Up and Running

Another night in Amiens, and up and about early this morning to meet our 8.15 am appointment at the garage. 

Met the time schedule with the van but then had several hours to wait for the work to be done. As intrepid as ever we went exploring further around Amiens. Particularly further through the St Leu area and the University precinct.  Along the walk we came across the statue of Lafleur, the famous marionette, who is the ardent defender of the Picardie dialect. Shows are staged within his theatre here in the St Leu district.

Famous marionette, Lafleur, in the St Leu area.

Regardless of where you go the every presence of the great cathedral is in your view. So, another visit - early in the morning - and there was only one or two others sharing the silence. 

The ever presence .... 

.... the 1288 Labyrinth in the centre of the nave ....

...  one of the choir scenes showing the story of  John the Baptist at the point of where his head was cut off!

Another hour had gone before we realised it, so back to the garage and the injured Hilton. It took a little longer than expected but we on the road by lunch.

We drive through some fine Picardian countryside before arriving at our canal stop at Pont l'Eveque. 

Another lush crop in Picardie. Note the wild poppies in background.

Amiens

Up and about early today to check the issue with the engine. We scoped the area last evening and found that the Fiat dealership and garage was only about 800m away. A bit lucky - sometimes you can chase your tail all over the place.

All the stories of French garage people are completely wrong. We couldn't have received a better reception at home - in fact, it may have been even better. The problem sorted, but we will have to wait until tomorrow to get the generator belt and spool fixed. That's okay because we were going to spend another day here as it was. 

One little side story: when we first entered the garage we asked the first person, "Parlez vous Anglais?"

His reply was, "Absolutemont, n'est pas!" We laughed - given the same question a year ago, the response was ( with a heavy French accent and a haughty reply) "Of course!"

 But we do love the French.

The morning rain had disappeared by the time we set out to explore Amiens - again (visited here two years ago). Our walk into the city took us past the medieval waterside district of St Leu - the little Venice of the North. This is a picturesque quarter with many restaurants and houses with colourful facades,  and criss-crossed by canals. 

Part of the St Leu district.

From here the views of the famous Amiens Cathedral dominate the skyline. A visit was a must - given that it is one of the great gothic cathedrals of France. This area, Picardie, is thought of as the cradle of Gothic architecture. 

The mighty gothic cathedral of Notre-Dame de Amiens.

The weeping angel -sad that benevolent bishop had died.

Part of the reliefs telling the story of the martyrdom of Saint-Firmi.

Impressive stone lace work of the cathedral craftsmen.

The Amiens Cathedral has the largest Gothic edifice ever built. Fortunately it has survived and been preserved through two bitter conflicts of the last century, and the vagaries of politics over the past 1000 years. 

As a matter of fact, the well known Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral could fit into it twice over. It is quite breath-taking to spend reflection time within the walls.

The magnificence of the main facade.

Spire, buttresses, gargoyles and walkways.

Gargoyles up close!

Back to reality with a barbecue at the back of the van!

Pozieres

Another sunny and warm morning. Had breakfast and then took a walk along the river. Plenty of people were taking the opportunity of the fine weather to run, cycle or walk the path.

Walk along the Lys River this morning - some lovely gardening being done by some of the locals.

Spent some time taking care of the services provided at this aire de camping. French do this well, actually providing the necessities for motorhomers and this providing visitors to their village. There were seven vans here last night- all would have spent money in the village - multiply the 7 by 150 ( number of days over the spring/summer) then you start to get significant numbers here that may not have been here otherwise. And it is a delightful setting.

We called in to Bethume to buy some more supplies before driving in to Pozieres. 

Pozieres is the name of the village we all grew up hearing about. It was said by the WWI war historian, Charles Bean, that "the Pozieres ridge is more deadly sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth."  Interestingly, because the Aussie soldiers could see the "the lack of thought" given to this battle by the High Command, they went against the appeal by their own commander,General  Birdwood, and voted against the conscription referendum being held back in Australia.

The town boundary sign!

An interesting visit, with contrasting picture we see today as to how it would look in 1916. 

Barley crop of today compared to  ...  

... The crop of 1916!

From the Pozieres hill position you can see many of the other battle sites across the Somme valley.

The Australian Division Memorial with Hilton sticky his nose in.

We left Pozieres just as an almighty thunderstorm hit the area. The wipers struggled to keep the water off the windscreen. Some of the lower points in the road struggled to cope with the heavy downpour - flooding parts of the busy highway to Amiens. 

Rain ... 

... flooding highway.

The  rain had cleared by the time we reached  Amiens where we parked up to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Very pleasant stopping point.

Early evening we took a walk around the town, along the Somme River and to the eateries along the promenade. Lots of people enjoying the Summer evening.

