Saturday 15th October 2022 Montreuil sur Mer to Wimereux 28 miles
It was a lovely stay in Montreuil sur Mer, very peaceful and quiet and the town was very pleasant. Today we are not planning on going far, in fact, for the rest of this week, our journeys will be short. We are up in this area earlier than we expected and with the French fuel crisis on we will be making short hops now until we get into Belgium and then home.
It’s a miserable morning this morning. It’s raining. It’s that rain that sounds like it’s on forever, a constant drizzle. There is a service point here so we dump our grey water and move on. Today we are going to the seaside town of Wimereux which is south of Calais by about 30 odd kilometers, so not far to go. As we make our way the wind builds up, very much so. By the time we arrive at the municipal campsite in Wimereux the wind is blowing very hard. On the upside, the rain has eased off so we take the opportunity to walk into the town.
The tide is out and it’s very windy, it doesn’t stop the surfer, kite borders, and windsurfers though, they are out in force. It’s a nice little town, very clean and tidy and we can imagine that it’s popular with the locals in the summer. The visibility is excellent and we can make out the white cliffs of Dover 20 odd miles off in the distance.
We walk around the town and finally fall into a little place for lunch. It’s the restaurant of a small boutique hotel and is quite charming, warm, and cozy. We try some local stuff. Hayley goes for fish and chips which is very popular here. Contrary to popular belief, fish and chips came from Portugal, this part of France loves it so Hayley gives it a go. Del tries a “Welsh”, bread soaked in beer with cheese and ham sprinkled over it then roasted to a very high temperature with an egg dolloped on the top. French Welsh Rarebit. A very tasty lunch which is finished with two scoops of ice cream floating in champagne. Excellent.
Back at the van, the wind has really picked up. We are getting rocked about, and soon after we are hit with sharp, heavy rain falls, very ugly and separated with glorious sunshine, so much so we get a double rainbow… Nice
Sunday 16th October 2022 Wimereux to St Omer 34 miles
We are into our last week now, and home on Friday. Today we are doing another short drive east inland to St Omer. On the way there we will stop at a museum, this one is called the Blockhouse d’Eperlecques. Well, this is something else. In the early 40s, while it was all still kicking off, Hitler was encouraging his scientists to build a rocket system that could be aimed at the UK. So they came up with a launch system capable of launching 36 V2 rockets a day. They would all be prepared and launched from the Blockhouse d’Eperlecques in France. Fortunately, it never fired a single rocket, as the allies got wind of its construction and heavily bombed it. When you enter the museum most of it is forest and woodland which is lined with old trucks and weapons. Once you turn around a corner and into a clearing you are presented with one of the biggest concrete structures ever, this thing is just enormous, your mouth just drops open at the size of this sinister construction, a construction that was built to launch deadly rockets at the UK. The whole project is like something out of a James Bond movie.
We spend nearly 2 hours at the place, very interesting and quite spectacular and impressive. The lengths the Germans went to are just unbelievable. If you are ever in this area of France, visiting or passing through, then go here, you won’t regret it. Have a look at the website to get the full flavor of what this place is all about.
Soon we are on our way to St. Omer. The weather is quite pleasant, a change from yesterday. We are going to a free ‘aire’ for the night. A very nice drive, but we have to turn back soon after leaving the museum. There is no mention on the road that there is a tunnel, and that it’s only 2m high. The only sign we see is NO BUSES. A quick bit of jiggling and reversing and multipoint turns and we are finally off in the right direction.
We arrive at St. Omer. A nice place and a nice overnight stop. There are a few vans here so we won’t be alone. Parked up and secure, we walk into town which is quite vibrant, even on a Sunday. Again we fall into a nice little place for lunch, a heavy lunch. This falling into places for lunch has become a habit this past week or two. Not complaining.
A slow walk back to the van with two cakes bought from the local cake shop. They know how to do cake shops in France.
It’s getting cooler and just as we get settled in, the rain starts. Well, that was excellent timing. It’s the kind of rain though that sounds like it’s on for the night. Oh well, we’ve had a good day at a worthwhile museum, a walkabout, and a good lunch. Vive la France!
Monday 17th October 2022 St Omer, France to Poperinge, Belgium 30 miles
Our pitch in St. Omer last night was free, the pay-point at the entrance didn’t work so we saved a staggering 5 euros, not that we didn’t want to pay, far from it. The downside to the place was that it was located was right next to the railway line, being a Sunday yesterday it wasn’t too busy except that during the night, at least twice there were some very long and very noisy freight trains that came through and really did shake the earth. You could feel the van vibrate as the trains went over each join in the track.
