Canal de Calais à Saint-Omer

An early start. Walking by 7.10. Not by choice obviously but I had 11 miles to cover before a 12.10 deadline for ferry check-in.
Uneventful walk although I did have my first barbed wire fence to cross. Amused by some of the local signs. Not sure if they have had folk blindly following sat-navs and driving whopping SUVs down these little paths but strangely they don’t see a problem for half the year.
Lesson of the day :- when walking along a narrow lane and faced with an approaching vehicle resist the temptation to squeeze as much as possible to one side. Encourages the driver to reduce speed slightly. And, if the driver misjudges a little and attempts to assault your precious with a wing mirror you have a little gap to swing briskly into.
Had a horrific ferry crossing as rain forced me inside only to be faced with thousands of over-excited school children on bus trips abroad. Suspect their minders had sensibly found solace in a bar somewhere leaving their charges to go feral. Oddly there seemed to be less of them the longer the crossing went on. Suspect we were leaving a long trail of gently bobbing heads behind us, or perhaps they had just found someone else to annoy.
It took sometime to negotiate leaving the port. Barbed wire everywhere. I did seem to be the only person attempting to walk from the port to town. At least the French seem pleased to see me. Even declared it a national holiday, calling it Bastille Day presumably as Stuart Day would be too difficult for them to pronounce. I think fireworks are a bit over the top though.
Tonight’s hotel suggested a local restaurant. Took one look at their menu and headed off for a PaniniLand instead. Meal deal of kebab sandwich, frites and a drink came to 7€50 which I think the gaffer back home will consider more suitable for a pilgrim with 90 dinners to fund.Read more