Back to where it all began

We were rudely awoken this morning by a complete prat in a Motorhome at 6am.
Yesterday while we were wandering down the high street I spotted a Motorhome parked in the high street with its covers on looking like they were going to sleep there. I commented to Ellie and said “surely they’re not going to spend the night there?” And she said “ No I reckon they live nearby and that’s parked up”.
It was this same Motorhome that decided to do a 50 point turn and reverse in between us and the very large Motorhome at 6am waking everyone up. To top it off the driver and passenger got out, had a conversation right next to our heads and then proceeded to put the windscreen cover back on get back in slamming both doors and then going to bed. Utter arseholes!!
Ellie and I were now up and I proceeded to make as much noise as I could. So did the other people in there motorhomes. They were emptying their toilet cassettes, wandering past his van, pointing at it, but because the new arrival had his windscreen cover on and blinds down he was oblivious to it all.
At 8:30am we left the airè and headed 50 miles down the road. Today was our last real proper day in France and we had a lot to do before we got on the ferry tomorrow evening.
Our first stop was in Cappelle-la-Grande. Here there is a Lidl and Carrefour supermarket, a huge car wash and a self service laundrette and pizza kiosk.
The first thing we did was wash 6 weeks of grot and grime off of Wanda. It’s so much easier to wash motorhomes in France.
We put 4 euros in the machine. I walked all the way around Wanda spraying the soap starting at the top letting it run down and finishing with a walk around the bottom. It was potent stuff and we could see grease streaks running down the bodywork. Then I got to work with the brush which spewed out more soap with hot water. This is what makes washing it here so much easier. Once I’d soaped her and scrubbed her I rinsed her off and she was gleaming. It cost a total of 10 euros and I will have to wash her again when I get home but the real ground in heavy stuff is off.
We pulled forward and parked in the car park of the car wash and Ellie went to put the laundry in. Then with 45 minutes to spare I made lunch and Ellie swept Wanda out and beat the carpets outside.
Once that was done Ellie went back to the laundry and put it in the dryer. Then we popped into Lidl to buy my dad some authentic French cheese for looking after the dog. Then Ellie retrieved the dry washing and we headed over to Carrefour and filled up with diesel.
By 12:30pm we were back in the road and it was just 10 miles to get to our airè for the night. We headed back to gravelines, the exact same stop we had for our first night here.
Unfortunately by the time we got there the wind had really picked up gusting up to 30mph and because of the recent rains the rivers and boating lakes were close to flooding and I think all of the water was playing havoc with the Wi-Fi signal. We were going to be here for at least 27 hours so we needed Wi-Fi and after 30 minutes we decided to head 3 miles down the road to the edge of town.
At the edge of Gravelines in the town of Grand Fort-Phillipe we found a purpose made Motorhome area overlooking a nature reserve that’s part of the dunes running to the English Channel. It’s nothing special, there’s no facilities but it’s quiet and clean and there’s hiking and cycle routes into the nature reserve and above all a decent Wi-Fi signal.
We pulled in and after a quick cup of tea I had a 20 minute nana nap and then at 2:30pm we decided to head out for a walk.
Leaving Wanda all we had to do was cross the road and pick up the gravel footpath into the nature reserve. This is also the start of eurovelo route 4.
The wind was crazy strong but it wasn’t cold so we were too hot in our coats and then too cold without them, one minute I had my hat on because I was getting earache the next I had to take it off because I was sweating. It was weird weather day.
The footpath ran around the edges of the dunes and then along the edge of the dock and marina. Grand Fort-Phillipe is a major fishing town and there is a big fish market which was closed but is probably heaving in the early hours. There is an old lifeboat station that is now a museum as the boat stopped being a lifeboat in 1968 but it is housed in the original boathouse which was built on stilts in 1937. We carried on walking right up to the loch gates which double as flood defences and then we turned around and walked back to Wanda with the wind in our face all the way. In total we walked just over 5 miles.
Back at Wanda she was rocking around in the wind and it was now 4:30pm so Ellie and I put the TV on for an hour and then made dinner.
After dinner we continued to watch the TV for the rest of the evening and once the sun had set we closed the blinds and put our pyjamas on and settled in for our final night on French soil.Read more