We had an early start today, setting off alongside l’Oise under a clear sky with a slight chill still in the air. A few kilometres out of the suburbs the cycle path – gravel at the time – passed alongside some étangs (small lakes) surrounded by rushes and trees. It was calm and quiet and beautiful, and I dawdled along taking it all in.

l’Oise at Pont-Ste-Maxence

We slipped past the village of Verberie on the riverbank, heading for the morning break I’d planned at Pont-Sainte-Maxence. This village and its bridge of the same name marked the point where we parted company with major rivers, although we would briefly join le Thérain as we approached Beauvais. We were also leaving the well-signposted cycle routes we had enjoyed for the past three days; the EV3 Scandibérique continued south while our route turned north and then east on the much less-frequented V16a.

But more importantly Pont-Sainte-Maxence had a bakery where we could buy good things for lunch. Even better there was a tabac next door and a small park where a few market stalls were set up. We each bought pastries and tarts for lunch, and Teresa and I bought take-away coffees from the tabac which we carried to our bikes parked under a tree in the park. I had a wander round the market stalls; one was run by an older lady selling honey and strawberries from her strawberry farm, each different variety labelled and displayed in its own section.

The Strawberry Lady

For the rest of the day we were cycling on minor roads with very little traffic and passing through a succession of small villages, mostly pleasant but unremarkable. Except for Clermont. Clermont has A HILL!

I should explain. When the route I’m following reaches a hill, my handlebar computer/GPS^* switches the display to show the gradient profile, altitude, distance to the top, etc. In the settings you can choose to have this happen on even the gentlest gradients, only the hardest climbs, or an in-between option which is the one I use. At 0.7km, an average grade of 7.7% and a maximum of 11.3% the hill in Clermont was the only hill on our five day ride which triggered the ‘Hill’ setting. I found it a bit of a struggle with a loaded bike, but ground up slowly in my lowest gear and made it without having to stop.

We arrived at our hotel in Beauvais at mid-afternoon, and after showering and changing went to explore. Beauvais Cathedral is another of the seven cathedrals of Picardy; we sat and had beers in the square in front which was being prepared for an event with staging and speaker stacks.

Beauvais cathedral

Old street in Beauvais

The centre of the city is a large square a few minutes walk from the cathedral. Jack and Teresa wanted to have a ‘proper French meal’ (escargots and steak tartare had been mentioned) so we checked out the restaurants for later. The other two headed back to the hotel while I stayed to explore a bit more of Beauvais, finding several streets of old buildings which had survived the wars.

The restaurant we had chosen (le Papotin) didn’t open until 7:00, and when it did the maître (maîtresse?) d’ explained they were only offering a very limited menu; it didn’t include escargots or steak tartare. We politely declined and went instead to the Brasserie of the Hotel Victoire whose menu promised those things and delivered us all an excellent meal.

* Hammerhead Karoo 2

View track on Komoot

Overnight: Hotel de la Cathédrale, Beauvais

Stage 5 – 14 May. Beauvais to Amiens.

The V32 cycle route officially connects Paris to Wervik on the Belgian border near Roubaix, passing through Beuavais and Amiens on the way. In 2025 the Beauvais – Amiens section would best be described as ‘work in progress’.

We soon left Beauvais behind, first through parkland then on quiet rural roads and tracks generally following le Thérain through a succession of small villages as far as Milly-sur-Thérain.

Mill on le Thérain near Herchies

Farmhouse on le Thérain near Herchies

Shortly after Milly-sur-Thérain where our planned route crossed the river (now le Petit Thérain) we rode past a “Route Barrée” sign. A gravel track led down to the river and what had once been a bridge. Now it was just two rusty girders with the remnants of a few iron bolts; any decking had disappeared. Maybe it was flood damage, but whatever the reason there was no way we could get us and our loaded bikes safely across.

Consulting our maps we thought we could follow a track to the next village and cross there so we backtracked slightly and took a rough gravel track uphill for half a kilometre before it ended in a padlocked field gate and continued on the other side as a footpath. Another dead end. Teresa flew back down the hill on the gravel followed more cautiously by Jack and me. More map consultation and we decided our best choice was to go back to Milly and cross there, riding the local roads until we could pick up our planned route again. The deviation only cost us about 5km extra, but probably added about three quarters of an hour to our time.

So we continued onwards. Today’s elevation profile was different from the last four days. We would climb gradually all morning for the first 35 kilometres to reach the day’s highpoint at the slightly disconcertingly-named Crèvecœur-le-Grand (“Big Heartbreak”), then descend equally gently until we were on the outskirts of Amiens. During the morning we were mostly on quiet back roads and gained height slowly on undulating terrain.

I’d counted on us finding a bakery open in Crèvecœur and sure enough there was a fine one on the main square by the church. It was clearly the right choice as there were two other cyclists already there, and a third arrived as were were buying things for lunch. He had a good road bike and had, I discovered, ridden up from Beauvais that morning (but a lot quicker than us). We ate our lunch on a seat in the square.

