I've been in France barely 24 hours and so far devoured a croissant, a chocolate croissant, four homecooked crepes, a waffle, frites and a slice of gateau. I've forgotten what it feels like to be hungry.
So, yes, I'm back in France. A fourth French stamp was added to my passport just before boarding the Eurostar. This is quickly becoming one of my favourite trains. Not for the price or scenery, but the speed! It has to be one of the perks of living in London. Lille in 90 minutes, Paris in two hours.
I arrived in Lille Europe, crossed the square to Lille Flandres and caught a train to Billy-Montigny, about 45 minutes from Lille. I'm staying with my friend Lucie. We met when I hosted Lucie and her friend, Bertie, in Vancouver in September 2011. They travelled down to LA but Lucie came back to Canada and stayed with me again for a couple of nights. We kept in touch and when I went to Montreal last year I stayed with her for a few days. Now she's back in France so I decided to come visit.
I'm spending three nights with her and her parents. Her mum cooked crepes for dinner last night. Amazing. These were the sweet kind and the table was full of fillings: nutella, backed apples, lemon and sugar, homemade cherry jam, peanut butter, hazelnut spread, apple jelly. So many! I polished off four and washed them down with some cider. I thought perhaps the crepes were on the menu because of my visit, but it turns out it's quite common to have them for dinner. Lucie's parents speak a little English, but Lucie's translating a lot for us. Their other daughter spent some time in Australia so they know a lot about it.
Lucie and I spent the evening catching up. She went to Newfoundland last year a few weeks after I did (she decided to go after seeing my blog posts and photos) and I wanted to hear all about it. She spent a month there (I only had 3 days) and hitchhiked around.
In the morning, despite the forecast for miserable weather, we headed to the Coast, not far from Calais. Turns out the weatherman was wrong because we had blue skies and sunshine, although a LOT of wind.
Our first stop was the coastal hamlet of Ambleteuse. The town now is nothing more than holiday homes and a few restaurants. At this time of year it's a seaside ghost town. A few centuries ago it was a different story. Henry VIII of England built two forts here in 1546 as a bit of an "in your face" to the French kings. Henry II of France had them conquered three years later. At the end of the 17th century, Sebastien Vauban built Fort Mahon at the mouth of the river, which still stands. And it's what took us to Ambleteuse. According to my post-visit research, it's the only coastal fort preserved in France. Ambleteuse's colourful history doesn't end there. Napolean tried to create a harbour with the intention of invading England in 1805. The foundations are still there.
We drove along the Coast to the town of Wimereux. In summer this place would be crazy, but in early February we were lucky to find somewhere for lunch. We wanted frites, which we found at a van set up in a car park. It was still too windy to enjoy them ON the beach, so we just parked on the promenade and ate in the car.
Then it was off to Cap Gris Nez and Cap Blanc Nez. The cliffs of Cap Gris Nez are the closest point of France to England. We could see the cliffs of Dover in the distance (only 34km away). Apparently it's rare to get skies as clear as we had and water as blue, especially at this time of year, but we were lucky. We braved the wind and walked around the point and the maritime security centre that sits up at the lighthouse. Then we drove to Cap Blanc Nez. An obelisk sits at the top commemorating the Dover Patrol, which kept the Channel free from U-boats in World War 1. We could get down to the beach here and see the cliffs from the bottom. Amazing site. I still can't get over the weather.
We drove back to Rouvroy and to an afternoon snack of cake and waffles followed by dinner of salmon and pasta. Lucie's mum is an amazing cook!!
Pics will come when I write a proper post for Pegs on the Line. This is just a quick update so I don't forget anything!!
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