Plentiful persistent precipitation again last night [there are only so many ways to say it’s forever hoying it down]. Before we leave Ali pops back to the shop for some more beer, this time in smaller bottles. The roads are up and down a fair bit until we start approaching St Omer when it levels out to the flat fields of the Somme, green and straw-yellow or newly turned earth which, being wet, shows how its reputation for being cloying and sodden caused the q...

If it was dark it must have rained. It was hammering the roof most of the night although it is quite sunny when we get up. Over two days Mary*Lou has sunk about 4” into the marshland known as Pitch No18. Nick rocks her back and forth trying to get up onto rubber mats but there is no bite and no point tearing up the pitch. The owner arrives with a battered pickup and ropes the vans together. With a light pull we are away and once moving we are easily back o...

The morning dawns bright with a few sunny spells so we decide not to delay our visit to town. By 10:30 we are heading down steep paths which bring us to the beach. There is a concrete promenade and wooden boardwalk alongside grey shingle and sand with views along the sheer chalky ciffs. In the town centre houses are built from shiny flint blocks accented with brick or timber work. some are decorated with little enameled plaques with flowers or birds. The 13t...

Being a public holiday we had decided not to set out too early today but it’s time we saw the sea again. Finally our wifi is restored, apparently a serious and widespread outage affecting the ‘3’ network everywhere. It’s our warmest day yet, 14C and dry as we drive through a number of towns and villages beginning to look springlike with blackthorn blossoming white and scores of daffodils, primrose and polyanthus. We see more of the avenue verte and a g...

Unsurprisingly it is raining again this morning. We have no real plans or desires for the day so we plan a shortish route to St Saens. We arrive there around midday just as the congregation is leaving the Easter Sunday service in the big central church. We have no idea what the lessons or sermon were about but they have all left with a ‘me-first’ attitude and Christian motoring is in short supply. The result is that they all bore into tiny gaps and then h...