The journey was fairly uneventful and surprisingly as it was half term week, the ferry was relatively quiet. Usually at this time of the year the ferry is heaving with kids on school trips, maybe lack of fuel had put people off. Arriving with plenty of time to spare we made for Les Erables, commonly referred to as, "The Farmer's Field". Monsieur, was pleased to see us and a distinct lack of happy campers meant there was loads of spaces. Clean toilet block, water, food and wine, a bit of sunshine would have been nice.
We looked back with fond memories of the early morning we almost lost Smartie off the back of the trailer when negotiating off the pitch here on the way home. No problems this time, we are smaller with no trailer to worry about. We settled down for the evening and went for a roam around familiar places. The aire at the bottom of the hill was empty, it said "no overnight camping, 11 pm-6 am", strange that, because it's in the aire book.
Escalles, Northern France, number 26.
I expect the French ignore that, it looked to us if you parked up behind the hedge, no-one would know you were there. We searched for the hidden water tap but couldn't find it. Possibly could be used as an emergency stopping place, we prefer the campsite and a stroll into Escalles for a meal, although not this time, we used emergency provisions and a bottle of best English bought, French wine.
The following morning dawned bright, damp and cloudy, time to move on.We ate our croissants and bagged the baguette for later and said "au revoir" to Monsieur.
We decided to aim for Chateau Hardelot, just south of Bologne, another old haunt. We hadn't been there for around 4 years. On the way we did another first, we stopped at the supermarket in Condette for provisions. As the car park was really quiet we thought we would try and fill up with fuel using our credit card. It worked! We were very impressed with ourselves. So much for the fuel shortage. Thank you Halifax Clarion and Martin Lewis for the suggesting it. Seriously, we were a bit concerned as so many fuel stations in France are now automatic and don't like UK cards, ours worked.
Again, we got a warm welcome from Madam at the half empty campsite, Chateau Hardalot at Condette. To be fair it wasn't exactly half empty but had grown more huts on site since our last visit, with a severely reduced number of touring pitches. We settled down on a nice, grassy, dampish space behind some trees and set off for a stroll to the beach.
Strange how small April appears in a field. We set off to explore the chateau. The path to the chateau is actually a lovely walk or ride. We decided our legs needed stretching.
As we approached the Lake of Mirrors, we discovered that EU funding was alive and well. At least in this part of the world. An extensive boardwalk had been built around the lake complete with bird hides and numerous information boards, it was a beautiful walk.
Den thought this one deserved a picture of it's own.
Trust the French to put in a gate with this complicated weighting system, we were most impressed with the engineering. The bird hide was also an education centre and all the information boards were also done in braille.
We are always so surprised in France, how small local councils can do so much more than ours.
A perfect spot for a bit of bird watching.
We continued our amble past the marsh cattle which were so well adapted to the landscape and were being re introduced to the area. Seemed used to visitors, with those horns I was glad they were behind a fence.
We followed the boardwalk to the end and made for the castle.
Chateau Hardelot
Chateau Hardelot is there for the entente cordiale and is really a glorified community centre with the emphasis on culture. Certainly it had grown in stature from the ruin it used to be and the grounds are being developed beautifully. The French are also building a reproduction Elizabethan Theatre in the grounds. Even our Queen has been on a visit.
http://www.Chateau-Hardelot Elizabethian Theatre
We tagged behind a visiting party of council officials as they went on a tour, I'm sure we looked a bit out of place. They were in their best clothes, we were in walking gear with a backpack, we didn't have the nerve to follow them into the marquee for the drinks and nibbles. Maybe they didn't notice us. Still, they went to the trouble to put up the flags for us.
Just as well the visit was pre Brexit.
After a peaceful couple of days we set off for a new destination. We had enjoyed our visit, the sun hadn't exactly shone but we did manage a BBQ, a few walks, a few bottles of wine and a visit to a French market where we bought some yummy, smelly cheese. We also managed a walk to the beach for a bit of sea air and an ice cream in a posh restaurant here on the beach at Hardelot.
Next stop, another sea side destination in Normandy and a glimpse of how the other half live.
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