Wednesday 11th November – Oye Plage, France

 The weather forecast for today was not good and, unfortunately, it was correct. I went to buy croissant and bread from one of the bakers in the town and there was only a very light drizzle. However, it was a horribly dank, misty day and it got worse. It rained for the hour that it took us to drive to Oye Plage with uniformly grey skies and no sign of sun.
We normally find an aire with toilet emptying facilities before we go back on the ferry or tunnel but this time we decided to try a campsite. Jane found Les Angousiers Camping, a 2-star campsite that was only 20 minutes from the Eurotunnel terminal. We had booked a pitch online and were told that we could arrive whenever we wanted. When we arrived at the campsite it seemed deserted apart from one car that was parked in our allocated pitch. Jane checked with reception and they allocated us another pitch. It is definitely a 2-star site, rather scruffy and with basic facilities but it is only for one night.
The reason that we wanted to arrive early is that we wanted to go to their restaurant, which had very good reviews. However, having seen the campsite, we didn’t have high hopes for their restaurant and thought that we might be the only diners. We couldn’t have been more wrong! We walked in to find two wood-burning stoves keeping the room warm and at least three other tables occupied. We were greeted warmly and shown to our table that had a partial view into the kitchen but that wasn’t a problem as a large screen on the wall was streaming live video from the kitchen. The restaurant is known as La Table D’Olivier and Olivier, the Chef, came out of the kitchen to say hello and shook our hands. They offered a one, two or three course menu and, as it was our last French meal for a while, we opted for the main + dessert option. Jane had salmon and I opted for moules (mussels). The pan that the mussels came in was huge and it took me a long time to get through them all – I couldn’t manage all of the soup in the bottom or all of the chips but it was all very good. For dessert, I just had a couple of scoops of ice cream but they were served in a sundae glass with lots of cream and a red fruit sauce. Jane opted for chocolate mousse, one of her favourites, and when that came, there were three small containers of mousse together with a large dollop of cream.
By now, the restaurant was busy with most tables occupied by local people including one veteran wearing his medals – it was Remembrance Day. It was obvious that this is a restaurant with a small campsite attached rather than the other way around as is normally the case. We would come back to the campsite again just to go to the restaurant.
Photos: The Bergues Clock Tower not looking quite as impressive in the dank, misty morning; The enormous moules at La Table D’Olivier.

Tuesday 10th November – Bergues, France

 A longer drive today, mostly on motorways but they were relatively quiet and the driving was easy. On the way yesterday, we had spotted a Roman villa site close to the campsite and intended to drop in this morning to take a look. Unfortunately, the sat nav took us a slightly different route and we missed it – another time perhaps?
We stopped in a Belgian motorway rest area where about twenty police were gathered in a coned-off section. A little later, a lorry appeared escorted by a police car and it became apparent that they were carrying out checks on the vehicles. It seemed to take eight police to inspect the vehicle – it was a very detailed inspection from papers to the cab fire extinguishers and tyres. A large recycling (scrap) lorry obviously had a problem as he had to pull over – they had spent a long time checking and pointing at one of the tyres. It provided good entertainment over lunch.
We have stayed in the Bergues aire many times but we had read that they had made some serious improvements since we last visited 18 months ago. The aire used to be just a large area of packed soil that often flooded in parts. Now it is an organised aire with designated pitches in pairs with dividers between. There are spaces for over 30 vans but the ten or so vans all parked individually in the paired pitches, giving more space – a sensible idea at this time of the year. When it is busy, two vans parked in each section would be a little tight. In the centre of the aire are some picnic tables and wooden sun loungers. We weren’t about to use those as it was, very gently, raining when we arrived and had been for the last part of the journey. The only drawback to the aire is that, although it has a grey water dumping facility, there is no fresh water or toilet disposal option. We were very impressed by the new, improved aire and will definitely use it again.
We had tried to get to La Taverne Vauban restaurant on a number of occasions after we first spotted it on a walk around the interesting walled town. It looked interesting and the reviews were very good. We were often staying here on a Monday night and the restaurant is closed on Mondays. Last time, Jane phoned to book, only to be told that it was booked out for a private party. Jane succeeded in booking this time and we set off in the very fine drizzle. On the last couple of visits, they were renovating the centre of the town, improving the square, town hall and clock tower. They have done an excellent job and both the town hall and the clock tower were flood-lit and looked magnificent. The clock tower is a carillon that plays a really good tune prior to striking the hour. Carillon towers originated in the Low Countries (Belgium, Holland and northern France) and play a tune by striking bells with metal clappers.
We arrived at the restaurant at 7 o’clock and it gradually filled up completely – impressive for a wet Autumn Tuesday evening. It was clear why it was so popular, as the atmosphere was very pleasant and the food was excellent. I opted for La Trilogie du Nord, small portions of three traditional regional dishes – carbonade (beef stew made with beer), pot’jevleech (a cold jellied mix of rabbit, chicken and bacon) and Fillet de Poulet aux Maroilles (chicken breast in a Maroilles cheese sauce). I loved the idea of being able to try three different traditional dishes and they were absolutely delicious. Jane went for the full size Fillet de Poulet aux Maroilles.
We don’t normally have a second course but it was nearly the end of the holiday and we decided to go for a dessert. The menu described it as XXL Profiteroles, so we decided to have one between us. That was a good decision as neither of us would have been able to manage it our own.
The drizzle was a little heavier on the way back to the van and we were glad to have the umbrella for the 20 minute walk.
Photos: I think they stopped this lorry because its cab was too colourful!; The Bergues Clock Tower; And the Town Hall; La Trilogie du Nord; XXL Profiteroles.

Monday 9th November – Simmerschmelz, Luxembourg

 A relatively short journey, less than three hours, mainly on motorways but the weather was good and the sunshine lit up the scenery. Tracking the Germany / France border we entered Luxembourg at Schengen and stopped at the first fuel station that stocked LPG and diesel. We filled up with both and drove for 40 minutes almost to the western border of Luxembourg. The journey from the motorway to Camping Simmerschmelz was very pleasant, especially the last section, which was through woodland that was a sea of autumn yellows and reds.
We had a very friendly welcome from the Dutch owners of the site and were given a present of a little bag of walnuts. We were shown to our pitch, a good, level concrete pad with a small gap to the next van. We both wanted showers and they were a rather a strange arrangement. Pushing a switch gave five minutes of hot water from a rain shower, it then stopped and came on again for a further minute. After that, the instructions told us that the shower would then not operate for ten minutes. I went first and I am convinced that it only gave me four minutes rather than five. It was all very rushed – I would normally spend much longer in the shower.
The campsite is work in progress as they are gradually improving the facilities but they have a little way to go. The restaurant at the campsite looked pleasant but we had decided to eat in the van tonight.
Photos: The woodland close to the campsite – this wasn’t the best section but it was the only place that I could stop; Our pitch with autumn colours in the background.