Last week in France and back to Blighty
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Well here it finally is, the last week of the first 6 months of travelling. Wow it has come around so fast! Also, a huge delay in getting this post out, as many of you will already know we have been rather busy once we got back to the U.K. for those who don’t, well read on and all should become clear.
Our final week began with a blast west out of Champagne and across toward Chateau Pierrefonds. About half an hour away we spotted a sign for an Aire in a quiet little village in the woods called Longpont and decided we had driven far enough and would stop here for the night. Ellen went for a short stroll in a break in the rain and found a ruined monastery that she could pay to visit. Unfortunately the solo young guy at the entrance hadn't given the correct phone number to call to be let back out again! I subsequently had to come rescue her, to get the guy to unlock the door for the exit.
One wife retrieved, we settled in for the night and the next morning set back off toward Chateau Pierrefonds.
For those who may remember the British TV show ‘Merlin’ from late 2000’s/early 2010’s, this castle was used extensively as the setting of Camelot in that show. Whilst a visually stunning castle, in its current form it was not built as a defensive structure. In fact, the current castle was the result of a rebuild for Napoleon III as a hunting cabin in the fantasy style. Using the ruins of the castle that did originally stand on this site, Eugène Viollet-le-Duc (of Carcassonne fame) rebuilt it to represent “what they could have built in the medieval period” rather than stay faithful to the original work. Nonetheless, a great morning wandering the castle and the village below.
The next stop was the armistice glade at Compeigne where General Foch and British military leadership met with the German Military commend to end hostilities on the western front in 1918. Destroyed by Hitler in the Second World War after forcing the French to sit in the same seats in the same rail car that the Germans had signed the 1918 armistice, for the French surrender in 1940. I highly recommend this for a visit but you’ll need a bit longer than you think.
Onward then that afternoon toward the Somme valley. We found a park up in some miserable grey town that had grown up in middle of the swampy Somme river. But it was so dismal we decided to just use the dump, water and bins then move on further down river to a paid camping car park Aire. Other than the belligerent geese wandering the Aire, it was perfectly acceptable. But it still wasn’t doing much for the image of the Somme being anything but wet and muddy!
The next morning we left behind the geese and the river and headed north toward the Lochnagar crater. One of the largest mines detonated by the British during the First World War. One of the salvo of mines detonated to signal the start of the Somme offensive.
Continuing the First World War theme, our next stop was the commonwealth war graves memorial monument at Theipval. This was the first of the sites that I had visited before back in year 8 but wanted to revisit now with a better understanding.
We had a minor incident upon leaving Theipval, whereby I had left the washing up bowl on the side and driven off. Resulting in breaking both our mugs from America in January and the mug Ellen bought in Spain in March! I wasn’t popular and rightly so. But we had to move on and we made it to a perfectly acceptable and large Aire in Arras.
Arras was a key city for the British commonwealth troops during the First World War and there are still holes from shell shrapnel present on the walls of some of the older the buildings. We spent a great evening here at an ok restaurant and bars on the square. The best of all was ‘Damme Jeanne’, a wine bar where we ended our evening before walking back to the van.
The next morning we walked across town once again. This time heading to jump on a TGV to Lille. Lille was a gorgeous city, the belfry dominating the skyline, very typical of towns and cities in this area of France and Belgium. You’ll have seen another on in Calais when crossing the channel from Dover. Though Lille is of course far grander!
We headed into the centre of town and to a little restaurant that was highly rated in Lonely Planet. Sitting outside enjoying the sun and a lovely lunch. Then as we were finishing our drinks, the heavens burst open.
We were under the awning but eventually even we had to concede and join the masses that had abandoned their tables and scurry inside. Eventually we decided we couldn’t hide in the restaurant all day and set off out into the rain. We had brollies but we still had to dart from store front to store front with everyone else. After nipping into a shop where the staff were busy trying to get buckets under the leaking roofs, the rain had finally started to die down a bit to make wandering around a bit more bearable.
Heading back out, we made our way to the Pattiserie "Aux Meurvilleux de Fred" for their self-named local delicacy "Meurvilleux". These were delicious meringue/pastry things full of cream. Amazing and a must have if you visit Lille! Next stop was the brutalist facade of the city cathedral, one which is seldom mentioned with good reason as it is completely horrid to look at! Worth a visit nonetheless but don’t get too excited!
