Blogs from Nord-Pas de Calais, France, Europe

Following my earlier rant “Is it real camping” we noticed how different the facilities are in campsites around Europe. One consistant change since the 70’s though, has been that they have all improved. We have showers that have timers on them, some are movement activated, most have sparkling tiles and shiny mirrors above clean white sinks. Some have suites with your own sink, toilet and shower to meet all your needs. Great ways of saving of hot water and money have been found and a great step forward from days of old because there is actually ‘hot’ water. But where’s the fun, where’s the excitement? Showers on campsites should be a mini adventure, they should be a journey into the unknown and a conversation point for the evenings chat with other “adventurers”. Dee returned from a ... read more

Last night we had our last bottle wine in France, we return today and look forward to seeing all our friends again but will miss Europe. Our blogs don’t always mention enough of the periods when we have had long days of reading, talking to fellow travellers, walking beaches and hillsides with Horace and just being totally relaxed without any mishaps! So we’ll miss it. Since Germany we have stopped in southern Belgium and finally in St Omer, about 30 mins away from Dunkirk. Horace has been to the vet and had his pill (42 Euros for one pill, and a pat on the head from the vet! Nice work if you can get it.) so, we are all set. On Monday we travelled through Belgium and pulled into a site on the coast near Ostend. ... read more

Monday 2nd April 2012 Cold overnight but awoke to clear blue skies. Drove out to Cap Blanc Nez - spectacular views across the channel to Dover!! Large memorial erected in 1922 for the “Dover Sailors” who patrolled the channel during the First World War to help keep supplies etc. Going. Over 2000 men both French and British were lost . The Germans blew up the monument in the Second World War but it was rebuilt in the 1960’s. Onto Wissart with its huge beach (Barney enjoyed the run) lunch on the promenade – not the best we have had! And then onto Boulogne – parked by the fish market – bought 2 “live” plaice for our supper, couldn’t be more fresh and at the great expense of 2 euro!! Walked to the old upper fortified town ... read more

We are now into our tenth week and begin it by catching the ferry to France. Dunquirk this time as its around £30 cheaper for some reason? Our first night is spent in De Panne in Belgium and Chip is able to continue with his morning beach walks which he loves! We spent the next day driving through Belgium, and spent the Wednesday in Germany which was beutiful. We found a spot in the national park right by a little river, it was so nice but the rain came so we moved on into Luxemburg. As we crossedv the hiil borders came the snow! and thats when the real problems began......The engine started over revving which seemed irregular at first but did get worse. We found a lovelly little village called Mersher and were able to ... read more

Today was the day we went to Lille, we decided to go out a little later than planned, because of the late night before. We left home at 10am, and had the idea of being in Lille at 2pm, but obviously many many cars decided they had to go to Lille today, so we got stuck in a traffic jam, the clock hands began to irritate me, when we were creeping closer to 2pm without being even close. when we finally arrived in Lille, we had to find the hotel. The only thing i remembered what something "Grand Palais" which we found easily, but turned out to be a huge center, but not a hotel. After looking it up, we found it and we had to rush to get dressed and ready, because this night was ... read more

Today we took the train up to the northern part of France to see the Vimy Ridge memorial. During the first World War the Germans had control of the ridge and was a key position of the German line in Northern France. If the allies could capture the ridge it would expose vast territory of German held positions to allied sight and allied guns, and help give the allies a commanding view of the entire Douai Plain. Vimy Ridge was so well fortified that all previous attempts to capture it had failed. The British and French had been trying to capture the Ridge since the beginning of the war and with upwards of 150,000 casualties little progress had been made. The taking of Vimy Ridge was the first time that all 4 Canadian Corps would be ... read more