10th September 2015 - Bergues And Blighty

10th September.

We had bought three tokens from the tourist information office in Arras to use in the service point. We had used one to get an hours electricity, gave (okay sold) one to a Frenchman who needed it leaving us one to use this morning to get some water.

Lynda had done the necessary with emptying the toilet cassette so I just manouvred the van nearer the service point so that our hose would reach. We got all set up, standing by to get very wet as I put the token into the slot an pressed the button to start the flow of water. Nothing. Seems the service point has a fault and doesn't feel like dispensing any water today.

We are off to Bergues yet again today, this is an aire that has no facilities apart from rubbish bins and we were already pretty low on water. We could have made a detour to another aire and filled up but in the end we decided to buy some extra bottled water at the supermarket and make do with that.

Some busy roads around here, not surprising as we are quite near the Channel ports, I really needed the satnav to keep me in the right lane on the motorways.

We stopped at the Lidl store on the outskirts of Bergues and stocked up with boxes of wine and supplies for the next few days then carried on to the aire. This is the fourth time we have been here so we know the way of course. Soon parked up in our usual area, dog walked and kettle on. We have been looking forward to our stay here, although the sign says maximum stay 48 hours we are going to stretch that a bit. We aim just to be lazy (how unusual!) and relax till we have to go home.

Bergues aire.

11th September.

Lucy has to see a vet of course before she is allowed back on the train to the UK and I had already phoned the vet in Bergues we have used before to make an appointment. We were due there at 09.00 and arrived a bit early but were seen straight away by the polite English speaking vet. After a check up and a worming tablet we got the paperwork completed and handed over our 40 euros.

I waited with Lucy while Lynda went to the nearby bakers to get our baguette and pain au raisen for breakfast, they do great ones here.

Lovely sunny, warm day today so we just got the chairs out and watched the vans arriving and departing, Lynda is quite obsessed with where people are going to park, where they are from etc. We chatted quite a bit to a retired Australian couple parked next to us. They spend 6 months of the year touring Europe then back home for the rest of the year, nice life.

Feeling the need to stretch our legs we walked back into town about lunchtime and went to our favourite cafe, A l'Univers. They were offering a deal - a large coffee and two crepes for 5 euros, would have been rude not to.....

Outside the vet's.

Just a little snackette to keep us going.

This is supposed to be my 'French' look. Not very convincing I know.

12th September.

Its a pleasant thought that we still have all day to chill out here. A lot more vans have been arriving and although there is still plenty of space people have started parking in the middle part of the aire rather than just round the edges. Lynda was not happy about this, I have no idea why because we were not blocked in at all.

Another walk back in to town, its only a couple of minutes away. A lot of tourists about today, seems quite popular with French people. We noticed that the town bellfry was open to visitors so decided to give it a go. We paid our 2.80 euros each at the tourist office and were warned that there are 193 steps to climb! This being France there is not too much fuss about health and safety and several of the step edges were crumbling so you had to be careful not to trip. There were a couple of rooms on the way up where we could stop for a bit of a rest.

Once at the top of the tower we had to squeeze between two walls to gain access to the terrace. As expected, some lovely views of the town from up here, well worth the effort.

We went back to the van for a bit of a rest after that exertion but wandered back again in the afternoon and bought a t shirt and new door mat (wow!) in the tourist office. While we were there we thought we would go mad and have a ride on the tourist train, only 2.60 euros each.

Interesting, and bumpy, ride all round the town. We have done this trip before but had forgotten what an interesting sort of place Bergues is.

From the top of the bell tower, climbing those 193 steps was worth it.

Bakers where we bought our breakfast.

Hands up who knows what this machine does. When we went to the cheese
shop Lynda had to put the money for our purchases in this
machine as the staff don't want to handle cash when they
aredealing with food. Never seen that before.

And here is the cheese shop.

13th September.

Oh no! We have to go home today. Although our Chunnel train doesn't leave until 10.50 Lynda decreed that she wanted to get to the terminal early so we could get breakfast and she could look round the shops. We had got everything ready the night before so after the essential cup of tea we were ready for the off. We were waking up the other campers and pulling out of the aire by 05.40! Although I had bought some headlamp adaptors to stop me dazzling oncoming drivers I had not bothered to fit them.

Unfortunately, we left the aire so early it was still pitch black. As I drove along the smaller roads I was waiting for drivers to flash me because I was dazzling them but in the event all was okay.

On arrival at Coquelles (where the Tunnel terminal is) we first had to go to the pet checking office so they could make sure Lucy's passport was in order and scan her chip to make sure she was not an imposter!

All easily sorted out. Then it was through the barrier to check in. We were offered earlier trains but Lynda reckoned she needed the extra couple of hours to look round the shops so we stuck to our original departure time.

We had a spot of breakfast then just wandered round killing time. All seemed to be going okay but then the display screens started giving a message about an 'incident' in the Tunnel with consequent delays. We though we might be stuck there for hours but in the end we were only about 30 minutes late leaving on our train.

Easy drive back up to Norfolk, via the services at Bishop's Stortford and Harry Ramsden fish and chips. I was pretty tired by the time we had dropped Ruby back at the storage site and got home.

Although we were only away for 18 nights it felt a lot longer. We stayed at 11 aires and stellplatz altogether (Bergues twice of course) and had a wonderful time. We are looking forward to getting back across the channel again soon.

Taking Lucy in to have her passport checked.

We had a few delays but weren't too late in the end.