Sunday 07 August
A lovely sunny day as we made our way towards France. While still in Belgium we came upon a working windmill at a Tourist Information stop which also seemed to be a meeting place for the Windmill Preservation Society who were enjoying a wine tasting, so we helped ourselves to brochures and left.
Heading to Iepers (also known as Lepers or Ypres) to see a beautiful cathedral but ended up at some other church which was still nice. Onward to the town itself to see the Menin Gate containing the names of all the fallen Commonwealth soldiers of WWI who came to defend the area and whose remains have not been found or given proper burial. Each night at 8pm on this site, the last post is played.
We had lunch opposite the Flanders Field Museum apparently filled with personal stories from soldiers and citizens of Ypres during WWI and planned to at least walk around the building, but we kept seeing tow trucks taking vehicles away and got worried we might see our rig go past as we'd parked in a dubious place, so decided to head off. Along the way there were heaps of signs pointing to different cemeteries relating to WWI.
It seems camp sites in France are heavily booked this time of year so when we got in at Vauban Plein Air in Grant Fort Phillipe (near Calais) we were pleased at first. No toilet paper or soap here either so it must just be the done thing.
After setting up we went for an explore to find we are near a lovely big stretch of beach separated by a channel. We unfortunately are on the side with no activities or services (at least not open on Sundays) and the free boat crossing doesn't operate for another 3 days due to the tides. Continued walking anyway and came upon the town centre on our side with Mairie (Town Hall) and closed shops apart from the bakery.
The houses we saw on the walk home were all very beautifully maintained however it doesn't seem to be necessary to pick up after your dog so you have to watch where you walk. The other interesting thing for us cemetery visitors was the Gravelines Cemetery, which is used to capacity.
Monday 08 August
We had planned to take the hour long bus ride into Dunkirk today to explore, but the camp site was not as advertised – a dump really – and as we were heading south anyway, we decided to move on early and head towards the Normandy area. Our review of the campsite is here.
To avoid a 5 hour drive on the back roads we decided to take the autoroutes and paid about 25 Euros in tolls. Highway robbery!! It was extremely windy and Bill really had to battle sometimes to keep the motor home in line, especially when we crossed several extremely tall bridges. The countryside was interesting with a combination of crops, cattle, low mountains and lush forests.
We were witness to some French road rage on a section of the autoroute where two lanes merged into one due to road works. The car behind us was trying to prevent a huge semi-trailer from getting in front of him. So the truckie manoeuvred himself to block both lanes, got out of the truck and went to have a few words with the car driver. We took off in case he was in a really bad mood and turned on us next but no traffic followed us for ages, so he must have done a good job “chatting” to the other driver and holding everybody else up.
Arriving at our camp site at La Briquerie in Equemauville (small town near Honfleur), we immediately had a good feel about the place. The reception team were extremely professional and helpful, heaps of entertainment provided daily and the facilities are very good (byo loo paper). It took us awhile to decide how we were going to park in our site as it is still very windy and we don't want the awning floating away. We have been placed very considerately well away from the onsite bar which is a good thing because tonight there is a dance party commencing from 9:30pm to 00:30. We old funsters will be in bed before the first song is even played. Wednesday they've got a cross dressing night on at the same time.
After lunch we went for a quick explore of the nearby town which is totally cute with gorgeous and very well maintained homes, a lovely old church with fascinating cemetery, a couple of restaurants and delectable patisserie.
Tuesday 09 August
The gusty cold wind continued all night accompanied by torrents of rain, much of which ended up in the electricity connections resulting in no power this morning. Afterwards we found out it wasn't just us affected. Sounds like dodgy power - Bill got a bit of a zap when he went to investigate our plugs.
The wind had died down a lot and the day glorious so we set off to walk to the larger town of Honfleur, a small medieval town from the 11th century. It has a great maritime and military history but was occupied by the English in the mid 14th century.
We walked the country road to arrive at the look-out for a great view of the Normandy Bridge we had crossed yesterday and the town below. The large farming properties with sheep or cattle and the obligatory fruit tree were splendid.
Once in the town we came straight to St Catherine's church, rebuilt (and it's separate bell tower) in wood by the town's shipbuilders in the mid 15th century, using ship building methods. It really is a fascinating historical monument. We've noticed throughout Europe that people still venerate the previous Pope John Paul II, and here is no different.
You have to be careful if you want to have lunch in a restaurant in France as they often only serve from 12pm-2pm and then reopen from say 6pm for dinner. So we made a beeline to a nice looking place, Cote Resto, which was absolutely fantastic. Sylvi tried the local cider and Bill the beer with a half dozen oysters for entree. They were large but flat (not plump like NZ or Tassie oysters) – the locals claim they are like that because they have to cling extra hard to the rocks due to the strong currents they get here. Regardless, they were delicious. We actually came to this town on the recommendation of a lovely German couple we met at our camp site in Wurzberg who said they had great seafood in this region. They were not wrong as our mains of 5 small portions of different fish were also divine.
At the Tourist Bureau we found we can't actually take a tour to the Normandy Beaches from here. You have to drive or take the train, so we'll move on tomorrow. So the highlight of the tourist bureau was Bill spying a drug deal going down outside. The youth of today!
We continued exploring the town which we found to be totally charming. This is a very beautiful old port town, with many boats in harbour. The old buildings are very well maintained and still used for many businesses, most of which are restaurants packed with tourists.
The Salt Warehouses date from the 17th century and could once hold 10,000kg of salt needed for the cod fishing on the banks of Newfoundland. They are now used for exhibitions and the like.
When we got home we sent a booking enquiry to a camp site near Mt Saint Michel for tomorrow night. They came back almost immediately confirming the booking and stating they were enchanted in anticipation of our arrival and chance to meet us. Written French is so floral. It gave Bill a warm fuzzy feeling and renewed our interest in continuing our last two weeks in France.
More photos here.
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