I may not have been very fair to Lodz in not going out with my camera, but most of what I saw in my way in was a dump.  As I struggled to find my way out of the various roadworks this morning I was confirmed in my impression that whatever good days it had had were well behind it.  However, there were some impressive old buildings and I suspect that a knowledgeable tour guide could make it a very interesting city to visit.  The impression I got was of a Soviet era industrial town that hasn't found another role yet.  I think that may be true of Poland as a whole.

I was determined to have a better day than yesterday, so intended to get out of town before traffic built up.  I managed it, but the traffic coming into town was already heavy before 7am.  It was a lovely morning, and my jeans had dried out, so I was comfortable enough.  I've decided just to go for Calais since reported waiting times are only a couple of hours.  Compared to the extra journey time to Dieppe and the 4 hour crossing that's still a good deal.  So, I am taking the quickest route which is the A2, which is a motorway.  However, in Poland it is a very nice, new motorway and a pleasure to drive on as it is not that busy - because it's a quite expensive toll road.  Worth it though.  I had to do a fair few miles to leave me in easy striking distance of Calais, so my strategy was to stop fairly often for short breaks - mainly petrol, water and ice cream.

It was fine, though understandably a bit tedious at times.  The countryside really looks at its best when the sun is shining like this.  An awful lot of it is very flat.  No wonder people thought the world was flat if they lived somewhere like that, dead level as far as the eye could see.  And if you go to the next village, just the same view.

In Germany the motorways operated with Teutonic efficiency, and even the lane closures and contra flows worked beautifully.  It is very easy to maintain a very high average speed on these roads.  You do need to look out for cars screaming up out of nowhere though.

32.5C is just as challenging on a bike as 12.5C.  It can be OK when you're moving as long as you have enough vents to open.  Stop for a minute though, and you start to broil.  This is when the wisdom of a black leather jacket becomes suspect., but I don't know what else would work either.  It was a hot day, hence all the water stops, but it was lovely as long as I was moving.

Staying in Beckum in a very nice family hotel.  A few photos of the town below.  A nice little place, well laid out and maintained.  Buildings are a variety of ages and styles and it got me thinking that there must have been very little left standing around here after the war.  I'd love to get to know someone well enough to find out how they set about rebuilding, but you don't like to ask, as a tourist.  London, Coventry and Clydebank may have suffered, but this part of Germany was just carpet bombed, and fought over for good measure.

I'm aiming for a train around 3pm tomorrow, so there won't be a blog post.  Goodbye.