Abbeville stands on the river Somme a few kilometres before it widens into its famous bay, and the town has the air of a place that has been knocked about and picked itself up. Much of the old centre was destroyed by bombing in May 1940, in the German advance, and rebuilt in a plain, solid style after the war. The belfry, part of the town hall complex, belongs to the group of belfries of France and Belgium that UNESCO lists, and it stands as a symbol of the town's medieval privileges.
The Somme has a name that echoes through the twentieth century, though the great battle of 1916 took place further east. Abbeville lay behind the lines as a British base and hospital centre in that war, and the surrounding countryside holds many cemeteries and memorials. The Bay of the Somme, west of the town, is one of the finest estuaries in France, a wide expanse of sand, salt marsh and water, where seals bask on the sandbanks and migrating birds feed in their thousands. Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, on the bay's edge, is a pretty harbour town with a small steam railway.
For riders, Picardy is gentle, open and quietly rewarding. The roads cross rolling farmland of wheat, sugar beet and rape, passing villages with brick and flint houses, and the surfaces are generally good, with long straights and gentle curves. Wind can be strong near the coast, and summer weekends bring visitors to the bay, so traffic builds. Spring, with yellow rape fields, and early autumn, with misty mornings, are the best seasons. The light along the estuary, with its huge sky, is the sort that painters travel for.
Abbeville has fuel, supermarkets, restaurants and hotels, and Saint-Riquier, a short ride away, has a magnificent abbey church. Local specialities include the ficelle picarde, a pancake filled with ham and mushrooms and baked with cream, and flamiche, a leek tart, and the fish and shellfish of the bay are excellent. Take a moment in the town square, look up at the belfry and enjoy the unfussy character of a town that has been through a lot.