Saturday in Beauvais

Late rising seems to be the order of the day - still in bed after 9 am! Like a lot of Saturdays for many it is a catching up day - cleaning and washing etc. 

Parked up with washing adorning our morning tea!

With the washing out of the way we were left with time to view the comings and goings in the aire. By early afternoon the place was filling with little space for any latecomers. Such a central location, and Beauvais being a relatively important town, it was understandable that it would be a popular stopping off place. 

Our new neighbours were a British couple, Anne and Steve, who were straight off the ferry from Le Havre.

Thirsty work wandering a city!

It wasn’t long before we were sharing stories over a few drinks, after which we decided to take an evening walk around Beauvais - enjoying another drink before returning to our vans for the rest of the evening. 

The lovely surroundings of the 12th century church of St  Étienne. 

Beauvais

After three nights relaxing at Grenay we needed to move on if we are to explore the Garonne Valley. 

An early start with our satnavs (yes three - two we know how to use,  but the inbuilt one in the van needs a post-grad degree!) set for Beauvais. 

View of Beauvais with the very famous unfinished Gothic Cathedral still dominating the town. 

We travelled through the very sad area of the Somme, with names so familiar to most Australians, past Arras with its exquisite Flemish Square, around Amiens and it’s magnificent Cathedral, and past  the very lush agricultural area. 

Great variety of crops found in this region of the Somme - how many men lost their lives across these fields?

Arrived at Beauvais in the early afternoon, located our aire which is quite central and overlooking the city. 

Later we took a walk into the city where they were setting up for music festival running over the next two days. 

Close to the centre of the town is the very famous unfinished Gothic Cathedral. This Cathedral boasts the highest Gothic vaults in the world.It perhaps is most famous for its collapses and its unfinished condition. 

May be unfinished but still and extraordinaryly beautiful building. 

Taking no risks today - supports ensuring no further collapses. 

Later we ventured over to the Bishop’s Palace(!) which is now a museum with some famous names being found - Sisley and Corot. 

A Sisley landscape.  

Back to base for a very tasty dinner. 

Happy birthday James!

Some extra pics:

Set for big pizza night!

The city square. 

100% electric.

Greening Grenay

Another late rise this morning - no overnight thunderstorms to wake us. The day was one of relaxation and reorganisation. 

After a leisurely breakfast, and waving our overnight neighbours a goodbye, we tackled the task of reorganising where all our “clobber” was to be positioned. 

The green open space in Grenay. Very popular with the locals - and the cricket playing Afghanies. Our van parked beyond the trees in the distance. 

The large boot, or garage as it is called in motorhome language, was my responsibility - hadn’t quite realised the amount of gear we had acquired just in these early days of our travels: the chairs, table, levelling chocks, tool box, ladder etc. 

A slightly more ordered “garage” to store our supplies etc. 

During our hiatus in London James and I installed two 160w solar panels onto the roof of the van and connected these into its electronic system. 

The “skilled” tradies at work. Two 160 watt panels to provide for all our on-road electoral needs for the next ten years!

I needed to check that they were still firmly attached to the roof and that the cables were attached to their anchor points. All were doing well! 

As the day warmed we ventured out for a long walk around the environs. This took us past the British Military Cemetery where there were British, Canadian, French and German soldiers buried. This whole area was the ground that the combatants during WWI fought over. 

The very well looked after Maroc British Military Cemetery at Grenay. Such a waste of young men from many nations! (Tip pic - Lines from the poem “All’s Well!”by John Oxenham.)

Spent the rest of the day doing a few jobs and generally relaxing. Helene sowed up some seat covers (until we can get some proper fitting ones) for the front seats as protection from the messy driver!

Some interesting pics from today: 

An colourful display using an old underground coal trolley - keeping in touch with the history of the area. 

A relatively new memorial to the Resistance fighters during WWII.

