For the first time this trip we don’t need the heating this morning. As we start our walk into town it’s bright and beginning to feel warm as we wander through quiet streets remembering to keep out of the way of bicycles. The Dutch appear very orderly with perfect gloss finish on the woodwork of houses, simple potted flower arrangements and tidily decorated windowsills with net curtains. We arrive in the abbey’s square just as the clock chimes start; a l...

At last a day starts with blue sky and sunshine. We loop around town, first to dump some rubbish then to get fuel before heading out to the eastbound motorway. It’s busy but free flowing past Dunkirk, with lots of trucks and mostly industrial sprawl to look at. Once we cross into Belgium the traffic thins out, the road is beautifully smooth and the scenery returns to the same as the flat Somme we saw yesterday. Near Bruges we stop in a rest area for lunch a...