The BMW Club East Anglia Section

DOUAI

NORD-PAR de CALAIS REGION, FRANCE

For several years the East Anglia Section has spent the Easter Weekend abroad in the small town of Poperinge, Belgium.

This year the Easter event was arranged by Matt Butcher and Sarah McCarney who, in September 2009, after some research and input from Cliff Batley, selected the Ibis Hotel in Douai, Nord-Pas de Calais, as the chosen location. The location is approximately 80 miles inland from Calais.

Matt and Sarah did visit Douai and stay at the Ibis Hotel to check it out to ensure it was up to a reasonable standard.

Matt then emailed several of us and posted an announcement on the Forum, the theme being a relaxed weekend with the emphasis on doing your own thing. This meant booking the hotel and Channel crossing your self and then letting Matt know so he knew who was coming along.

Arranging trips this early allows plenty of time for the word to circulate and for participants to book the hotel and ferries at good rates.

The Ibis Hotel was offering a very good 3 night special rate over Easter and many of us booked it straight away – it later reverted back to its usual higher rates.

I checked out all main cross channel links but the ferry companies were not quoting special rates until well into the New Year. The Tunnel was available and this proved to be the method most opted for.

Good Friday April 2nd 2010

Many had booked the 09.20am Tunnel train and Paul Round and myself met at 06.30am just outside Colchester and rode via the A12 and M20, stopping at a convenient Tesco’s for petrol just before the Tunnel junction.

This was my first time using the Tunnel. Being a life long sailor I have always preferred the ferry route which gives you time for a good breakfast and it has lifeboats in case of any emergency!

On arrival there appeared to be rather a large number of cars all queuing in many lanes. It turned out that Sea France was on strike and all their vehicles were diverted from Dover to the tunnel. Being Good Friday as well meant the system was struggling! We eventually got on to a train well past our designated time (despite booking some five months earlier!).

Paul’s 1983 R100RT and my R1200RT somewhere under the English Channel

The 25 minute rumble through the Tunnel passed without incident – if you place your helmet on your bike make sure it is secure as the train does sway a little going over points as it leaves England and then arrives in France!

Leaving the train was much faster than the loading and we were soon riding in cloudy sunshine following my trusty GPS on which I had planned a route south down the coast and across country to Douai, rather than the eighty miles down the peage. We intended to stop for some lunch but as we passed through many small villages and one or two larger towns it became clear that Northern France is rather devoid of eating places! After some 138 miles we arrived at the Ibis Hotel Centre in Douai where another group had also just arrived. They had taken the peage initially then detoured to St Omer for lunch!

Producing the confirmation booking email we were allocated our rooms and after unpacking and a shower, came down to the reception area where Matt and Sarah were welcoming the group with a handy pack of information about the town and some restaurants.

Matt had arranged with the hotel that we could park in their underground Conference Centre which sounded an excellent idea as the area outside the hotel was off a large square and the weather forecast was for rain.

The entrance to this "Conference Centre" was down a narrow sloping footpath to the side of the hotel, which turned abruptly right through double doors then left into the hall. This required the removal of panniers and assistance from another person to manoeuvre one’s bike through a couple of tight turns! Once in the hall the staff had covered the floor in polythene sheeting – try holding your bike up with that under your feet!

We all parked safely without mishap and quickly dismissed the thought that there would come a time when we had to repeat this manoeuvre in reverse and uphill! Time for a beer or two!

Mark Weavers en route to the "parking"

The Conference Centre "parking"

After eating, most of us ended up in a bar near the hotel. It was very busy and noisy but interesting as I had a conversation with a tall young French gentleman who had an odd idea about the English and our attitude to the Common Market. To his credit his English was much better than my schoolboy French but we managed a spirited conversation well lubricated with excellent beer. Paul was at this time engaged in conversation with an off-duty policeman – not quite sure what he did but he was quite a well built gentleman and was interested in the English refusal to join the Euro! I tried to explain that we rather liked our Pounds!

Saturday 3rd April 2010

This was to be a non-riding day for many of us as Matt and Sarah had arranged a group tour of The Belfry and Town Hall with an English speaking guide. We all met outside the hotel and walked through the town a short distance to the Belfry.

This imposing building was built 1380 -1475 and houses a 62 bell carillon, one of the largest in Europe. (See later in report).

Town Hall areas comprise The Gothic Hall (1463), Wine Cellar (1463), the Chapel (1471-1475) and the white Wedding Room (18th century).

The Belfry and Town Hall

Model of Belfry and Town Hall – group with guide

The White Wedding Room

For those who have never seen a carillon, imagine a very large piano/organ keyboard with huge wooden keys and foot pedals which are connected by wires, pulleys and springs to the 62 bells, all tuned to a different note! To play this extraordinary instrument it is necessary to clench your fists and strike each key with the side of your clenched fist! The Master of the Belfry gave us a demonstration.

The Master of the Belfry plays a tune

Being an amateur piano/keyboard player, I was greatly intrigued with this amazing instrument and was allowed to "play" the carillon! The technique was totally different to playing a normal keyboard and would require much practice to reach a modest degree of competence.