No matter, it wasn’t too bad, but again we have woken up to a bit of a soggy morning. Today we are going back to Belgium to an old favorite of ours, a working farm that accommodates motorhomes and caravans called Stal t’ Bardhof. Located in Westvleteren, Belgium, it’s a nice place to stay, a bit rustic in parts but it is a working farm, the welcome is friendly and there is everything we need there, oh and they have a fabulous collection of Belgian beers.
Jess is filthy, however, but really filthy. She looks like she has been in the Paris-Dakar races, mud all up the side of her, the worst she has been.
We find a fuel station, which is busy and only has diesel, so we are lucky and at the same place is an excellent car/van wash. I think it’s been mentioned before, but the French do know how to do a good car wash. After 20 minutes she looks new again Sparkling.
We set off for the farm but once we cross Belgium the roads are wet and muddy, there has been some heavy rain here and there is still a lot of local flooding. After about 20 to 30 minutes we arrive at the farm and are welcomed by our host Inge, who recognises Del. (Well she’s only human…). Jess is again filthy and muddier than she was before her wash. We pitch up next to a fenced-off pond that has a small area next to it with about 5 pygmy goats.
They are cute and come to see us. They are very tame and we spend some time with them before having lunch at the farm which is tremendous. We have some good strong Belgian beer with local homemade ‘Stoovelees’ which is basically a Belgian beef stew. It’s wonderful, served with fries and a salad. The plates are left clean.
The rest of the afternoon we spend on Jess, it’s a bit cold and damp but eventually, we get some coats on and go for a walk. The walks around here a great, especially after a big lunch!
Back at Jess, we find that one of the goats has died, which was quite upsetting as we were only just fussing them all on our arrival. No idea why, the poor thing was found lying on its side and was unceremoniously scooped up and put in a wheelbarrow. A sobering afternoon.
No dinner tonight. Tomorrow we may go back to France.
Tuesday 18th October 2022 Poperinge, Belgium to Bray Dunes, France 21 miles
We are all over the place this week. In and out of France and Belgium. Today we are going back to France to a small town called Bray Dunes. It’s right on the coast so we can get some sea air and a good walk in. It’s only a short drive so as usual, we have a long breakfast with bread brought in by the farm. It’s a lovely autumn morning, cool and foggy with the sun trying to break through.
We like it here, it’s probably our 5th visit. This time however there was a dog problem. Barking dogs, late at night and again first thing in the morning. We don’t understand this dog thing, leaving them outside overnight in all weathers, letting them bark, and doing nothing about it. Odd. It’s hardly a guard dog if no one finds out why it’s barking!
We say goodbye to Inge our lovely farm host, after telling her about the dogs, for which she apologises. The fog has lifted a little, the sun is bright and the blue sky is appearing. It’s a lovely day.
We arrive at Bray Dunes, in France, on the coast, get settled, and take a nice walk in the sun to the beach.
It’s very nice here, the beach is very long, goes on for miles. People are out in the sun walking and walking their dogs (hopefully to wear them out so they don’t bark tonight). We are in search of a lunch and it’s not too long before we find one. Del has a vat of mussels and fries, and Hayley a Steak.
The dessert was a wonderful collection of small desserts and a coffee, known in these parts as a ‘Cafe Gourmand’.
After such a handsome lunch we take to the beach for a longish stroll. The tide is out and it just looks so vast.
It’s Hayley’s birthday tomorrow, so we are going to De Panne which is back in Belgium. De Panne is also on the coast, we visited there on our last trip 6 months ago. The reason we are going there again is that there is a fun fair there called “Plopsaland” which has one of the world’s best rides there called “The Ride to Happiness”. Del of course will be holding the bag. Again… To celebrate her birthday tomorrow a bottle of Champagne is opened and we have a glass or two in the afternoon sun next to Jess.
Again no dinner tonight, full of steak and mussels, and now champagne. Well, what else is there to do on a Tuesday?
Wednesday 19th October 2022 Bray Dunes to Ypres miles (via De Panne)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HAYLEY…!
Today is Hayley’s birthday and today we are going to…? An amusement park. Yes, Hayley’s love of theme parks and fast rollercoasters has not diminished since rediscovering them back in America 3 years ago. So today we are going to Plopsaland De Panne Belgium. It’s quite a popular place but it’s famous for having one of the world’s most exciting and highly rated rides called The Ride to Happiness, which is an extreme spinning coaster. We are up earlier than normal as she wants to be first in the line. It’s a short 15-minute drive, we get parked up and you can’t see her for dust! Del is doing his usual thing of carrying the bag, which he does very well.
