The thin blue line

By the time you see this we will be back in England but it gives you a rough idea where we've been.

Thanks for following us.

B&R x

I have to stay calm and get the day into perspective. OK, let's start at the beginning. We slept in and didn't hit the road until nearly 10am, which is a record for us. After encountering the usual French 'deviation', that's a road sign not a person, we ended up at a couple of supermarkets and bought about 21 litres of wine at a suitably cheap price. From there we visited numerous sites of The Great War around Albert, presumably pronounced Al-bare. A surprising fact of this town, it is twinned with Ulverston would you believe?! After a few hours in this very sobering area we headed to an aire for the night, Rachel wasn't happy so we moved onto the next aire, Brian wasn't happy, so we moved to the next aire, now we are BOTH unhappy :-( not because of the aire, it is brilliant, but because of what happened en route. Now I have nothing against the French, 'one of my best friends is French' ;-) , however they DO have a liking for gravelling their roads. No big problem with that, until some ........... shall we say less mature motorist drives the other way at 60mph. Crazy gentleman, a blind man could see what was going to happen, yes, we need a new windscreen. It hasn't shattered but there's rather a nasty chip or 2 in it:-/


Photos 1 & 2: Thiepval Memorial - Largest British War Memorial in the world where 73,000 men who have no known grave are commemorated.

Photo 3: Lochnagar Crater - A huge mine crater, the remains of a series of explosions on 1st July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

I think we've maybe been on the road too long

Dear oh dear, signs that you have maybe been on the road too long.

The routine when we arrive at an aire with leccy is for Bri to plug into it and Rachel runs the check in the van. We arrived at this free aire about 3.30pm and went through the usual routine, we were first here so had 4 sockets to choose from. No, no, no and no electricity from any of them but a suspicion that it may come on at 10pm when the street lights come on. So, 10pm rolls up, no power :-( then Bri notices a faint glow from the street lights "YES" shouts Rachel "WE HAVE POWER"! Result. Time to head home I think.

England-bound

Last night we made the decision to return to England on Friday, so just a few days to fill in on our slow amble north to Calais. First stop was Le Cateau-Cambresis, as you will know the birthplace of the artist Henri Matisse. The '7 minute walk into town' from the aire was.............grotty, fortunately the centre was a little better. His museum was closed but in the adjoining school we saw the huge stained glass window of his. After that we basically meandered in a generally westerly direction and will spend the night just south of Cambrai. 

6-7pm Tuesday 24th June - it rained, only about the third time in 2 months, the sun is back out now though.

The battlefields of the Somme - in fact, largely fought over its tributary, the Ancre, is where we head tomorrow.

Some people are on the pitch, they think it's all over..... it is now!

Yes, finally completed campsite assessment number 44. We will celebrate tonight and tomorrow head in a mainly northerly direction.

Photos

1: The drive up

2: A peaceful Givet (Rapi on left bank)

3: View from Rapi

It's not as if we were in Belgium!

After a lovely drive north along the banks of The Meuse to Givet we had a very enjoyable time in the French Ardennes country. That was until the football started, the quiet picturesque town was turned into the noisiest place in France, but it was Belgium who were playing! Being only 2 miles from the border it seemed the every Belgian within driving distance had descended on the town to prove that they could sound their car horn more times than anybody else. Thankfully it only lasted until midnight.

We departed a very peaceful Givet at 9am and headed into Belgium to an Aldi at Philippville, the only place Rachel could get her much sort after sauce mixes. Success, and if that wasn't good enough there was a C&A next door. Being the ever dutiful husband Brian says "Would you like to have a look around as we are here my dear"? Shopping doesn't get much better than this! Now it isn't a big shop, but she's been in there so long now I am starting to fear she is suffering from the disease known as Claire and Mopsy Hodgsonitis!