Old towns before nine

Every old town I love has the same two hours in it. They start when the bakeries open and end when the first coach pulls into the car park by the river, and for those two hours the place belongs to the people who sweep the steps and deliver the bread.

In Dordrecht in March I walked the whole of the Voorstraat before eight and met four people: a man hosing down a café terrace, a woman walking a very old dog, a cyclist with a crate of milk, and a boy late for school. By ten the same street was full of people doing exactly what I had done, only in company.

Why it works

Light is lower and warmer, so every façade looks the way it does in the brochure. The streets are quiet enough that you notice the small things: the date over a door, the one shutter painted a different green, the sound of your own feet on the stones. And nothing is open yet, so you are not tempted to go inside anything. You just walk.

How to make it a habit

• Stay inside the walls. A room ten minutes from the old centre is ten minutes you will not get up for.
• Pick the street the night before. Standing at a junction at 06:45 trying to decide is how you end up back in bed.
• Eat breakfast second. Walk first, then find the bakery that has been open since six and sit down properly.
• Keep the afternoon empty. An early start means a slow middle of the day. That is the point.

Every guide in the Postmarked shop has a morning route for this reason. It is the one piece of advice I would give about any trip, anywhere.