Tuesday 17th May 2022 – Guines, France

 

We would like to return sometime to Coucy le Chateau Auffrique and visit the old town and castle. The latter is particularly interesting having been built in Middle Ages, restored in 19^th century and blown up by the retreating Germans in WWI.
There is a boulangerie just a couple of hundred metres away from the aire and I stocked up with croissants and bread before we set off again. The landscape became much flatter and arable crops dominated. We passed through many villages but somehow they weren’t as interesting as those further south. Part of the reason may be due to the destruction of two world wars and we saw many WWI monuments and cemeteries. As lunchtime approached, we saw a hill in the distance with a tall ruin on the top and we decided to investigate. Mont Saint Eloi had a large abbey but, given its strategic position with commanding views over a huge area, it was occupied as early as 4,000 BC. An abbey was established in 930 AD and was rebuilt a number of times before being demolished in the French Revolution. Only the towers of the large abbey church survived and these played an important part in WWI when they were used by the French as lookouts to spot movements of the German army. The Germans shelled the hill and towers leaving just the ruin that we see today.
We drove on, stopping only for our last shop for French goodies to take home. We were staying at Guines and Camping Bien Assise less than 30 minutes from Calais port. The campsite is in the grounds of a small chateau and is very well kept with large pitches. It also has a very good restaurant, which is also open to the general public. We had an excellent meal there before settling down to our last night in France.
It was definitely a shorts day today with temperatures exceeding 26°C and with the temperature promised to exceed 20°C for most of the night, it was going to be a sticky one.

Photos: The ruined towers of Mont Saint Eloi with the modern barn built largely of stone from the abbey; A monument to the French soldiers who died defending the hill in the First World War; A modern sculpture in front of the ruins – a cycle route passes over the hill although, personally, I would rather have stayed on the flat land below.