Day 3: Calais to Cambrai

After a very damp night huddled in the 'games room' trying to charge up the phone and helmet headset, then heading back to the tent and a warm sleeping bag, I settled in to a surprisingly comfortable night's sleep. The 4 season bag kept me snug and warm and the self inflation bedroll was wonderful. Just enough give but not squashy. The only interruption to this nocturnal idyll was the bloody wildlife. Birds...hundreds of birds twittering and squawking and...well, whatever birds do in the day: they were doing it all bleddy night long. Combined with the massive campsite security lights (which probably made Mr & Mrs Twittery-Tweeting think it was day time), I couldn't stop thinking it was time to get up. Earplugs helped. Eventually, I rose at 6:00 and set to drying out all the damp stuff. Yes! The sun was rising, the clouds were gone and... the shower block had radiators, hairdryers and hand dryers 😋. An hour of shuttling damp things back and fore the dryers and hanging stuff all over the camp fences did the job.
Packed and ready for off. Aaargh... The USB isn't working. No charge for phone and headset. "Chill. Fix it tonight 4 just geddon (Cornish for 'get on')
I head out onto the arrow straight French roads in warm sunshine. You can see the vapour rising from the drying roads.  I'm grinning again. This is beautiful. France is flat in a big open way. Huge fields, huge ditches, water towers painted in bright crazy patterns.  The bike just rolls along until meets one of those long curves and then it leans over and just glides round. French roads are good compared to many. They're smooth and flat. Few big holes to catch you unawares. It gives you confidence. On the other hand there's French road etiquette. I'll leave that for another day.

Satty went a bit existentialist on me and decided that, assuming I was on a Honda C90, it was OK ride over a footbridge across the river. Well if Satty says it's OK, it's OK with me 😂
I was hungry after yesterday's tinned sardine dinner so when I got close to Cambrai I called in to a mini Carrefour & treated myself to goat cheese, salad & fresh bread. 
Because I was early for my next stop over I pulled in by a secluded gas station- which was oddly quaint with trees and plants - ate my late lunch and then set to sorting the bike. Firstly there was the by that holds the swinging arm on. The nuts were coming loose. Potentially disastrous. I tightened them up and put a lock nut on to be doubly sure.
Secondly, the USB socket had stopped working. Zero power. Zilch. I couldn't figure it out at the side of the road without unpacking everything so waited until I stopped.
Tonight's stopover is an Airbnb place. Jean-Jaques is the most welcoming guy you could meet. His home is a tiny Riverside cabin. You couldn't swing a vole in amongst the ancient vinyl records, speakers, ornaments and a lifetime's collected flotsam. He invited me in  the best arm-waving french I've seen for a long time and insisted I drank and ate and listened to his extraordinary collection of 1970s prog rock albums. Extraordinary; French prog rock. I will remember this for a long time.
Jean- Jacques even had the exact, obscure fuse that I need to fix the USB socket on the bike and he also let me use his washing machine.
Like I said. People can be brilliant. 
Tomorrow - Verdun. See you there!