On la Coulée Verte

As we left Crèvecœur a left turn took us onto a wide gravel track into thick shaded woodland. We didn’t stop to read the information board but I did see a sign that we were on “la Coulée Verte”. It sloped downhill at an easy gradient and it soon dawned on me that we were on an old railway line – confirmed soon after as I passed what was unmistakeably on old iron railway sign half-hidden in the trees at the side of the track.

The track continued downhill for more than 15 kilometres, gradually levelling out. It was easy cycling – a broad track, plenty of shade, dry surface. But lower down it began to change; new developments started to spread over the old railway track and we found ourselves on paved roads or field edges. And our, er, saddle contact areas were getting increasingly sore with the rough surface and jolting on our touring bikes.

It was while we were riding along the edge of a field on a track with two deep tractor ruts that Teresa lost balance and fell into the undergrowth at the side; luckily she only suffered scratches and nettle stings. But we’d been talking about giving up on the Coulée Verte and taking to the local roads, and this was the point that decided it. So as soon as we could, which turned out to be at the village of Conty, we joined the D8 which took us all the way to the outskirts of Amiens. Cycling mostly on service roads alongside the busy inner ring road wasn’t much fun but we finally made it to our hotel. We ate in the hotel restaurant that evening.

View track on Komoot

Overnight: Novotel, Pôle Jules Verne, Longueau, Amiens

Epilogue – 15 & 16 May. Amiens and home.

In the morning Jack and Teresa left for the station on their bikes, heading for a few days in Bruges before getting back to England for their flight home.

After waving them off I took a bus to the city centre to spend the day as a tourist in a city I had not been to before. I visited the cathedral (another one of the seven), bought Macarons d’Amiens at speciality shop Jean Trogneux, spent more than an hour in the amazing Martelle bookstore/art shop, had a large salad and a crêpe dessert surrounded by Ladies Who Lunch at Crêperie La Mangeoire. I wandered down to the canalside area where there were many restaurants and bars, but it was the wrong time of day and too chilly to linger so I headed back to the bus interchange at the railway station and back to the hotel.

Amiens cathedral south door

Amiens Cathedral interior

Canalside cafés

After breakfast the next morning I loaded my bike back on the car roof, drove to Calais and le Shuttle to Folkestone, and finally reached home towards the end of the afternoon.

Amiens celebrates the upcoming Tour de France stage départ on 8 July

There were three of us on this tour: Jack and Teresa from Oregon USA, and me. I planned the route and booked the accommodation. I used the French IGN map no.924 “Voies vertes et Véloroutes de France” (“Greenways and Cycle Routes of France”) to set the overall plan, then a combination of Komoot, OutdoorActive and my Hammerhead handlebar computer’s software to prepare detailed routes for each day. Apart from the final day the routes mostly followed rivers and canals.

Prologue – 9 May. Home to Amiens.

With my bike on a car roof rack I left home at 0830, drove to Wheatley where Jack and Teresa had been staying, loaded their bikes onto the other two roof racks, and drove to the Shuttle terminal in Folkestone. A delay of 3½ hours and a two hour drive from Calais to Amiens finally got us to our hotel around 2100. We walked to a local all-you-can-eat Japanese restaurant where the food was brought to our table by a robot waiter.

We were offered a storage room in the hotel for our bikes but in the end we left them locked onto the roof rack overnight.

Overnight: Novotel, Pôle Jules Verne, Longueau, Amiens

Stage 1 – 10 May. Amiens to Péronne.

Our first day’s route headed east following the River Somme and its accompanying Véloroute the V30 the whole way. The Somme Valley is broad and flat; the river is mostly controlled as a canal with locks as it meanders westwards. Either side of the main stream and canal marshes (marais) and shallow lakes (étangs) form extensive wetlands.

Standard signage for Véloroute V30 (and V32)

We set off alongside a main road, mostly downhill through the suburbs on a sporadic cycle path featuring parked cars and bollards, stopping on the way at a local bakery to buy sandwiches for lunch. After 2km we crossed the bridge over the railway lines, and turned right to join the V30.

The day passed uneventfully. The weather was sunny and warm, the surfaces we rode on varied between tarmac, concrete and hard-packed gravel. The going was easy apart from a noticeable headwind. Jack made the point – so obvious, but as a naïve cycle tourist it hadn’t occurred to me before – that panniers make a big difference to the wind resistance on the bike.

Approaching the larger town of Corbie where the V30 crossed to the other side of the river we cycled past a ‘Route Barrée‘ (‘Road Closed’) sign and had to backtrack when it turned out to be closed even to a determined cyclist. We got back to the river bridge via a short diversion on the normal roads.

We stopped now and again, often at a lock. At one, the lock at Sailly-Laurette, an explanatory sign mentioned a nearby memorial to the English WW1 war poet Wilfred Owen. It was a small stone pillar inscribed simply with his name and a stylised dove. Owen was a serving soldier; he was killed in action a week before the war ended.

