Wednesday 6 August
Bapaume was looming - the stopover point where we had no accommodation booked. I had a very good relationship with the lady at the Tourist Info at Bapaume by now with her trying to find somewhere for us after my internet searching had failed to come up with anything. There was 1 x hotel in this town, and it was closed currently. There was a camper-van site away from the village but it didn't take tents. What were we to do ! ?
We bit the ‘ we’ll have to go off-piste to find somewhere’ bullet. This meant that we would travel away from the walking line that we were on, therefore adding another three miles to the end of that day and onto the beginning of the next. This was the only option. Poor Tony.
It rained all day - full waterproof gear on for both of us in the hot humid air. We walked through the sites of the World War 1 battlefields, stopped to pay our respects to the brave and the fallen, eventually making it to Bapaume like drowned rats. Tony rested in a cafe while I shopped for provisions. We then travelled another 3 ish miles to our Farm Stay B&B.
We were welcomed by a lovely lady who regularly had walkers stay with her who had the same problem as us i.e. were walking to Bapaume hoping to stay there and had to jut out the extra 3 miles along a busy tarmac heavy lorried road in order to put their heads down. Tony and I couldn't understand why there was no B&B / Gite type accommodation in a town where there was clearly a demand - hmmm - a business opportunity perhaps ?
We shared our converted barn accommodation space with 5 manual workers who were stopping over too. We nodded and exchanged politeness and shared facilities well together.
Distance - 23 miles
Distance since Helmsley - 638.85
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