This little site at Long is so peaceful we could easily stay [ahem] Longer but we must move on.
After servicing we drive alongside the lakes for a bit then start climbing up onto the plains of the Somme. There are large areas of newly tilled soil, yellow rapeseed and sprouting root crops. A couple of times there are long steep descents into valleys, with little towns nestling in the bottom then equally long climbs back to the plains,
Towns have marked Victory in Europe Day with wreaths and flags on their memorial stones and in one town we are diverted away from the square where we can see a memorial service taking place for V.E. Day. We comment that the beauty we are seeing today cost millions of lives right here and all across the globe and we fall quiet for a few miles to reflect, remember and be thankful to all those who were iinvolved.
We arrive in the vilage of Critot loking for the France Passion we had selected but a mistake programming the satnav means we are actually a few miles from it but we are quite close to a Passion we visited in March so we each mentally flip a coin and both of us choose the one we know at Yquebouf.
Through the country lanes we are reminded of the ceramic tile road name signs around this commune, and soon we are pulling in off the lane to the Passion.
Visually it has changed quite a bit since March. In the paddock trees are in full leaf including a specimin oak tree, perfectly shaped, The then frolicking lambs are now in the next field, larger and with thick fleeces, and the grass they were grazing has been left to grow.
But it’s the same peaceful, pretty place to be, all alone except the beautiful song of a blackbird who chirps away well into the evening.