Saint Venant

A new week but not a new start - still inclined to sleep-in of a morning a little more than we are use to. The sun was trying to break through, which it did a little later in the morning.

Breakfasted and then completed some of the essential chores before heading off to St Venant - about 20km further south on the Lys river.

Fishing the Lys River - very popular but saw no catches!

The past five days has seen fairly consistent rain in the region of Nord Pay de Calais. The area is very flat but seems to be incredibly fertile. Crops of all descriptions and at various stages of growth bordered us all the way to St Venant. Wheat, barley, potatoes, corn were some of the crops that we could recognise.

Arrived at St Venant and parked up against the side of the river/canal. We took a walk around the village - still with the Flemish influence in the buildings.

Town church and square.

Lys River and marina in the background.

We decided we would stay here for the rest of the day,  along with a couple of Brits (who live in Spain), a Belgian and a couple of Frenchies.

Stylish living - former Portuguise headquarters durning the war.

Homes on the canal.

French have memorials to those fallen in battle all over the country.

And our overnight stay in the background.

Reached 27 degrees today with thunderstorms forecast - Summer at last!

This caught our eye!

Musee de Flandre -Cassel

The sun was actually peeping through the windows this morning - even though the mist was still evident. 

There was a good roll-up of vans over night with the total growing to over twenty  - glad there was plenty of space to go around. 

Sunday morning in Bergues there is a brocante - translated in English -a flea market. This is, but isn't, an ordinary flea market. The central square was taken over with folk selling their wares, but as we moved away from the squares we found the surrounding streets all closed off to cars so locals could spread more offerings to the passing crowds. It looked as if many people who lived in the adjacent houses just piled their gear out on the street and offered it for sale. A nice twist! It was a very popular event with street after street participating. 

A couple of happy traders sitting outside their front door selling a few items kindly posed for us. 

Even an old time music man and his dogs!

We would have preferred a farmers market to buy some local produce but it was strictly a flea market. 

We returned to the Hilton for coffe and cake before setting our sights on Cassel - a little further down the road. 

Cassel's fame grew from the fact that Marshal Koch, leader of the French army in1914, chose this high ground as his head quarters. The commanding views across the Flemish landscape was of critical importance in 1914.

A memorial plaque in the church at Cassel.

The town today attracts many visitors because it houses the Musee de Flandre. An interesting museum with a very good English audio guide. 

Musee de Flandre

Flemish influences all through this area.

An interesting satirical painting from the Flemish School. Note the swan depicted on the building in the top left was the Flemish symbol for brothel. And can you find the two pick pockets about to strike??

We had come a long way today! - 15 km - so we thought we had had enough and stopped for our overnight in Cassel.

The sun is finally shining and it's starting to warm up a little. Life's good!

Bergues

Not a lot of movement around the Aire de Camping this morning. Still not an enticing weather-day for an early rise. Another good sleep with a bounty breakfast following. This seems to be a very popular aire, particularly with the Brits who see it as a first stopping point from the ferry into France.

We took the opportunity to explore Bergues. The early importance of the area was its slight elevation above the surrounding countryside. The "old" monks knew where to build their abbeys - and to make a euro or two. The abbey was built and then the wealth of the area rose, later becoming a member of the Northern European Hanseatic League. Textiles and wool became a major trading commodity.

The Marble Gate, main gate of the former St Winnoc abbey.

The abbey of St Winnoc was destroyed in 1789, and only parts remain: the marble gate and two towers. Today their is very little of the abbey to be seen except for  the Tour Pointue and the Tour Carrée of St Winnoc abbey (as seen through the Marble Gate above).

For five centuries the town has been surrounded  by ramparts, 5300 meters long.

Later in the day the challenge of negotiating a French laundrette was an interesting experience. Quite simple as it turned out but in saying this it was still possible to feed money into the machine without any result. A good clean result in the end.

We returned to the aire for Samedi festivities!

Aerial view of the town.

The French seem to love large figures in their main squares. The Giant Bergues also known as "The Elector of Lamartine." 6.50 meter sitting and weighing 250 kg.

We love the French cuisine.

France

We caught the ferry to France last night and woke this morning to a misty, rainy and cool English/French Channel. The French were still out on their sail boats regardless!

Wild weather but the young French were out there doing their sail training.

Basically it started out being a miserable day. Had a very late morning - in no hurry to get away.

Rugged up against the elements.

Drove back into Dunkirk - still misty - and then moved onto Bergues for the afternoon and evening. Didn't get out and explore this old town - twice destroyed totally in the past hundred years.

One of the old gateway into the town of Bergues.

Difficult to believe that Bergues was once a Hanseatic League town - when the sea was nine kilometres closer than it is today!