The Sumpners Afloat

Week 10 – Sep 21st to 27th – Take me back to dear Old Blighty

And yes – I can sing that song, verse and chorus!

Day 62 – Monday – Our last Monday was a beautiful one – Autumnal – warm and sunny, but with underlying hint of chill. The lake was beautifully sparkly in the sun. I am always so drawn to water. Having lived next to it all my life, I can’t imagine not doing so.

It was the usual Monday – Paul beavering away and me prepping the blog for publication. Not much more to say about it really! But here are some photos of this lovely spot.

Day 63 & 64 – Tuesday/Wednesday – another lovely sunny day and time for a lunchtime reposition. Our vet appointment is in a little town called Marquise. I made the appointment on line and then rang to confirm all was well. We will spend the next couple of nights on the coast once more, just to the west of Boulogne – not far from where the old Hovercraft service used to alight.

I had completely forgotten that there had been a service from Dover to Boulogne in the heyday of the Hovercraft. It used to take just 35 minutes and could carry up to 400 passengers and 55 cars. It was an SRN-4 – the largest Hovercraft ever built – and you can see one at the Hovercraft Museum on Lee-on-the-Solent in Hampshire, very near our home town.

I’m sorry I never made the trip – it must have been pretty amazing. A ride over to the Isle of Wight on one from Clarence Pier, in Southsea, is well worth the effort if you’ve never done it. The cross-channel service was kicked into touch by the opening of the Channel Tunnel – which is (almost) never out of service. Hovercraft do not like rough seas, they are noisy and consume much fuel. The last service ran in 2000.

I remember the buzz around hovercraft as a child and it seems a shame that they only had a brief moment in the spotlight. They never truly realised the bright future that was predicted for them. I think the UK – and possibly Japan? – run the only daily, scheduled service still in operation. There is an interesting video all about them here – although sadly, the voice over is AI.

Paul had a conference call early evening and so we decided we’d leave exploring until the next evening. He sat there for about 15 minutes, waiting for it all to kick off, but no dice. It wasn’t until later that he checked his diary and found that he’d waited for a meeting that was scheduled for the next day! We’ve all done it!

We are staying in Le Portel, by the way – on the dunes again, but closer to the sea this time. It’s quite popular, but a bit tight for this generation of 7/8m motorhomes and I enjoyed watching people coming and going – although not when they came close to us!

It’s another lovely spot with some great views, including the Fort de l’Heurt, built by Napoleon in 1803, after we Brits annoyed them – again. It was used by the Germans as an anti-aircraft battery in WW2 and you can only get to it at low tide. There’s a video here if you’re interested in seeing it up close.

Sadly Paul’s conference call on Wednesday overran, making going out on the bikes impractical, when coupled with cooking dinner, too. But what a nice spot anyway.

Days 65 & 66 – Thursday/Friday – Our last moving on day. Paul had taken the Thursday off as we needed to get the dogs wormed and signed for by a Vet. But first – a spot of shopping. I wanted to stock up on a few French things to take home and we needed a meal for that evening and stuff for lunch. We went to the huge E. Leclerc on the outskirts of Boulogne, which has a very large “traiteur” department.

A traiteur is “a caterer or a shop selling prepared, high-quality gourmet food ready for take-away or reheating”. Yep. France has had ready meals for donkey’s years! You see them in most towns – often combined in one shop with the boucherie/charcuterie as in the pic below.

The Boulogne skyline is dominated by the dome of the “Basilica of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception” rising over 100 metres high. I wonder whether tall buildings have been discouraged, so as not to detract from the beauty of the Basilica? it’s a corker and we have visited it before on a previous visit to Boulogne.

Shopping done, we drove up the coast to find somewhere to have lunch before our visit to the vet. We ended up in Ambleteuse, where we got a glimpse of those white cliffs, and we think we may have spotted a migrant boat – although probably actually fishermen! But seeing them in that tiny boat brought the journey that they undertake into sharp focus. All the more so as I heard today that a 10 year old child and two women in their 30s have tragically been killed in a crossing attempt that got into difficulties. Sad news.

