Day 6 – Monday 4 August

Hirson to Le Quesnoy

Campsite

Camping Municipal du lac Vauban (http://www.campingdulacvaubanlequesnoy.com/)

Notes

It had drizzled a couple of times during the night. I was up at six o’clock just to make sure I was away before anyone found me. I rubbed down with the remaining water in my bottles and felt reasonably clean. Initially I followed the D1043, dead straight and rolling over hills, up one side and down the other. At La Capelle I turned off and took to quiet country roads. It was Monday so nothing much was open, but eventually I came across a small corner shop at Prisches and bought some fruit, cheese and bread and sat in the village square on a bench in the sun and had a late breakfast.

I got to Solesmes by about twelve o’clock and asked a family chatting in their front garden where the camp site was. Apparently it had been closed for some years, but they did direct me to Le Quesnoy where they assured me there was a campsite. I found a Turkish kebab restaurant and had lunch before turning north. Le Quesnoy was an amazing small town surrounded by Napoleonic walls and an impenetrable one-way system. After two or three false starts I got to the campsite and booked in. It was wide open with no tree cover but it did have good grass, a good services block and a short walk away there was a restaurant by a lake.

The tent was wet through from the night before and smelt like a tramp’s sauna when I put it up, but within ten minutes it had dried in the late evening sun. I hadn't washed my kit in the forest so this evening I washed both sets and left it hanging out while I went to find supper. All was dry by the time I came back. The restaurant had stopped serving but there was a snack bar next door and I ate a huge Croque Monsieur and a couple of beers.