The Somme at Sailly-Laurette lock

Wilfred Owen memorial, Sailly-Laurette lock

Reaching the outskirts of Péronne we left the riverside and rode to our hotel in the town centre. Dinner was Pizza at Pasta’Pizz, a takeway with a few inside tables where despite its unprepossessing exterior we had excellent pizza and excellent service.

View track on Komoot

Overnight: Hotel St Claude, Péronne

Stage 2 – 11 May. Péronne to Tergnier.

It was Sunday, so in case we couldn’t buy food later we bought sandwiches at a bakery close to the hotel. Rejoining the V30 where we left it yesterday I was surprised and puzzled to see we were now riding alongside the Canal du Nord. It took a detailed look at the IGN app on my phone to see that the Canal had joined the Somme just before Péronne and it and the Somme Canalisé were now contiguous almost as far as the village of Voyennes nearly 20km away. From here onwards keeping up with the changes in the rivers and canals we would follow became increasingly challenging.

Barge on the Canal du Nord, Péronne

We duly followed the combined canals through gentle countryside very like yesterday’s; green fields, distant villages, lakes and reedy marshes, locks on the canal. Quiet and peaceful. Except for the fishermen. Crossing a minor road we came across a group of parked cars and a temporary notice announcing a fishing competition was taking place today. Sure enough, down on the towpath there were maybe twenty or more fishermen (they were all men) spaced at regular 20 metre intervals along the bank, each with one or two enormous fishing rods blocking the path. (“I’ve never seen such long poles!” – Teresa.)

The others let me go first. I rode gently towards the first man with his rod blocking the path. He didn’t budge. I rode round on the grass. The same for the second, and the third. By the fourth I’d had enough, nor was there room on the grass to get round. I called out a few choice words in French and the offending rod was grudgingly moved. Further on a few more made the same effort. I politely thanked those that did, and grumbled at those that didn’t.

At the far end, past more parked cars, I stopped and looked back. Jack and Teresa were out of sight; I waited for them to catch up. They too had been hindered but no harm had been done to bikes, riders, fishermen or equipment. They then turned back to take photos, but I was still in grumpy mode and stayed where I was.

Typical of the scenery – a view of Pargny village.

We temporarily parted company with the Somme at Rouy-le-Grand, near Nesle and continued on the Canal du Nord for a short while before heading cross-country to Hombleux, where we stopped by the church for a break (there was no café), and then on to the small town of Ham. Here there was a convenience store open; we bought cans of cold drinks and stopped soon after for a roadside sandwich lunch. We were now back following the Somme, though at times at some distance from the river/canal and its surrounding wetlands.

We reached our hotel on the road before the centre of Tergnier early in the afternoon. I stayed for a rest while Teresa and Jack went to explore the centre; they reported there wasn’t much to see and on this Sunday evening nowhere that looked both open and a better bet for dinner than our hotel. The Royal Haveli’s restaurant only offers an Indian menu, and happily the food was good. There were only a few other customers and after eating we ended the evening chatting to three other travellers – a Dutch pilgrim walking to Rome, and two friends, Dutch and Swiss, also on a long-distance walk.

View track on Komoot

Overnight: Hotel Royal Haveli, Tergnier

Stage 3 – 12 May. Tergnier to Compiègne.

Having followed the Somme upstream for two days, today we turned south-west and followed another of France’s major rivers, l’Oise, downstream. We also said farewell to the V30 and joined the EV3 – one of the major cycle routes of Europe, named the Scandibérique, which runs 5650km (3510 miles) from Trondheim in the north of Norway to Santiago de Compostela in the north-west of Spain.

On the EV3 Scandibérique

Scenically, our third day was much the same as the first two. Hydrographically we generally followed the valley of l’Oise, cycling alongside the Canal St Quentin, the Canal Latéral de l’Oise then, after some forest riding through the Forêt Domaniale de Laigue, joining l’Aisne which we followed a short distance to its confluence with l’Oise itself just on the edge of Compiègne.

We didn’t do this.

Approaching the day’s halfway point we diverted from the canal into the town of Noyon. It has a busy, compact centre with a maze of one-way streets which we frequently ignored to avoid getting hopelessly lost. We rode slowly and carefully and no-one really seemed to mind!

Noyon has one of the seven much-admired Gothic cathedrals^* of Picardy. Equally interesting is the astonishing medieval half-timbered “Bishop’s Library” next to the cathedral which has somehow survived the devastation of two world wars as well as all the other turmoil in the centuries before. The links have more information.

The Bishop’s Library

Inside Noyon Cathedral

Back on the Oise after several kilometres of forest tracks we rode through the centre of Compiègne to our hotel on a commercial development about 5km further on. One of the B&B Hotels chain, it had no bar or restaurant but the friendly receptionist explained the four-star Kyriad Hotel next door would gladly serve us the beers we were craving, and that there were two restaurants close by for evening meals. She also told us the best way to keep our bikes safe overnight was to take them up to our rooms in the lift, which we did. For our evening meal we chose Léon, a branch of a well-known French chain of fish restaurants.

* Actually six cathedrals and one basilica, but no-one seems to care about the technicality.

View track on Komoot

Overnight: B&B Hotel, Compiègne