Finally the sun was starting to come back out and we spent the rest of the afternoon wandering fairly aimlessly and not really wanting to head back too early. We had a drink in the main square, wandered into a crazy little book market and marvelled at the Art Deco architecture in the chamber of commerce. We then headed out toward the citadel which the Germans had used as a headquartes when occupying the town during the First World War. Here we had another drink and saw the memorials to carrier pigeons of the Great war and to the little known French resistance of the First World War who channel information to the British at Arras.
It was now swelteringly hot and we had to walk right across the city to get back on a train and back to Arras.
Arriving back in Arras, we decided to have one last drink a French cafe before heading back to the van.
The next day saw us retrace our railway journey, albeit much slower in the van. We took a brief stop at Vimy ridge memorial, another site I had visited in Year 8, but again more has been unearthed and built since and it was a new experience for Ellen. Heading on and passing by Lille, we drove on into Belgium and its terrible concrete patchwork roads.
The reason for this was for me to revisit the Tyne Cot cemetery. This enormous memorial and cemetery was built around a series of German bunkers. During the battle of Paschendale, Commonwealth forces faced a horrendous slog in the fields east of Ypres. Once they had taken Tyne Cottage (a bunker disguised as a shack) they quickly turned it into a field hospital and built a makeshift field cemetery out the back.
These bunkers are now part of the cemetery and the Tyne Cot bunker itself was built upon to become the central Cross. Similarly, the bodies of the men in the wartime cemetery were never moved, instead they were given proper headstones and left to rest. Therefore there are two unique headstones in this area, those of two German soldiers who were treated by commonwealth and British medics but ultimately succumbed.
The main reason for coming back here however is far more personal. Here, amongst the hundreds of thousands of names of the missing of Paschendale, is the name of my Great Great Grandfather. Only my sister and I have ever managed to get to come and pay our respects. I still remember the look on my Great Nan’s face all those years ago when I showed her a photo of myself at his memorial. I had “found her dad” that she had said goodbye to as a young girl and never saw again. So it will always be important for me to swing by if I can.
Heading on in the pouring rain, we passed through Ypres itself and the Menin gate to head back toward Northern France and to near Dunquerque.
First attempt was an Aire at Bray dunes east of Dunquerque, but we hadn’t pre booked it and it was already full by the time we arrived. Ok, on to another in Dunqurque, however this one was all laid out along a very steep hill! We decided it wasn’t worth it, and despite a long day of driving, we booked the large Aire in Calais, grabbed a McDonalds on the way out of town and got back on the road west.
The next morning we took a morning walk to a nearby Boulangerie for our last bit of French bread and then along the waterfront and back to the van. We drained off as much great and fresh water as we dared, to save fuel on the long slog back through the U.K. and then drove theough the centre of Calais. Surprisingly, Calais itself is actually rather nice in the centre, though we didn’t have time to stop for more than a brief supermarket run for some last bits.
They it was onward to the Ferry home and back to the grey skies of the U.K. We made it back to Blighty, this being the first time in 6 months the van had been back home. After 6 months in mainland Europe, the 3.5 hour drive home felt like one continuous car park!
We spent a couple of days at home together prepping for the coming weeks. I had to sort the bike after the last minute suspension run around back in February had left it in bit of a state. But thankfully, all sorted and battery changed, I set off early Sunday morning on the bike down to Banbury for my marine radio course.
Radio course all passed I then headed east to Essex/Suffolk to do my week long day skipper sailing course. Despite some chaotic weather on the Monday, we had a great week of sailing and I met a fantastic group of people with whom we had a great week.
Whilst I was on those courses Ellen had flown to Texas to visit her sister and her new niece and it sounds like she had a great time with them all.
The end of the sailing week saw me drop in on my Mum and see my family for my Nephews’ and Niece’s joint birthday. Then the Sunday I joined Ellen’s dad on his boat which he graciously allowed me to try my hand at skippering for the first time. We had a fantastic few days in the heat, despite the low winds and spring tides.
I returned home mid week and after a much needed recovery period and once Ellen had returned home, the last week of prep before we hit the road again could finally get under way!
