Another blustery night with a few hail storms thrown in but we sleep much better than Monday night and this morning is dry and bright.
Ali goes to see the owner of the passion. This one is a processing plant rather than a producer, they can, jar, wrap or seal a variety of luxury foods like pate, salmon, relishes, preserves, pickles and beverages. At one time he supplied 'Your Queen with salmon, but they ask for the flavourings to be modified and I say, No, this is how I do it, if you don't like you don't have'. Ali buys some mutton pate and beer flavoured with seaweed, report on taste to follow...
As it is a bright day we decide to drive along the coast of the Baie de Somme. The drive to the coast is pretty across the Somme's rolling plains. There are newly ploughed fields and early crops sprouting, much more productive looking than the Dutch fields we've been used to. However, we didn't expect to see windmills in Normandy, but there are a fair few.
From the village of Vron, where we bought bread and patisserie, we took the rue to Rue then on tho our first coastal town of Le Crotoy, a sleepy little town with quiet sea front and big dunes. Round to St Valery is mostly reed beds and a huge bird watching area, but the town itself is attractive and busy. A steam railway runs through the middle and the road crosses to and fro over the tracks. Varnished wooden carriages, western style with verandahs, are lined up and we glimpse a couple of locomotives but nothing is actually running today. We are surprised to see how busy all the restaurants are though. Sadly all of the car parks are height restricted and we cannot stop so we continue to Le Hordel. Again the restaurants are packed and this time there is a camperstop about a mile out of town, which serves as a lunchstop and a place to make a few phone calls and book our ferry home next Sunday.
We continue running near the coast through a few small towns until we reach Mers-les-Bains, a huge resort with large and ornate art nouveau houses along to the seaside. Crossing a bridge brings us into Le Treport and another expansive Edwardian sea front leading to the sheer high white cliffs of the Cote d'Albatre [Alabaster Coast]. The resort is all a bit kiss me quick [bissou moi vite], like Le Brighton or Le Blackpool, but we do finally see the green-topped lighthouse which Mum bought us a plaster model of years ago.
The road climbs steeply out of Le Treport as we head towards Dieppe. Along the way Ali looks at various options in the aires book for where to stay and we agree to try and make Honfleur even though arrival time is around 18:00. We retrace part of our December route out of Dieppe and have a smooth run past Yvetot before taking a short section of toll road to join the Pont de Normandie, the huge wishbone supported bridge near Le Havre. There are in fact two huge briges to cross before the last two miles into Honfleur and the camperstop in sight of the town. We are parked by 17:50 and find wifi and TV reception.
Much warmer than the last few days and a peaceful evening.