Reset search
Satellite
Search this area

France Anzin-Saint-Aubin

Discover travel destinations of travelers writing a travel journal on FindPenguins.
Travelers at this place
  • TravelerCamino de la Costa/ -del Norte
    Day 1

    Start Köln -> Hendaye

    September 10, 2024 in France ⋅ 🌬 16 °C

    Heute startet meine Reise zum nördlichen Jakobsweg. Er beginnt planmäßig an der französisch/spanischen Grenze in Irun und verläuft an der nordspanischen Atlantikküste durch das Baskenland, Kantabrien, Asturien und Galicien bis nach Santiago de Compostela (Gesamtstrecke: 823,3 km). Alternativ kann noch bis Finisterre gepilgert werden, sodass sich eine Gesamtstrecke von 912,7 km ergibt. Da ich jedoch nicht vorhabe täglich um die 90 km zu wandern, sondern eher 20-30 km, werde ich sehr wahrscheinlich nicht die gesamte Strecke pilgern.

    Kurz zur Geschichte und Motivation für die Pilgerreise:
    Der Legende nach wurde der Leichnam des Apostel Jakobus nach Santiago de Compostela gebracht, um seine letzte Ruhe dort zu finden. Dies führte dazu, dass die katholische Kirche einen Machtanspruch auf dieses Gebiet voraussetzte. Im Mittelalter pilgerte man oft unter lebensgefährlichen Bedingungen nach Santiago de Compostela als Zeichen der Verehrung des heiligen Apostels Jakobus und der Treue zum christlichen Glauben. Hoffnung lag in der Vergebung von Sünden oder die Heilung einer Krankheit und nicht alle Pilgerer waren freiwillig unterwegs, sondern teils als Strafe zur Sühne ihrer Schuld.
    Heute kann die Motivation zur Pilgerschaft immernoch religiöser / spiritueller Natur sein. Jedoch überwiegen oft auch das Interesse an spanischer Kultur und Küche, der Wunsch nach sportlicher Betätigung, der Kontakt mit Gleichgesinnten aus den verschiedensten Kulturen oder der Wunsch nach einer kostengünstigen Urlaubsgestaltung mit einem bewusst gewähltem einfachen Lebensstil.

    Bevor ich jedoch meine Pilgerschaft antreten kann, sitze ich vorerst noch im Bus von Köln (10.09 12:00) über Paris (10.09 21:00) nach Hendaye (Südfrankreich, 11.09 09:15), von wo ich dann auf Transportmittel Füße umsteigen werde.
    Ich melde mich dann nach meiner ersten Etappe mit hoffentlich schönen Bildern und gutem Wetter erneut ☀️ Aktuell ist es leider sehr regnerisch, aber noch sitze ich im trockenen Bus! :)    Read more

    See translation
  • Europe Xmas River Cruise ++
    11
    Day 18

    Vimy Ridge Canadian Memorial

    December 31, 2024 in France ⋅ ☁️ 4 °C

    Vimy Ridge Memorial is Canada’s largest overseas national memorial.

    On land granted by France to the Canadian people, the memorial towers over the scene of Canada’s most recognizable WWI engagement, the Battle of Vimy Ridge, fought from 9 to 12 April 1917.

    It commemorates all Canadians who served, particularly the 60,000 who gave their lives in France. It also bears the names of 11,000 Canadian servicemen who died in France - many of them in the fight for Vimy Ridge - who have no known grave.    Read more

  • Henry u. Sabine GrundHerbst in der Normandie
    Day 1

    Übernachtung in Frankreich

    October 27, 2024 in France ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    Da der Verkehr auf der Autobahn gestern höllisch war sind wir nur langsam voran gekommen. Und haben uns dann spontan entschlossen einfach irgendwo zu übernachten. Heute geht's weiter in die Normandie. 💕Read more

    See translation
  • TravelerBattlefields of I & II
    Day 7

    Somme/Villers-Bretonneux/Thiepval

    September 5, 2024 in France ⋅ ☁️ 61 °F

    What a perfect day to visit battlefields and grave yards. By that I mean it was rainy and overcast. Somme was one of the worst engagements of the war. Record number of casualties. The Villers-Bretonneux memorial is to the Australian soldiers who lost their lives. The Thiepval memorial honors the British and South Africans who died with no known graves. Finally, we dropped in on several cathedrals to admire 17th century architecture. Nick took a fall and needs your emotional support. Let him know how you feel.Read more