Grenay

Huge thunderstorms peppered this area of France early this morning - the first clap of thunder appeared to be right overhead - we did wake with a jolt! This was followed by extensive rainstorms that gave everything a good soaking. After this we got back to sleep and failed to wake before 9 am! (How interesting!)

Once the weather had settled we headed out to get some well needed exercise - yesterday seemed to be a day of sitting and eating. 

We took a walk to the other side of the railway lines to Bully-les-Mines. The 8 rail tracks give an indication as to the once importance of this area around Lens. The mining wealth of the area a hundred years ago was such that the French/British army grimly defended the territory against the German army during WW1. 

The sad sight of disused railway tracks indicating the once prosperous mining area now looks to other industries. 

The large slag heaps around the landscape is a lasting legacy to the once flourishing coal mining area. 

More thunderstorms this afternoon kept us cooped up in the van as it passed overhead.

For the past three hours - even during the passing thunderstorm - a young couple of French/Afghanistan locals have been playing cricket on the adjacent tennis court here in Grenay! It seems totally out of place, the sound of bat on ball happening here in France. And they showed great technique both with the bat and the ball. They had obviously spent a childhood growing up with cricket in Afghanistan. Both had great manners and were very pleasant to chat with. The local kids looked on with a certain amount of curiosity!

Cricket in the heart of France!

A cultural icon across France is the Friterie. Offering a range of deep fried products, their chips seem to be the common feature. The Friterie du Parc is only a short distance from our van so to compliment our dinner tonight we placed an order for frits- and they were delicious, but very filling!

A cooler night tonight with more intermittent rain, hopefully no more thunderstorms!

France Day 1

Woke to a beautiful clear morning at Dover - views across the Channel indicating a smooth crossing. We left for the ferry a little over an hour before our crossing was due , but on arrival at the ferry terminal we were pleasantly surprised when asked if we wanted to be in the ferry just about to leave. So, away by 7.30 am to France!

Part of our ticket included access to the Lounge - breakfast champagne was quite a novelty!

After a very smooth crossing we did what one normally does on arriving in France - go shopping at Cité Europe. Stocked up with some essentials before leaving for Grenay. 

Interesting the marketing strategy of the same Australian company in France and in the UK!

Now that’s a lettuce - €0.99 too!

Passing through the north of France you could see the benefit of the recent rains in these parts. The lush growth in the crops (cereal, sugar beet, hops, potatoes etc) made for a very pleasant view across a normally uninteresting terrain. 

We arrived at Grenay mid afternoon, joining three other vans at the aire. The sign that greeted us reminded us of the value the French place in motorhomers. Got to love the French!

TRENDING:

It was noticeable that school children no longer carry or wear backpacks - they have packs with wheels! 

It’s been a while!

After four weeks in London with James and Maddie, we finally hit the road - and the weather had made a dramatic turnaround! 

Beautiful rose display at Scotney Castle. 

The day in Kent, with magnificent blue skies and the lush green of the “garden of England”, was just the start in our new home that we could have wished. 

The view across the High Weald in Kent. 

Our plan was to travel to Dover for the night readying ourselves for an early departure for France tomorrow. 

As it was such a beautiful day we  took the scenic route to Dover, visiting Scotney Castle and Sissinghurst Castle, both with beautiful gardens. 

We were glad we were traveling in an anticlockwise direction on the M25 for in the other side there seemed to be hours of traffic delays! 

Scotney Castle, the home of the Hussey family, and the ruined medieval moated castle. Very picturesque with its lavish gardens. Very interesting as to how brutal they have been in cutting back the century old rhododendrons - all because they were ruining the views! 

After this we drove onto Sissinghurst Castle - not really a Castle but called Chateau Sissinghurst by the 3000 French prisoners in the 17the century! Another round of exquisite gardens - created by Vita Sackville -West - just a visual delight.

We finally arrived in Dover where were spent the night along with other vans waiting for their schedule ferry trip.