy shower etc. I think he was trying to get his own back for being made to climb the ladder, I reckon he succeeded! Tournai is not a bad spot to visit, plenty of history. It has a magnificent Cathedral, currently being restored and plenty of pedestrian areas. The Grande Place has 'wall to wall' Cafe's and Restaurants so I had a wander up and down before settling on my dinner venue. Ordered Steak and Chips with a Beer, seem to remember that chips were the Belgian national dish. Ordered my steak to be cooked medium. I think it only had a very remote acquaintance with pan or grill but was nice and tender. Will specify Well-Done next time. Was asked 'the way' by people a couple of times as I looked around Tournai. Nice not to be seen as an obvious tourist but bit of a worry as most Belgians around town look as though they had had too much of the Bishops Tipple, or whatever they make in the Monasteries over here. Beers can be extremely strong - hic! Belgium have a good Football team at the moment and they were playing Scotland in a World Cup Qualifier so bit of a carnival atmosphere in Town as I made my way home.
Tournai by night
Not quite sure why they had to add a Water Hazard to the cobbles in the Grande Place. Hope they do not insert them into the roads as well.
Belgian distressed chic and multiple spires of the Cathedral
This part of Belgium is not pretty, its not like the Alps where flower boxes and smart paint jobs give the villages colour. The farms are more utilitarian here, bare brick structures and no carved wood balconies. Not a criticism, its good that it is different and has its own character. 
Location: Tournai, Belgium

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