We have still been touring even though we haven’t got much time left.

We spent a rather drizzly Sunday having a look around the town of Cambrai , about one hours drive from home. We had read about the lovely main square , and imagine our horror when we saw the “whole town” was one great bug fairground!

Greg did however manage to get a photo of the lovely Town Hall, above.

The Porte de Paris was erected toward the end of the 14th Century and was pretty impressive! The Cathedral dates back to the 18th Century and was spared in both wars. We would have liked to have peeked inside but it was Sunday morning…enough said!

 

We were very adventurous at lunchtime in Cambrai and we ordered 2 different dishes that we decided to share. One was a pork confit that was delicious and melted and melted in your mouth, the other was an andouillette  which is a sausage , usually made with pork or veal, intestines, wine , onions and seasonings. It is a speciality of the region so we decided we should try it. Well, after one bite of the andouillette , we both decided we wanted the pork….enough said!

 

We also did a day trip to Montreuil which is a lovely walled town with beautiful old houses, 3 kms of ramparts to walk around and lovely cobbled streets.

Montreuil’s “claim to fame” is that Victor Hugo spent half a day in the town on September 4th 1837 whilst on a holiday with his mistress. The town was immortalised by him , when he decided to use it as the setting for “Les Miserables”. Rhonda is so so happy that he visited! It is her favourite!

 

Because of that, we decided to have lunch at The Victor Hugo Bar. It was really cute!

 

 

 

The Portal of  the Abbey of Sante-Saulve , built in the 12th Century was quite stunning as was the Chapel Sainte Nicholas built in the 15th Century.

 

Wandering around ,we stumbled on some gorgeous old houses like these 16th Century workman’s cottages , and some very narrow alleyways that connect the larger streets.

 

It was a great place to wander around, regardless of the inclement weather.

 

We have been spending our Sunday nights in the Heroes Square in Arras listening to some great live music and having a beer or 2 and frites for dinner! Yes we know, not healthy but God it’s good!

 

 

 

 

We were very excited for Tuesday to come as we were having our French family, Francoise and Jean , coming to stay with us for 2 nights. All we did for the whole time was laugh. It was great and Rhonda’s French got a good workout!

 

We decided to take them out for a day trip to the Coast to check out Cap Blanche Nez (translation…white nose cape) and Cap Gris Nez (translation…grey nose cape). Luckily it was a sunny day. Our first stop at “white Nose” gave us a great view of the White Cliffs of Dover on the other side of the Channel, 33kms away! It is France’s most Northerly cliff.

 

Due to their locations , they played an important strategic role during both World Wars. We stopped on the b each between the Capes. Jean and Greg decided to paddle and Rhonda and Francoise had lots of laughs trying to take selfies in the wind on the beach!

 

 

We had a great lunch of …..no not sea bass , but a roasted dourade which was sensational.

 

 

 

We had a great time with the Frenchies and we were so happy they drove for 6 hours just to see us!

We decided to do one last day trip to the Coast and because it was a lovely 25 degree day we think lots of others had the same idea. The traffic on the way was horrendous. However our first stop at Mer les Bains took all the stress away. It was absolutely gorgeous!

It is a lovely seaside resort that has retained it’s 19th Century style with lovely buildings lining the Esplanade.

The nearly 900 metre long beach (sand in the water but rocks elsewhere) sits between two large white cliffs. We were amused by the hundreds of sea side “cabins” which you hire.

 

 

 

We enjoyed a rather decadent lunch of baguette and Roquefort cheese sitting on the rocks. It was great!

 

 

We sadly continued onto St Valery which was supposed to have a “Medieval character” about it! Well, we saw a Porte that Jean d’Arc passed through in 1430 on the way to her trial and that was about all! Maybe we didn’t walk in the correct area…who knows!

Next stop was Le Crotoy , a former fishing village and now a beach holiday resort. The tide must have been well out, lots of sand but not much water! Noosa it was not!

 

 

Last stop was Rue, a very small pretty historical village. The Belfry , although not the tallest we have seen was the prettiest and UNESCO listed. The façade of the Chapel of the Holy Spirit built between 1440 to 1514 was rather ornate but at 6 euros per person entry , we decided to “view ” not “visit”.

 

 

We thought new would take a “green and yellow” route back home, which is supposed to be a “tourist route”. We came across a lovely Chateau , obviously privately owned but we still stopped to take a photo.

We continued to drive through some really pretty little villages and then……..voila…..we came across this magnificent Chateau, Domaine de Regniere-Ecluse. below. There was no cost to wander around the outside grounds which is quite unusual in France! Again privately owned and the land has been in the same family for 10 centuries! Not bad!

The chateau was occupied by the English Army in WW1 and it was a German Hospital in WW2. It was lovely. We had a great day breathing in all the sea air and we slept well that night!

 

We noticed at the market that figs must be in season as there were heaps of them. We decided to buy some and at 1.20 euros per fig, we hoped they were going to be good! We were not disappointed.

 

 

 

On our trip down to Villers Bretonneux the other week , we passed a “pub” in Bullecourt called “Le Canberra” so we decided to return to have one last drink for the Diggers! It was a very cute pub and the lovely owner even gave us a little souvenir!

 

 

Only a few days to go now before we fly home. Still have a couple of places to go , so probably one more post! Lucky the weather has been very kind to us these past 5 days, with temperatures in the high 20’s.

So it’s that time AGAIN!

Cheers

Greg and Rhonda.