The weather is good today, it’s been raining for the past few days so it’s good that today we have some sunshine for Hayley’s day. Very happy about that. We are in the park by 10 am.
One of the main rides is down today but the important one is working. Hayley gets 8 rides on it, with some rests in between – well she is getting on a bit now, though not the oldest in the queue as a guy in his late 60s, who sits next to her, has ridden it 875 times.
At 4:00 pm Hayley has decided that she has had enough having done about 12 rides on everything in total, so we head for Jess and set off for the lovely town of Ypres. We have stayed here before on our last trip and would recommend it highly. The campsite is charming with a warm welcome and we get a nice pitch for our short stay here. Tonight is a birthday dinner in the town of Ypres itself. We know a lovely restaurant there tucked away in the corner of the town square which is a short walk from the campsite.
Del buys Hayley a small box of assorted Belgian chocolates and then it’s off to eat. Eat we do, it is a smashing dinner. Pork on the bone with Bearnaise sauce, Del has an excellent rare steak.
Excellent food and drink and a lovely evening which ended with the daily gathering under the Menin Gate and the playing of the Last Post for the fallen of WW1.
A great day and lovely evening for Hayley’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Hayley…
Thursday 20th October 2022 Ypres Bray-Dunes 27 miles
We loved our night in Ypres. It’s a new discovery for us this year, recommended to us by a campsite owner in De Panne on our last trip. It’s a lovely place and we really do like being there. Time to move on though as we have work to do. First, we need to stock up with a good hearty collection of Belgian beers, then we need to cross back into France and stock up with an equally hearty collection of French wines as we are going home tomorrow.
We are heading for the town of Poperinge which is not too far from Ypres but we do have to brave some of the atrocious Belgian roads. In the main they are ok, but there are some that are real boneshakers. Rough. Very rough. We arrive at the supermarket where we know they have a separate section of popular beers. After 20 minutes or so we leave with quite a generous booty of beers, they are all beers that we have tried and enjoyed and now we are well stocked up, for a fortnight at least!
We now want to cross the border again back into France, this time to get some wine. Instead of a supermarket, Hayley has found a wine superstore that’s very popular with European truck drivers, indeed when we arrive the car park is full of trucks. Inside the store, it is an Aladdin’s cave of French and New World wines. It’s a good shop, we even find glasses for our favorite Belgian beers. Beers in Belgium all have their own glasses, there is a good reason. The shape and size of the glass help in the taste of the beer. A bit like the different glasses for wines etc. The mixture of the liquid and the amount of air makes all the difference, so we are told anyway.
We buy 24 bottles of red wine and a small selection of glasses for our beer collection. All stocked up and weighed down, we need to find, again, another car wash. Jess is filthy. The part of Belgium that we have been in recently is very agricultural which means the tractors and other farm machinery are dragging mud everywhere and there has been some heavy rain so on some occasions there has been a soup of mud to drive through. We find a car wash and Jess gets a good clean down for going home, her second in two weeks! Costing a fortune to keep this thing clean! It’s a good car wash, like all French car washes. There is a machine where you can spray the inside of your car with perfume, 4 to choose from. We decline that one.
Stocked up with beer and wine it’s time to find our penultimate night’s stay. First, we think we will stay in Dunkirk, so we head there. We decide that we are not really mad about Dunkirk, it’s a town, a busy town, an industrial town, from what we see, so we decide to move on. We would like a stop that is no more than 45 to 60 minutes drive to Calais, our ferry is at 09:05, and we don’t want to be up super early and have a long drive, so we decide to go back to Bray-Dunes, the place we stayed at just 2 days ago. It’s a nice town, the stop is new and clean, we know it and it’s only 45 minutes to Calais.
After a short drive, we arrive at the town of Bray-Dunes, with a van full of drinks but she’s also nice and clean. Once we get settled we do a little bit of de-preparation, not much but it just helps to make life easy when we get back home. Hayley looks for a place for dinner tonight so at 6 pm we are off for a walk. It’s a lovely late afternoon, not too cold, sunny, finally and it’s just nice.
The restaurant we are aiming for is closed, in fact, every restaurant is closed, a Thursday night in Bray-Dunes, and nowhere is open for eating… except one We finally stumble on the only one that is open. Looks OK, and the reviews are good so we go inside. We left having had a splendid dinner. Hayley had mussels and fries, a local and popular dish in this area, Del has a Flanders Stew. Both are delicious. A great dinner for our last night. Good food in a nice place. Back at the van, we have an early night. Up early tomorrow, 06:15 am…!
