White Cliffs to Field

I was up at dawn and as this was a popular area and headed up to Deal castle to give that a quick view.  Town of Deal announced it was ticketing bikes for any petty violation such as going the wrong way on a one way street.  I felt unwelcome.  So I headed back to Dover and toured their secret war time tunnels of Dover Castle.  They kept talking about great success that the withdrawal from Dunkirk was.  It was interesting that they failed to note why they need to withdrawal.  The French and British forces outnumber the invading force in the area.  The French forces that were rescued were quickly returned to France where few were able to return to fighting before France surrendered.  Yes Dunkirk was a success but why did it need to happen. Leadership??  They saved the French, so that within weeks they would be out of the war and working for Germany as laborers.  70 years later history should not be edited to produce propaganda. 

At the main fortress did there presentation on what they called one of Britons greatest kings Henry II.  He came from France was basically a good land grabber.  Disagreements with his children and wife had the family shrub trimmed some more. 

The Castle had a trebuchet and a small red smart car near by.  I am sure with the heights of the castle over town the car could be launched into the bay over the houses below.  I had to let that idea pass as it was guarded.

Then I head to Dover do some internet research on Dunkirk and onward.  I could not find any hostels in the area.  But there were campsites listed.  So I was off to Dunkirk.  Arrived at Dunkirk at 8 pm and was one of the first off the ferry.  Need to run with the trucks and car for the first mile with boulders lining the side of the road to ensure I would be dead if something went wrong.  Finally found a side road and a map at a bus stop.  The map was no use as I did know where I was on it.  So I started heading east and a little north.  Ran across a park I could have found a good discrete spot to camp, but I decide to push on as there was still a little light.  I thought I should be east or in Dunkirk, but I kept seeing signs pointing the way to Dunkirk in the direction I was heading.  Found that all the gas stations area completely self service with no one running the stations and could not find any stores open.  This led me not to find any maps for sale.  Did have some street names for the where the nearest camp site was.  Found the center of Dunkirk and then the camp site.  Camp site takes people in only from 3 to 6 pm.  I push on to the other sites.  It is late and found none are open.  So I ride on.  At around midnight I cross the French frontier into Belgium.  It was hard to tell where the border was.  I kept pushing on and around 3 am I found myself waking up while cycling.  As there was canal on the edge of the road I thought it was a bad thing since I did know how long I was cycling while not conscious.  Shortly I found a bike path through some fields.  A little way down the path found some nice grass on the side of the path and collapse there. 

5/24/10

65.5 mile  8:56 hr /  max speed 28.7 avg moving  speed ? stopped time 11:41 1110 ft total ascent. (Some clouds in Briton and as night wore on cold fog came up)

Love & kisses

Steve