BIKE AND STEAM TRAIN RIDE IN THE SOMME BAY
Destination : Picardy Coast - Bay of Somme
Experience the dizzying, wide open spaces, between the Somme Bay and Marquenterre
Recognised as a site of exception and a member of the very closed 'most beautiful bays in the world' club, the Somme Bay boasts a large variety of landscapes.
Depending on the tides and seasons, the bay’s particularly wide mouth into the English Channel offers exceptional scenery where the sky, land and sea merge into one in subtle shades and light.
On the marked Gravelot track, (see map opposite), the bike ride starting point is in Cayeux-sur-Mer, where hundreds of beach huts lined up on a track-way facing the sea, evoke by-gone seaside charm. Following the Route Blanche that snakes in and out of the dunes, you will discover a whole new universe- Brighton woods with its pine trees and the strips of dunes and stones that are washed up in the Somme Bay at Pointe du Hourdel, a little port that opens up to infinity.
From there, on the other shore you will see Marquenterre pine forest and Le Crotoy. Continue along the bike path to reach Saint-Valery-sur-Somme!
This medieval town, set with fortifications and perched on the cliff, dominates the Bay. Large Anglo-Norman villas tower up between battlements and the sea.
Pleasure boats are moored along the fairway and the piers. Your peaceful Saint-Valery-sur-Somme excursion will be disrupted momentarily by the whistling of the Somme Bay miniature train, a local steam train from the start of the century which meanders its way around the Somme Bay, at the grand old speed of 20 km an hour, across fields and marshes, wet lands and low-lying areas. This train will take you and your bike back to Cayeux-sur-Mer.
What images will you take home from this trip? Streets in bloom, the changing panoramas and colours of the Somme Bay, salt meadow sheep grazing in the low-lying marshes, the plume of steam from the railway, your bike adventures in the Bay? Probably all of the above and the feeling of having experienced some truly exceptional moments…
Somme Bay Railway
Saint Valery sur Somme Station- BP 31
80230 Saint Valery sur Somme (Map D)
Tel: +33 (0)3 22 26 96 96
www.chemin-fer-baie-somme-asso.fr
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