  • Ramble Rally, lente 2024
    Day 7

    Overnachten in Arras/Atrecht

    June 1, 2024 in France ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    De laatste avond is aangebroken. Jan & Harry zijn inmiddels thuis.
    Wij nog gezellig met z'n 4-en, voor de laatste keer deze week, uit eten in het centrum van Arras. Dat ziet er verrassend mooi uit met allerlei mooie gebouwen, kerken en terrassen Uiteindelijk terecht gekomen bij Brasserie 'Au Bureau'. Hier hebben we lekker gegeten aan een hoge tafel. Drankje erbij en nog even de afgelopen week doorgenomen. We hebben alle 4 genoten en Jan & Har ook volgens mij!! Morgen op tijd rijden en heerlijk weer naar huis!Read more

    See translation
  • Winter '23
    Day 2

    First night in France!

    December 1, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 0 °C

    First night in the EU! We’ve parked up for the night, warmed up the van and had our dinner. Feels good to finally be on the trip we’ve been planning for 6 months!
    Shame it’s so cold outside but hopefully we won’t be feeling it tonight!Read more

  • TravelerRWC Cup France 2023
    Day 34

    Arras - Western Front Battlefields

    October 10, 2023 in France ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    We spent two days with Phil Hora - an Australian expat who lives in Arras - touring the western Front battlefield sites. Phil specialises in Australian tours and I thoroughly recommend him (Sacred Ground tours). I sent him information on my great uncle George who died here and he had located the actual paddocks that he was fighting in when he was killed. It was quite moving to stand in that paddock all this time later and reflect on those events. Later we visited his grave in one of the 2925 Commonwealth War Graves in this region! The following day he tracked down - with info from Helen - areas Jane’s grandfather worked as a field hospital surgeon.
    The loss of life is staggering when you consider that in the four years of stalemate there were major battles, resulting in hundreds of thousands of causalities on both sides, that resulted in maybe 2 to 4 kms of territory gained - sometime a couple of 100 metres! At the battle of Pozieres 6800 Australian men died in 7 weeks! By the end of the war it is estimated 15 to 22 million soldiers from all sides died.
    The respect from the French and Belgium people is amazing and to this day they honour the Australian troops who fought here ( as well as the other nations) by donating their land and their time for cemeteries, memorials and museums.
    The British High Command made disastrous after disastrous decisions in the first three years and I’m surprised we won! The tide turned when the Aussi, Kiwi and Canadian battalions were united under their own generals who had innovative battle plans the bore results and decreased deaths. In our case General John Monash - a civil engineer - who was the only person knighted on the battlefield during the war after his stunning victories in 1918. The new Monash centre at Villers-Brettenoux is a superb information museum opened in 2017 - the quality of all the museums is very high. All up a very sobering but enlightening experience.    Read more

  • TravelerVia @ 70
    Day 11

    Arras 13 miles

    July 23, 2023 in France ⋅ 🌧 21 °C

    I know that I am sometimes reluctant to leave a cosy tent to head for the loo in the wee small hours but that is nothing compared with the fear of leaving my room during the night knowing that there is a monstrous hound sleeping between my room and the toilet. Just in case I didn’t need reminded it had a 5 minute howling at the moon episode at about midnight. Had me wide awake enough to remember something I had promised to do earlier. Hadn’t even managed to write the day’s report as I was mentally knackered after the dinner trauma. Lights out about 9pm.

    A dreich start to the day. Couldn’t wait to get going to escape that slavering Brutus. Stopped at a bus shelter to write yesterday’s diary. Rain pretty much stopped by the time I got going again.

    As usual I was bemused by the French habit of using the pavement for parking their cars. Not much thought given to pedestrians.

    Staying tonight in a Catholic hostel which can house hundreds, mostly in dormitories but luckily also small rooms. Think I might be the only guest tonight. No breakfast available. It started pouring down soon after I arrived at about 2.30pm and just didn’t let up. By 7pm when I thought I might be able to find a restaurant open it was still chucking it down. Big decision to make. Given that it would be about a mile in torrential rain to get anywhere and I only have emergency lightweight waterproofs and no waterproof footwear was I that hungry? I have been carrying an emergency bar of tablet from home but I hadn’t eaten since a very brief and inadequate breakfast. Greed got the better of me and I headed out. Found an Indian restaurant which was empty but seemed ok to have me drip everywhere. Lovely meal sitting alone. No dogs. No polite conversation except with the waiter who insisted on showing me lots of photos of his mother. Maybe he thought I needed a companion. No wonder I don’t understand social interactions.    Read more

  • TravelerVia @ 70
    Day 10

    Ablain-Saint-Nazaire 17 miles

    July 22, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    Usual start to the day although one of the poorer breakfasts so far. Fine walking though. In the morning I came upon some sort of mini Centre Parks affair with lots of folk eating outside. Could have joined them but just seemed too early in the fairly long day to have a break. Kept going as there was a boulangerie shown later on. Sound thinking except it was shut.

