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squiz
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Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 3072
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9th September 2014
Hiking - Walking: Wissant and Le Crotoy Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny Max Speed: Distance Covered:
FRENCH AUTUMN – SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2014
Monday 8th September - travelling
We had a leisurely start as we didn’t have to leave for the shuttle till
around 3. This, however, lulled us into a false sense of security and we
ended up running out of time and leaving nearer 3.30! Did exercises and
went up to town, chatted to Dan on his lunch break and various neighbours
who passed and fitted the packing and loading of the van in between. We got
held up at the Dartford bridge and a little on the road to the shuttle but
only missed our crossing by about 10 mins in the end so went on the next
one at 6.50. We saw the coast of France while we were loading which we
have never done before! When we arrived in Calais we drove to the sea
front near the ferry port and treated ourselves to Frites and mayonnaise
they were a bit dry and we couldn’t eat them all so saved the rest for
tomorrow. Drove to Escalles for the night and couldn’t believe that
there were half a dozen other campers there! We have only ever had one
before. Parked up and weren’t long before we went to bed.
Tuesday 9th September – walks Wissant and Le Crotoy *****
Sad morning as a poor cat had been run over probably on the road and had
died in the car park:( I couldn’t leave it to be squashed so I put the
rubber gloves on and went and picked the poor thing up moved it to the
hedge row and covered it with leaves. It was still warm and was perfect
apart from a little blood coming from its mouth:( We had our breakfast,
packed up and drove off towards Boulogne. We decided it was far too nice a
day to go on the motorway so we drove along the coast road. It was very
beautiful and you could see the white cliffs of Dover clearly. We stopped
in Wissant and had a lovely walk on the beach and in between the tree trunk
sea defences. Glorious day and the perfect state of the tide for our walk.
Back in the van to drive to one of the war cemeteries near Boulogne –
very poignant as they were all so young and many were unknown soldiers
‘only known to God’. The soldiers were British, Australian, Canadian
and from New Zealand. Most were from WW1 but a few WW2. Carried on to one
of our regular and favourite destinations, Le Crotoy in the Somme. We
parked up near the Sluice and had our lunch (left over chips from last
night in a big sandwich with ham and egg!!) then went for a long walk along
the sea front and paddled back along the low tide line. Very gooey muddy
sand in your toes! Great fun. There were several people out there and
more people than we normally see in the town too. The two camper aires are
packed! Returned to the van for a cuppa and rest while we waited for the
sluice to open. We knew it would be about 5.45 as they open it 5 hours
after high tide. The siren started so we went and watched the gates lift
up and the water rush out. We have seen it before but it is always very
entertaining. There were some men with guns and ducks quacking in sacks
which seemed very cruel and must be something to do with hunting but we
were not sure (and didn’t want to know) what they were doing with the
poor things. They did seem to bring them back to their vans at the end –
a mystery to us. We saw a kingfisher and rats scurrying about on the rocks
around the car park – Jay would have loved it. We fed them our crusts at
lunch time. We left the sluice car park and drove to the beach car park
where we know we can park on the roadside for the night. Had our tea (yet
more left overs!!) and had a lovely walk through pine forest and dunes and
back along the beach with the most beautiful sun set. We love this van!!
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