Boujour tout le monde!

Good morning from the town of Arras – yes, the Woodies have finally arrived in France!  It’s been a full-on few days with quite a number of miles travelled so today we’ve decided the wheels of Harvey won’t turn and we’ll take a deep breath!

Our last update was from Newport, the days between then and now have been spent as follows:

Thursday at Emsworth with our good mate Clive (sadly his partner Steph was elsewhere and couldn’t join us).  We had an evening out in town starting with a beer at Clive’s local followed by a walk around the mill pond and look out over the harbour.  Such a lot to see with Fowley Island in the foreground and right through to Portsmouth in the distance however being low tide it was mainly mud!

On Friday we travelled to Kent where Harvey spent his second night in a row parked up in the driveway of some friends, this time it was Anna (a friend of Anita’s from school) and her family in Sevenoaks, Kent.  Such a lovely evening reconnecting (Anita) and making new friends (your author) and waking up within striking distance of Dover.

Because Harvey is powered by LPG the tunnel wasn’t an option however the ferry crossing to Calais was a treat which I’m so glad we got to do.  Firstly, just the vastness of the ferry terminal and check-in/immigration process was an adventure in itself.  Then to watch the White Cliffs of Dover recede into the distance seemed like living in a story book.  Such an iconic landmark, it was wonderful to stand on deck and soak it all in.  We couldn’t help reflecting on how the RAF pilots must have felt on return from their WWII sorties, to see the white cliffs and know they had made it home safely.

I mentioned the Britstops guide earlier, well there’s a French equivalent called France Passion which provides motorhomers with free overnight stays at various farms, wineries, orchards etc.  For our first night in France we picked one close to Calais and stayed in a farmer’s paddock nearby to the town of Brunembert.  Harvey is a legend when it comes to free-camping – plenty of water/waste capacity, battery power, generator if needed and a good-sized fridge/freezer.

Our research that evening showed that we were quite close to The Somme battlefield and memorial sites so that was our mission yesterday.  And what a memorial site we found, in fact the largest war grave in all of France with approximately 40,000 soldiers buried there.  There are the remains of 6,000 unidentified French casualties underneath the Lantern Tower alone!  But the most sobering of all was the memorial to the dead of WWI with over 579,000 individual names listed from all combatant countries.  It’s hard to describe walking around the circle and seeing panel after panel full of name after name.  We randomly paused and counted 121 individuals named Karl Műller as well as spotting 2 Bilby and 6 Woodfield names on the list.  We wondered if a certain Mr Putin had ever visited such a site and if so, whether he might have thought twice before sending more young men to their deaths in a meaningless war.  The answer is, we guess, firstly yes and secondly no.

Sadly many things are closed in France on Sundays and especially so because it’s a bank holiday weekend here so a couple of planned stops were canned however visiting the memorial site above made it a well-spent day.

This morning we find ourselves at a lovely little park adjacent to the Citidelle d’Arras which will end up being a 2 night stay.  I must say, driving around Arras yesterday was quite stressful - the GPS sent us the wrong way a couple of times and we ended up driving down streets that were built for horse-and-carts, not Harveys!  However in the end we found a place to stop and quenched our thirst at a little bar in the town square.

So this is another episode of Aventures Avec Harvey signing off.

PS. We were delighted to have come across the team from Anglo American Autocare in Newport, brilliant guys who couldn’t have been more helpful.  As well as installing the fitting for our gas bbq and a couple of other minor fixups they also helped us buy a bike carrier that will fix to the trailer hitch of our yank motorhome.  But best of all Steve helped me to buy a £20 piece of diagnostic equipment which we can plug in should any future mechanical issue befall Harvey.  All we then have to do is call Steve with the error code and he’ll let us know what’s needed to fix it, send us the parts etc.  Hopefully we won’t ever need to use it however it’s comforting to know there’s someone who can help – cheers Steve & Tony!

Today's photos

The Coalie with Clive in Emsworth

Plenty of room for Harvey in this driveway!

Walking amongst the bluebells with Jenny, one of Clive’s friends

Waiting to board the ferry

Loading onto the ferry

The famous white cliffs

Our first night in France

Notre Dame de Lorette along with the Lantern Tower to the right

2 Bilbys

The WWI memorial with 579000 names listed

6 Woodfields

Anita paying her respects at the Lantern Tower

Inside Notre Dame de Lorette

A medicinal beverage to finish the day 😊