Sunday is Gun Day, Le Hourdel, France
Zagan is enjoying some ‘free bagging’, as our Ozzie friends Rose and Paul used to say. He’s living it up for free in a car park on a dead-end in Le Hourdel (N50.21459, E1.55323). Of course we’re in France, so the car park is sign-posted as an Aire, which means I guess we’re not technically free bagging, not as much as the French motorhomes with bigger balls than us who are parked up in the ‘no motorhomes’ spots around the little village.
Last night we watched as the French motorhomes jockeying for position in the aire in Le Crotoy as it seems you couldn’t get a satellite tv signal when parked near the houses. We listened, waiting for cheers as France beat the All Blacks at the Rugby, sadly the car park was silent all evening and the All Blacks are the ones through to the next round.
We’re not sure if it was this defeat that drove the menfolk out of their homes early this morning. Sunday, it seems, is gun day here in France; we were informed of this by the crack of gunfire ringing out as we ate breakfast.
Zagan’s squeal is still a worry and we’re hoping to find a mechanic who can look at it tomorrow. Not wanting to waste the day sitting in the aire (and paying €6) we made our way around the Somme Basin. As we drove we saw several men stalking around the verges and land at the side of the road, mainly in camouflage, some sporting camouflage with a high-visibility jacket on top, all carrying guns.
Just a few miles along our route we took a detour to visit a Commonwealth War Cemetery. We’ve seen a few of these during our travels, the most poignant was visiting the grave of my Grandfather in Tunisia, buried so many miles from home. The cemetery we visited today was also full of people too many miles from home, they were Chinese labourers who came over to France to work in order to free up French men for fighting. Each gravestone had one of four epitaphs on it, it made it seem even more sad, almost as if their epitaph was chosen at random for them.
This chap was hiding in the crops around the cemetery.
Back on the road I spotted an open supermarket, something that would have been unheard of when we were first over here just four years ago, but now slowly it seems the 7 day week culture is creeping in – although nearly every small shop is closed on Sunday and for lunch. I like Sundays being kept special, with no shops open, it’s shame the UK didn’t manage to stave off the commercial culture.
The sun came out as we neared Le Hourdel and Zagan stopped squeaking, it seems he likes the sunshine. We parked up and went for a walk along the very pebbly beach and timed it perfectly to watch the sea come in and fill the estuary with life once again. Among the water was more seals, and a small crowd gathered to watch their heads bob up and down it the water as the rode the currents.
Charlie managed to get himself stuck in some boggy marsh and we all got very muddy feet as we slipped our way off the beach back into the town. We arrived just as the fishing boats (also riding the current) moored up and unloaded their catch into a small kiosk, the shrimp were still wriggling as they were stuffed into paper bags for the punters.
Errr, help?!!
We relaxed in Zagan before heading out along the beach again in the opposite direction this evening, this time watching the earth be uncovered as the sea retreated. We retreated back into Zagan for scrabble, dinner and a movie and will all sleep well tonight after all that fresh sea aire. A big thanks to Pete and Judy who told us about this place, we might be here for a couple of days depending on what the mechanic says tomorrow.
Ju x
Hi Guys,
Enjoying the daily update and thanks for putting in co-ordinates (although today’s one had me in the drink when I tried to locate it). BTW, I for one am delighted with that stonking All Black victory!
Go well,
Simon
Hiya,
We stayed there end of September and enjoyed it apart from breaking down in the car park :-( , the radiator dumped all its contents over the gravel, had to be recovered to a garage in Abbeville where a new one was fitted. You might notice a few branches missing off the tree at the entrance where the recovery truck guy had to cut them down as we were too high to get out.
Hope you have more luck than us and fingers crossed your problem is just a loose belt or something.
Pete
Bloody hell! Unlucky Pete. Didn’t spot the branches, but I can picture the scene. Motorhomes bring recovered look like elephants being carried by mice! All part of the experience eh (easily said when it’s been sorted!)? Cheers, Jay
Hi Jay,
I didn’t know you had added special maritime capabilities to Zagan, but your GPS co-ordinates put you many miles out to see in Le Manche!!
Tim
Aha! Just testing (hmmm), fixed the co-ords now Tim, cheers for pointing it out, Jay
Enjoying following your adventures. We spent 6 months on the road leaving Sept last year, had a great time. We toured Normandy, Loire Vally, Dordogne, Landes and down through Spain. Now changing for a different motorhome and heading out for a longer period next spring.
Keep up the posts and enjoy the freedom and sights.