A birthday trip to France - Day 2

Exploring history

Keith and I were up fairly early this morning after a good night's sleep. The bed was very comfortable!

We were both desperate for a coffee (me) and a mug of tea (Keith) so we tiptoed out into the kitchen/living area to find Mike snoring on the sofa bed. I peered out of the window to make sure my car was still where we left it, as Mike had gone out last night to sit in it and charge up his phone!

There was no kettle in the kitchen which was disappointing. Keith tried to figure out how to work the induction hob but all we managed to do was set the timer! Giving up, I poured some water into mugs and set about finding how the microwave worked. It would have been ideal if our host had left some kind of "housebook" to show us how things worked!

The microwave kept beeping and this disturbed both Sophie and Mike who were not happy with us! Nothing can get in the way of us when we want a hot drink in the morning, though!

We decided to have breakfast in the apartment so Soph and Mike went over the road and bought some pastries which were delicious. We all then showered and packed everything back up and Natalie arrived just before 10am to take back the keys.

Our bedroom window - uppermost one under the blue A-frame.

Outside, it was a beautiful day and before setting off we popped into Carrefour again and bought wine, beer and chocolates. We were going to go to Cite Europe but the supermarket had everything we needed, so with the boot full to the brim, we set off up the coast road towards Boulogne and Le Touquet.

On the way we spotted a sign for a British cemetery, so we turned around and decided to go and have a look. It was very quiet and peaceful and beautifully maintained.

The cemetery was mainly for British soldiers, with a small area reserved for the German fatalities. It was very sobering walking up and down and seeing so many graves, each with a flowering shrub or plant in front of it. We saw one grave of a man named George Pell who served with the Northamptonshire Regiment.

Our plan had been to drive to Le Touquet but the roads looked busy and larger than the gorgeous coastal D940, so we decided to drive back to Wimereux for a coffee and a walk along the promenade.

It was chilly but the tide was out and people were enjoying the beach.

Les Oyats was busy with people sitting in the sun and enjoying a coffee, but we sat in the lovely covered terrace and ordered hot chocolates and a cappuccino for Keith.

Mike looks a bit worse for wear!

As we felt we had explored all of Wimereux, we decided to head back towards Calais and have lunch there. Our train back to England was at about 5pm so we had to be back at the Eurotunnel terminal at around 4pm. We walked back to the car and drove through the busy main street and out onto the coastal road. The previously clear sky now showed signs of mist and we couldn't see the White Cliffs of Dover today at all. We were very lucky yesterday!

Near the village of Audinghen we saw signs for a World War 2 museum so we stopped and decided to visit. By now it was foggy and cold and as the museum is in a vast concrete bunker, we felt a little chilly!

The museum was once the Batterie Todt, a huge gun placement that was manned by the German forces in the Second World War. The gun used was regularly fired at Dover and Folkestone, 30 kms away.

It cost about 8 euros each to go in and it was well worth it.

Inside was lots of memorabilia, uniforms, old bicycles, motorbikes, weaponry and rooms set up as they were during the war.

The museum was on three levels and was very interesting. It was hard to imagine this beautiful area under German occupation.

There weren't many people about and the visitors were mostly Belgian, British and Dutch. We spent a good hour and half looking around and trying to imagine the place swarming with soldiers.

We emerged into the misty sunlight and pushed on towards Calais where we followed signs for the town centre. We parked easily by the river, overlooking the marina, and in the distance we could see huge cross Channel ferries waiting to leave.

This area had a lot of apartment blocks with restaurants underneath but the first few we came to were proper eateries with prices to match. We walked further into the town and found Cafe-Brasserie de la Tour, named after the tall tower opposite.

It was bustling and busy and the waiters were very friendly. We were seated on banquettes and studied the extensive menu. We ordered beers and Sophie and I chose the Escalope Normandie while Keith and Mike both opted for the half chicken with chips. And, boy! did they give us some chips!

I have never seen so many chips on a plate, but the food was delicious and my chicken escalope was much tastier than the turkey I had last night. A lot of French diners were enjoying mussels served with chips and I wish I'd chosen to have them at some point over the two days.

We had a long relaxing lunch but we had one eye on the clock as we had to be back at the terminal, so regretfully we paid the bill and left. It didn't take us long to get to the terminal at all but as we drove in we saw signs that the French customs staff were on strike and there were delays.

Rear mirror catastrophe!

We were very early and we had a choice to get onto the 4.30pm crossing. We decided to accept and made our way to passport control which was very busy. On the way we tried to put the paper sign with our embarkation letter onto my rear view mirror but we managed to pull it off! Not a great start to our journey home!

As before, we headed straight for the train and were loaded immediately. Keith managed to get the mirror back on, but it wasn't fixed. I settled down and napped while the train crossed the Channel and we arrived back in Folkestone at about 4pm UK time, far too early to go to The Tiger in Stowting where we'd booked a table for 7.30pm.

We made the decision to abandon our dinner plans because after our lunch, none of us were hungry! There seemed no point in hanging about waiting to go and eat when we could go home so I called the pub and cancelled and we made our way back to the M20. On the way I went over a bump in the road and the mirror fell off again...

We stopped and this time Keith managed to fix it back on properly. We made good time going home despite the roadworks and after stopping at Morrison's to buy some tonic water (I was craving a G&T) we arrived back at 7.30pm.

After unpacking and changing into my pyjamas and dressing gown, we had a lovely relaxing evening with a leftover picnic bap and a slice of Sophie's Birthday ice-cream cake for our tea. We'd had a brilliant couple of days and I'm looking forward to going back!