Picardy
2nd August 1999
At last we are on our way. Many of you thought we never would. Some of you are keeping book on how long we can stick it. So far, we think it's going OK. Talking of the recent military campaign, it was said 'No plan survives contact with the enemy' which, translated to our circumstances means: 'No plan would survive the setting out'. However, we were only about eight hours late leaving and still caught our planned channel crossing. A few minor tasks - like washing the caravan - didn't get done and one significant problem - the refrigerator undercooling - came to light just before we left.
In order to get the house ready to hand over, the business handed over, new tenants into our offices and prepare for our voyage, we had been burning the candle at both ends and were desperately keen to get some sleep. We had hoped to sleep at the English end of the chunnel, but were put straight on a 00:30 departure and struggled to stay awake. We thought we might use the coach stop opposite Tesco for a few hours' sleep, but it is locked at night. However, we discovered that there is an undocumented 'Waiting area' if you can find it, where we had a good night's sleep. For anybody looking for it, turn right out of the coach park (or pass it on your right) and continue towards the motorway. The waiting area is on the right just before the A16 motorway passes overhead.
3rd August, 1999
We planned to get to the eclipse line as quickly as possible, as we thought it possible - being August - that camp sites would be full. We decided upon a site at Neufchatel-en-Bray, but a small navigational error took us to Amiens and instead we arrived at Poix de Picardie, which is a charming little town with a municipal camp site which is clean, tidy and has all the facilities we need.
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| We are plotting our progress with sticky tape on a map and, as you can see, we have not moved far to our first stop. Here we are relaxing after setting up the awning. Just above Kate's head you can see a small fan added to our fridge vent to keep the beer cool. This is a 12 volt fan from a scrap PC power supply and runs off our battery. | ||
On our first night, we slept for ten hours, which is something we haven't done probably for years. We simply lazed around for the first day, found the supermarket next door and got ourselves a couple of big steaks and a bottle of Cote du Rhone for the evening meal. The second night was punctuated by torrential rain - which makes a terrible din in a caravan. The next day, Thursday 5th August, we decided to start our exploration and set off on the minor roads to Dieppe.
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| We arrived at the coast to the west of Dieppe in an area of high cliffs with narrow tracks leading to the sea. After a spot of lunch, we toured Dieppe, which is every bit as good as the guide books say, before heading off to see the battle fields that first gave the English a bad name with the French. | At Crecy, David climbed the viewing tower which is supposedly on the site of the windmill where Edward III watched his troops, with their novel longbows, defeat a vastly larger French force in 1346. |
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| Also at Crecy is this monument to King John of Bohemia who, despite being blind, and, it would seem, a long way from home, insisted on fighting us. | Here, at Azincourt, is the monument to the many French that fell in 1415. It has to be remembered that many were prisoners whom the English were afraid to release and put to the sword rather than collect the traditional ransom |
With typical French style, these historic sites flourish as tourist attractions, despite being terrible defeats. We were left wondering how welcome we would have been if the English were to have an annual march here celebrating our old victory. Fortunately, few of us, if any, would want to do so and we find it hard to understand why elsewhere, people should want to celebrate such old victories in front of their former adversaries.
Having covered a large area of Picardie, we returned to our camp to find the gates locked, as it was past the curfew hour, but our camp commandant relented and let us in - which is not what happens in some Swiss camps!
7th August, 1999
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| We set off to see what Amiens has to offer. It boasts one of the most magnificent cathedrals anywhere, which was built to house the head of John the Baptist - which is a little gruesome - and has a remarkable weeping angel. | ||
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| Amiens also has interesting market gardens dating from Roman times, which are gradually being converted to ornamental gardens and holiday homes. | |
Sadly, our wonderful site at Poix de Picardie was fully booked and we have had to move to Loeuilly (near Conty - www.conty.com), which is a star less but nevertheless very nice. The lady who runs the site has probably never been so busy. Apparently, all the camp sites on the eclipse line are full for the eclipse day.
9th August, 1999
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| Having settled in, we set off - with mixed feelings - to
explore the Somme battle fields. At Albert we started with a tour of the
museum, which is very sobering, and as we left were confronted by the remarkable site of
the famous Leaning Madonna depicted on a mural, with the beautifully restored actual
Madonna towering above, on the cathedral. After the obligatory tour of the
memorials, the trenches (above), and the huge mine crater at La Boisselle, we returned to
camp with a much clearer impression of the horror that was the Great War. 10th August, 1999
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11th August, 1999
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| At last, we had the chance to see the eclipse which had dictated our sojourn at Loeuilly. For days, we have tuned in to the long wave (when it wasn't cricket) to check on the weather forecast. On the ground it did not look good at all and as we set up to watch, the sun was obscured by dark clouds. However, miraculously, through the gaps we were able to follow the progress and see the once-in-a-lifetime sight of a total eclipse. | |
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