France 28th-29th June 2008 Actual
Southampton-Dover-St Omer-Puisieux-Thiepval-St Omer-Calais-Dunkerque-Grand Fort Philippe-Calais.
6 people on board, and a weekend visit around the Somme area of France looking at WW1 graves
An excellent, enjoyable and fun, short hop to France. From Southampton to Dover, to St Omer and around the Somme area to visit some WW1 graveyards. Back to St Omer for the night, and onto Calais, via local roads, up to Dunkerque, and back via the coast road to Calais.
590 Miles
28th Southampton - St Omer
A very late, but fun drive on Friday night drive to Dover to catch a 04.40 ferry, on the 28th to Calais, luckly got stuck in a traffic jam, and we're able to meet up with our 2nd vehicle for the trip, managed to grab a good hours sleep on the ferry. Off the ferry and onto St Omer, just to confirm our rooms for the night, really pleased to be driving in France again; St Omer is a beautiful old market town, typically French, had a great breakfast and wandered around the Saturday market.
St Omer is very nice, plenty of bistros around the old square, only about 45 kms from Calais, well worth a visit, and recommended for a last night stay before your return to Blighty.
After leaving St Omer, took the typically quiet, litter-free roads down towards the Somme area, made some intial time on the toll roads to enable us to spend more time in the Somme area. Took the A26 South-East towards Arras before turning onto the A1 South and coming off J14 near Bapaume, headed straight through and took the D7/D9/D27 towards Puisieux, before headed along the "Serre" road and our first stop, Queens Cemetery, very moving.
Spent a lot in that area, before moving further down the road to the "Serre road 2" Cemetery, along with it's 7,000 + headstones, a thoroughly sobering sight! And onto the Thiepval memorial, with it's 72,000 names of missing men, yes, 72,000!
Left the memorial, and stopped at a small cafe near Beaumont-Hamel, had a very good late lunch, brie and salad in a fresh baguette. Refreshed and feed, headed towards Doullens and north on the D916 towards St-Pol, a short hop up the A26 and arrived into St Omer at about 18:00 hrs.
All checked-in, showered and out into lovely St Omer in a late June sunshine, eventually found a bristo to take 11 people, had a lovely meal, a glass or two of wine, and turned in for the night. A marvellous day!
348 miles
29th St Omer - Southampton
Got up early as always, and gathered the others, only to get stuck in the lift for 20 mins, which caused much hilarity, over breakfast.
We all wandered around St Omer's Sunday market, which is for local produce, the French have it right, again!, a market town, a goods market on Saturday, and a locally-produced food market on Sunday, every type of food out in the open, cooked, raw, dairy, vegetable and everything else. Pure pleasure! And it was very, very busy, with shoppers!
Left St Omer mid morning, and headed towards Calais on the lovely D943, fancied a trip North to Dunkerque with the view to see various historical sights, but Dunkerque is so vast, and not having any real idea of where to visit, we re-fuelled, and headed back to Calais on the coast road, and stumbled across a real find; Grand-Fort-Philippe, a lovely seaside town, great wide sandy beaches, lovely cheap bistros (154 euros for 11 people for at least 2/3 courses and drinks) and virtually tourist-free, the reason? Who knows? But I recommend going there.
Bloated, and watered, drove down to Calais, stocked-up at one of the many wine wholesalers, and got to the Seafrance terminal, boarded the ferry, and then the long, but enjoyable drive home.
242 Miles
Southampton-Dover-St Omer-Puisieux-Thiepval-St Omer-Calais-Dunkerque-Grand Fort Philippe-Calais.
6 people on board, and a weekend visit around the Somme area of France looking at WW1 graves
An excellent, enjoyable and fun, short hop to France. From Southampton to Dover, to St Omer and around the Somme area to visit some WW1 graveyards. Back to St Omer for the night, and onto Calais, via local roads, up to Dunkerque, and back via the coast road to Calais.
590 Miles
28th Southampton - St Omer
A very late, but fun drive on Friday night drive to Dover to catch a 04.40 ferry, on the 28th to Calais, luckly got stuck in a traffic jam, and we're able to meet up with our 2nd vehicle for the trip, managed to grab a good hours sleep on the ferry. Off the ferry and onto St Omer, just to confirm our rooms for the night, really pleased to be driving in France again; St Omer is a beautiful old market town, typically French, had a great breakfast and wandered around the Saturday market.
St Omer is very nice, plenty of bistros around the old square, only about 45 kms from Calais, well worth a visit, and recommended for a last night stay before your return to Blighty.
After leaving St Omer, took the typically quiet, litter-free roads down towards the Somme area, made some intial time on the toll roads to enable us to spend more time in the Somme area. Took the A26 South-East towards Arras before turning onto the A1 South and coming off J14 near Bapaume, headed straight through and took the D7/D9/D27 towards Puisieux, before headed along the "Serre" road and our first stop, Queens Cemetery, very moving.
Spent a lot in that area, before moving further down the road to the "Serre road 2" Cemetery, along with it's 7,000 + headstones, a thoroughly sobering sight! And onto the Thiepval memorial, with it's 72,000 names of missing men, yes, 72,000!
Left the memorial, and stopped at a small cafe near Beaumont-Hamel, had a very good late lunch, brie and salad in a fresh baguette. Refreshed and feed, headed towards Doullens and north on the D916 towards St-Pol, a short hop up the A26 and arrived into St Omer at about 18:00 hrs.
All checked-in, showered and out into lovely St Omer in a late June sunshine, eventually found a bristo to take 11 people, had a lovely meal, a glass or two of wine, and turned in for the night. A marvellous day!
348 miles
29th St Omer - Southampton
Got up early as always, and gathered the others, only to get stuck in the lift for 20 mins, which caused much hilarity, over breakfast.
We all wandered around St Omer's Sunday market, which is for local produce, the French have it right, again!, a market town, a goods market on Saturday, and a locally-produced food market on Sunday, every type of food out in the open, cooked, raw, dairy, vegetable and everything else. Pure pleasure! And it was very, very busy, with shoppers!
Left St Omer mid morning, and headed towards Calais on the lovely D943, fancied a trip North to Dunkerque with the view to see various historical sights, but Dunkerque is so vast, and not having any real idea of where to visit, we re-fuelled, and headed back to Calais on the coast road, and stumbled across a real find; Grand-Fort-Philippe, a lovely seaside town, great wide sandy beaches, lovely cheap bistros (154 euros for 11 people for at least 2/3 courses and drinks) and virtually tourist-free, the reason? Who knows? But I recommend going there.
Bloated, and watered, drove down to Calais, stocked-up at one of the many wine wholesalers, and got to the Seafrance terminal, boarded the ferry, and then the long, but enjoyable drive home.
242 Miles