Friday 21st October 2022 Bray Dunes to home 215 miles
Our last morning, for this trip anyway, on Jess. Brutally woken up by our phone alarm clocks at 6:15 am, it’s still dark! We get up and have a coffee, clean up the last bits and pieces and set off. Once on the motorway, a free one this time, it’s getting busy already, very busy, mainly with trucks. France is alive with trucks.
It’s an uneventful 45-minute drive to the port of Calais. After a quick and easy check-in, a ticket, and two passport checks from the French and then the English, we are in the line for our boarding.
It’s not very busy this morning on this crossing, very quiet which is nice.
We are quite hungry this morning so we make haste for the restaurant for a traditional English breakfast at the staggering sum of 12 pounds each!!!! Staggering. Del thought it was very uninspiring. It’s a pleasant morning, a nice flat sea, with light clouds. Not bad.
We have never seen a cross-channel ferry so empty, it’s great to be on, almost like we have the whole ship to ourselves. Our ferry ends with a few purchases from the duty-free before disembarkation.
20 minutes outside Dover and we hit a ten-minute traffic jam. Surely we are doing things wrong in the UK, 5 weeks in Europe over 4 countries, and not a single traffic jam, heavy traffic yes, but they keep it moving and keep the road works short. Here, back home, they close miles and miles of motorway, slap a 50mph speed limit, and leave it like that with nothing happening. It’s depressing.
We drive in and out of heavy showers and arrive at Portsmouth very early for our ferry, 2 and a half hours early. Sadly we can’t get on but they do get us on an earlier ferry than we are supposed to be on so we are quite pleased about that.
Finally, we pull up to our house to start the unloading. As usual, it is big, with wine, beer, clothes, and all the other bits we have taken with us.
Once again another excellent outing with Jess which took us to northern Spain, Portugal, France, and Belgium. We loved all of it. We will certainly be going back to northern Spain and Portugal, despite its cobbled roads. France and Belgium are always interesting. This time we saw a lot of stuff from WW2, interesting stuff though which made us think and talk about the whole thing, and the state of the current world like the UK and Europe “cost of living crisis” with strikes and demonstrations. Everything was more expensive than our last trip to Europe, everyone is affected by whatever is going on around the world. We are not alone. Despite all of that though we still had a great time. Europe is a wonderful place to tour, a place we will go to time and time again and will always find something new and interesting.
We are not sure what our next tip will be. We have been talking about Scandinavia. We did have a good long trip planned there a couple of years ago but Covid put those plans on the back boiler.
Again we would like to thank all our friends and family for following us. We do this just for fun and to share what we are up to and we love hearing from you. So until the next one, we would like to wish you all good health and happiness and encourage you “to get out there…”
Best wishes and much love Del, H & Jess.
As usual, very envious of your trip. Love reading about your adventures and from this trip we have decided we must visit Ile de Rey. We are going to spend Christmas in Brussels so if you have any tips for food and drink and places to visit, we’d love to hear them. A late happy birthday H from the Pastes xx
Have a lovely Christmas there. We like Belgium, it’s one of those places you never think about, but when you spend a bit of time there you find it’s full of good stuff. Have a great time Stuart and keep in touch. Lots of love, DJ & H
You two certainly get about .
I’m worn out ,just following your adventures.
Unfortunately we’re getting over Covid . John caught it in hospital and passed it on to me .
At least we’re on the mend . We’re hoping to see John’s family in November, haven’t been together since Covid . Take care , best Wishes Victoria Bailey, xx
Hello there… Great to hear from you and sorry to hear about you and John. Hopefully making our way to your neck of the woods next summer. Lovely place.
Welcome home and belated birthday wishes Hayley! We were fascinated to read about Blockhouse d’Eperlecques and will bear it in mind on our next excursion to France. As usual, we enjoyed reading about your travels, dining out and adventures and look forward to the next one!
Yes, not so great to be back but I suppose you have to at some point. Will say hello to you on the way to the shops. Saw you giving the roof a clean, are you off and away soon or just maintainance?
Really enjoyed following your latest trip. Looking forward to reading about your next adventure when it arrives. Scandinavia sounds like an interesting prospect. Glad you made it home without any problems.
It was a good trip this one. Very interesting, but not so great being back. Nevermind. Thanks for keeping in touch and hopefully we will see you soon. Lots of love dj & h xxx
Aww I am going to miss your weekly blogs, yet again such amazing photos, so glad to hear had such a lovely birthday, I bet Jess is glad for a wee rest as well lol, it’s great to hear you both got home safe & well, take care sending lots of love to the both of you 🥰🥰🥰xxx
Back home, Jess is wrapped up for the winter, but we ar thinking about another trip in March… Maybe