    Late on I came to the vast cemetery at Notre-Dame de Lorette which has the remains of 40,000 French soldiers. That was sobering enough as was the adjoining museum but what was worse was the “Ring of Memory” nearby which has the names of 580,000 soldiers of all nationalities killed in the region between 1914 and 1918. Quite a few Kilpatricks so I assume there must have been a Scottish regiment involved. A number is just a number but when you see all the names written down it hits a little harder.

    Anyway it meant I was later arriving at the next accommodation which was useful as I had been told not to arrive before 5.30pm. This was a strange affair, unlike anything I have stayed in elsewhere but not uncommon on the Via. This was a new house with a straightforward middle-aged, middle-class couple who welcome pilgrims as guests into their house, supplying evening meal and breakfast. I couldn’t make out why. They did charge 60€ but I don’t think it was about the money. Possibly just interested in meeting folk. It was on their own terms. Arrive after 5.30pm, only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, must be booked in advance, rucksack had to be left in the garage, no shoes inside the house etc. All very understandable. The trouble for me came with the meals. As most of you know my social skills are practically non-existent. This has only been heightened by 10 days of virtually hermit levels of communication. When in company I much prefer sitting quietly and listening rather than chipping in. My family are more than capable of filling in any gaps admirably. Additionally I struggle with eating noises, apart from my own, naturally, so eating with some folk can sometimes be deeply unpleasant. And as a final blow they had a large dog that found the presence of someone new to sniff etc all too inviting. The food, although otherwise excellent was very dry. Another problem of mine. “Where’s the sauce?” springs to mind. Painfully aware that all these problems were in my head. What a nutter sometimes.    Read more

  • TravelerVia @ 70
    Day 9

    Bruay-la-Buissiere 12 miles

    July 21, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    As usual, my life is all about eating and sleeping. Last night the eating was adequate but the sleep wasn’t. Ridiculous really. All seemed good - nice bed, comfortable temperature, little external noise. The only problem was a wee insect that persistently did a flypast of my ear just when I was nearly asleep. Now I am no keener than the next man on being bitten so this would send me into a frenzy of light on, out of bed, armed to the teeth with a towel and murderous intent to prevent said insect continuing its acrobatics. Failed time and again. Even lured it into the confines of the bathroom, shutting the door behind so it couldn’t escape my flailing towel. Thought I had scored a direct hit, no sign of it, back to bed, light out, off to sleep.

    But no, the little bugger, or its chum (not easy to tell one from another) was still there. Nothing for it but stick a leg out of the covers, leaving it to its fate in the hope that the blighter would just silently gorge on all that flesh and leave my ear alone. I have no idea if insects have a favourite part of a carcass to gnaw at, similar to a human choosing leg or breast from the Xmas turkey, but this one didn’t seem too fussy and peace reigned. As soon as I reconciled myself to being eaten alive I managed to nod off.

    After an OK breakfast I departed although not before madam had taken a photo as she apparently does of all pilgrims.

    Walk uneventful although becoming more built up in places.

    Arrived before 3pm with high hopes for dinner as the hotel had a restaurant. Turned out that Friday is the day off for the restaurant. Wandered out about 4pm when the tummy started rumbling. Looked like there were some eateries about half a mile to the east or about a mile to the west. Headed east. Spent ages wandering about some sort of spread out shopping centre. Lots of food outlets but only MacDonalds was showing any signs of life and I wasn’t that desperate. After an hour and a half I had given up and headed west. Got quite excited when I came to a Taj Mahal until I read the note on the door which said it was on holiday until mid-August. Never mind there was a Chinese restaurant opposite. Except it didn’t open for another hour. Kept walking. Eventually came upon a small pizza outlet. He seemed bemused that I might want to order a pizza just after 6pm. Nevertheless within half an hour when the rest of the staff arrived I had my pizza.

    Hard going. Must have walked about 4 extra miles just trying to get my tea.    Read more

Join us:

FindPenguins for iOSFindPenguins for Android

  • 2025© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Help Center
  • Legal notice