Lunch demolished we set off inland for the small town of Marquise, where we had a double appointment for the boys at Clinique Vétérinaire des Deux Caps – two caps because of the nearby Cap Gris Nez and Cap Blanc Nez. Camp Gris Nez is the closest point to England being just 21 miles (34km) away from the Kent coast. 

The clinic is just next to the local Carrefour, so we cheekily parked in their car park, as there was plenty of room. We’ve put a fair few Euros in their tills so I didn’t feel too guilty.

The Vet has to scan the chip, administer the tablet and sign the AHC with the date and time that the pills were taken, both very important. He was a jolly nice chap and the boys were very good and very waggy. And the whole process was over and done within 15 minutes and cost €50. We checked and rechecked that he had signed and dated in the prescribed place, before setting off to our final night spot in Calais. We’ll definitely be back next time we travel with the boys. Sadly, I forgot to take any photos. Tch.

Our night spot was near the ferry port at Calais and just a short hop from Le Shuttle. We selected a spot with room for two motorhomes from the many empty spots available. 20 minutes later, we were joined by a camper van. Why they chose to park cheek by jowl with us, we could not fathom. There must have been 30 other spaces available! And – annoyingly – they left at 5 am the next morning, waking us up! If we had been leaving that early, we’d have made sure to park in one of the less desirable empty spots, so as not to disturb others. Some people eh?

We popped out on the bike, early evening, down to the lovely sandy beach, which is right next-door to the ferry port. We cycled along the Jetée de Calais to the lighthouse and while we were there, a dirty, smoky stinky ferry came out of the port and set off for Calais.

We had an ice cream and the boys had a great romp on the beach before we set off back to the Aire. We’d had such a lovely time and were glad that we’d made the effort. And back at the Aire we were treated to the most marvellous sunset.

We spent Friday chilling and doing a bit of sorting out, ready for our return to England on Saturday morning. I think we both felt a bit sad at the thought of our amazing trip ending. But all good things must come to an end and it would be lovely to briefly reunite with family. We were once again joined by a motorhome – I think we must be some sort of magnet? Sadly we’d probably disturb them when we set off the next day, but what can you do?

We ventured out for the “Last Supper” in the early evening. A nearby place called “L’Hémisphère” which got decent reviews. And rightly so. We had a really lovely meal including a delicious “amuse bouche”. No idea what it was, but it tasted lovely! And then it was back to the van for our very last night on mainland Europe.

Day 66 – Saturday – We had retired earlier than usual and the alarm went off at 06:30. We had agreed that we would stop at a boulangerie on the way to Le Shuttle and get breakfast and lunch supplies. Bakeries genrally open at 06:30 so we’d be fine.

We arrived at the the tunnel within 15 minutes and went straight to Pet Reception. This was handled swiftly and efficiently and we then went to check ourselves and the van in. We were offered an earlier passage and snapped it up. We just had time to grab a coffee to have with our Viennoiseries (croissants etc) before it was time to board. Our original crossing had been scheduled for 09:36 and we were boarding and off by 08:30. Excellent.

I checked our booking at Rookesbury Park (where we had also stayed before we left) and we could not arrive before 1 pm. We thus decided to pull into the car park at Guildford Cathedral (2 hours parking free!) and have a little snooze before resuming our journey. We timed it very well and arrived at Rookesbury just past 1pm.

We were joined later by George, Beth and Chester and had a lovely afternoon catching up and giving them the holiday gifts we had brought back for them. We had a table booked for dinner at the King’s Head in Wickham. Chester behaved extremely well and then it was time for them to drop us off. Short but sweet, but we’d be down again in a couple of weeks.

We set off early on Sunday morning, bound for The Marina of Dreams and – horror of horrors – unpacking! I hate it with a passion. There is no more excited a packer than me and no more miserable an unpacker. BUT it had to be done. All was well aboard Old Nick, but before I could put stuff away I had to clean every flat surface, as it was covered in a layer of dust from the long hot summer. Grim!

And that was it. Euro 26 – level completed. We arrived home to a few changes at Brinklow, but we’ll get used it I guess? I have some quite exciting news, which I’ll share in the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile, thanks to all those who accompanied us on our trip round Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and France. Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. The Sumpners Ashore signing off – for now!

Period	Miles	Cumulative
Week 10	332	3148