Tuesday 11th October 2022 – Somerset, England

The Hondschoote aire turned out to be rather noisy in the morning. An articulated lorry came in last night and left its trailer close to us in the car park. The driver returned with his tractor unit this morning at about 05:30 and took some time to hitch up the trailer before driving off. That, combined with the many lorries and tractors on the road next to us, meant that I didn’t get much sleep until the alarm went at 07:00. The services were a short distance up the road next to the Aldi store and we dumped grey water and the toilet waste before setting off for Dunkirk port.
Our route took us across country through the interesting town of Bergues with its fortifications and waterways. Twice I had to steer round groups of geese that were acting as if they owned the place and were totally ignoring the traffic. Bergues looks like a place that would be worth a visit some time.
This was the first time that we have used the DFDS ferry from Dunkirk to Calais and the port is certainly much quieter than Calais. The Duty Free Shop was almost deserted and had a very good selection of wine at very reasonable prices but I had already stocked up in France. The crossing was very pleasant with clear blue skies and a totally smooth sea.
An uneventful journey took us back to Home, Sweet Home in Somerset  ………. until the next sojourn.

Photos: None.

Monday 10th October 2022 – Hondschoote, France

I walked from the aire, over the bridge to the old town through a thick mist that covered the town, meaning that we couldn’t even see across the river from the van. In the five minutes that it took me to buy the bread from the boulangerie and return to the bridge, the mist had lifted and revealed lovely views down the river.
There is a major strike of fuel tanker drivers in France and there has been no diesel available in any fuel stations and many of them were completely closed. The range figure on the van information display showed that we would have enough fuel to get us to Dunkirk but it would be good to get some more for peace of mind. The situation in Northern France is worse than the rest of the country because fuel in Belgium is 20 or 30 cents a litre more expensive than in France. This means that many Belgians come over the border to buy their fuel. This is especially the case in this area as it is a finger of land that sticks into Belgium and we are only 6km from Belgium in every direction except due south.
We set off west into Belgium and were soon able to find diesel at an unmanned fuel station – common in France and Belgium. We drove for three hours through Belgium before crossing back into France just before we arrived in Hondschoote, just 3km from the border. The aire is on the edge of the town close to a very attractive windmill.
This area of France has many ‘friteries’ (chip shops) and we really wanted to have chips with mayonnaise, a very popular snack in Belgium, Holland and this part of France. I knew that there was a friterie just down the road from the aire but also knew that it was unlikely to be open on a Monday. However, we were in luck and sat down to a fun meal with excellent chips and mayonnaise.
We walked into the town, which was much more interesting than we were expecting and in many places photographs were displayed of the town in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. There was also a very large windmill, without the sails, which was being restored together with its outbuildings. The old photos showed that it was close to a port but this had obviously been filled in and houses built on the reclaimed land.

Photos: Givet just after the mist had cleared, with the Citadelle de Charlemont high above the town; Chips with mayonnaise – not quite the high class French food that we had been enjoying, but fun nonetheless; Some Hondshoote architecture; The Spinnewyn or Victory Mill site of a famous battle in 1793 when the Hanovarians, part of Anglo-Hanovarian coalition attempting to restore the French monarchy, were defeated and France was saved. I had never heard of it but you learn something new every day.

Sunday 9th October 2022 – Givet, France

Before we left Monthermé we watched as a man arrived in his rather nice boat, moored, got out his bike and cycled off. He had obviously gone to fetch friends and family who duly arrived. The barbecue was extracted from the boat together with a table and chairs and preparations were made for a lovely Sunday lunch by the river.
This was definitely the best section of the meanders of the Meuse – lovely scenery, views of the river and forest-clad valley sides. A railway line runs down the valley, often between the road and the river and would probably make a very pleasant trip. We stopped briefly in Revin, but it is a rather scruffy ex-industrial town and didn’t detain us for long. Givet was much more pleasant, very pretty on a wide stretch of the river with many pleasure craft and river trip boats but these were not operating at this time of the year.

Photos: Sunday barbecue lunch preparations; A train crosses the road as we head for Givet; The two Givet towers, Victoire in the foreground and Gregoire in the background, both designed to monitor river traffic and to extract taxes from those who passed; The Givet aire is centre picture behind the moored boats.