Some of the Bells

The tour continued up the Belfry to near the top where, through several openings, excellent views of Douai were visible. There was also a very large single bell which fortunately was not rung when we where in the Belfry!

View from the Belfry

After his very interesting tour of the Belfry we all made our way to a café for coffee, passing through one of many squares in Douai, this one with a delightful bronze figure amongst fountains.

Bronze figure in square

Sunday 4th April 2010 – Part 1

The day dawned with rain forecast but part of the group was riding off to visit some World War I sites and cemeteries. The area is part of where the Battle of the Somme took place.

Part of group leaving Hotel

I did not go on this ride-out (see Part 2 for my experience) and I thank Richard Selman for sending me a resume of this outing and the following photos

The group, consisting of Mark & Tracey Weavers, Cliff & Jenny Batley, David & Mandy Cattee and Richard Selman set off with Richard leading as they thought he knew where he was going! He didn’t but after several incorrect turns at roundabouts, they all eventually arrived at the Delville Wood, a site of some heavy fighting those many years ago.

Part of Delville Wood

Delville Wood Memorial

After looking at the memorial and remains of trenches, now marked with concrete bollards, they moved on to Thiepval Memorial. Richard adds that at this point Cliff was leading as otherwise he thought they might have ended up in Calais!

On arrival at Thiepval they had some welcome refreshments despite it being dispensed from a machine! A look around the museum on site followed and the group then made their way to the Memorial.

Thiepval Memorial

Richard had a personal reason to visit the Thiepval Memorial as sadly one of his ancestor’s was killed on the first day of the Somme battle and his name is recorded on it. He says that for him this was a very poignant moment finding his ancestor’s name which he had not seen before. He adds that he was pleased to be in good company as it was quite a jolt bringing history to reality.

The group then set off back to Douai in heavy rain and a howling wind! Trying to keep off the motorways they found themselves on a road with a bridge missing! Turning around and roughly translating the French for "Road Closed" they followed a diversion and returned safely to the hotel.

Sunday 4th April 2010 – Part 2

Paul Round and I had decided to visit the largest coal mining museum in France, at Lewarde, only 5 kilometres north of Douai. A large part of this area of Northern France was involved in coal mining. The museum is on the site of the former Delloye Colliery pit.

The pamphlet on attractions around Douai stated clearly that there was a train to Lewarde so we walked across Douai to the mainline station. Enquiries at the ticket office brought a series of shrugs and head nods and after a short laboured conversation in broken French/English with the lady ticket seller we established no train ran anywhere near Lewarde! She did say that we could take a bus.

We walked back into the centre of town to the bus park where we found a very clear route map, no timetable and no buses!

So it was back to the hotel where enquiries for a taxi resulted in a sum approaching the Greek National Debt being quoted. We therefore extract our bikes from the underground parking and in heavy rain and a weird road system with a double width bus lane, we rode the short distance to the Lewarde Mining Museum.

Delloye Mine Pit Heads, Lewarde

We bought our tickets for the tour of the mine and as there was an hour before the tour, we looked around part of the museum. This had been a working mine for over 300 hundred years and after closure in the 1990s, was transformed into an extremely interesting museum, utilising many original buildings such as the"Hanging Room" where miners left their daytime clothes "hanging" in this huge room. Not only keeping the clothes safe but also giving visual evidence if anyone failed to come back from the pit!

The Hanging Room

The miners also showered in this room so hanging the clothes up high kept them away from the water.

Miner’s Safety Lamps, as many know, were pioneered by Mr Davy from England and the room here shows many lamps from really early ones which were rather unsafe (they burnt a naked flame which occasionally resulted in fire or explosion) to the much safer Davy Lamp and finally those using electricity.

Display of Miner’s lamp over the ages

The time came for the tour of the mine and we assembled at the mine shaft lift with several other people and the tour leader, an ex-miner. Being English we were given audio guides.

Once in the lift and the doors closed, the lift sped on its way. We were told on our audio guide that the mine was some 1500 feet deep and a small side window apparently showed the mineshaft walls flashing past as we fell! However it was all an illusion as once in the "mine" itself Paul pointed to a source of light in a ventilator box which couldn’t be coming from the ground if we were 1500 feet down!

Health and Safety had played its part again! The lift was a hoax (rather well done!) as the mine had been re-constructed by ex-miners only a few feet down! It was a very good re-construction with many original tools and machinery, starting off in the very early days and ending with modern compressed air and huge hydraulic rams for securing the areas at the mine face.

Inside the "Mine"

Depiction of an early miner

More modern hydraulic rams and compressed air drills

After the tour which took just over an hour we made our way to the restaurant for lunch.

This turned out to be the best meal we had all weekend. Waitress service, tablecloths and flowers and a three course lunch for around 20 Euros!

Lewarde Mine Restaurant

We both enjoyed this visit to the Lewarde Mine Museum and rode back through country lanes in bright sunshine to the hotel.

Some of the group outside the hotel

Another excellent East Anglia Section Easter Weekend and our thanks to Matt Butcher and Sarah McCarney for organising it.

A total of twenty people were on this trip.

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