Post It from Camping L’Ete Indien, Wimereux, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France. Wednesday 12th November, 20

We left Port Le Grand and decided to take the coastal D940 road up to Bolougne. Being Armistice Day, which is a national holiday in France, there was little traffic on the roads. The day was cool but bright and most importantly, dry. We tried to stop off at Le Touquet for lunch but did not succeed. The signage for the seafront is very poor and all the roads we took eventually ended up with restricted signs. I was aware of the common view that this resort is not camper friendly and I did not want to take the risk of getting stuck due to our size. Once we decided to leave I pulled to the side of a very wide road to set the sat nav and it was only minutes before I had a French driver sounding his horn at me. I was certainly not causing an obstruction and could see no restrictions so perhaps the views of some is correct. I had stayed at Le Touquet when I was a child on my first (school) holiday abroad so had been looking forward to the visit really. 

As we left and crossed the river Canche into Etaples we saw a very interesting looking street market that was bursting with pedestrians so wanted to stop but could not find anywhere that we could park our 8m motorhome. There wers some car parks in the vicinity but they were all full. 

On our way north on the edge of Etaples we came across a Commonwealth War Cemetery and it was just approaching 11:00 a.m. UK time so we decided to stop and pay our respects at what was a very appropriate place. The cemetery, as normal, was beautifully laid out and I was pleased to see a handful of French families with children visiting the cemetery. There were almost 9000 British buried there along with Canadian, New Zealand, Australian, South African, Indian, Belgian and German soldiers buried there. A grand total of 11,533 graves beautifully laid out. During the first and second wars there had been a hospital located there and these were the graves of those who had died as patients at the hospital or who had been stationed there. What a coincidence it was when we watched the BBC news that evening at the campsite the local Kent news showed a man from Hythe who had said his grandfather had been shot and was sent to the hospital there but had been killed when a bomb had fallen on the ward he was on. His grave will have been there and I saw a poppy wreath from Folkestone and Hythe with the others at the cenotaph. 

Taking a tip from tricky Auto on the forum we filled up with diesel at the L E’Clerc in Boulogne and paid 1.205€ a litre, which was the cheapest all holiday. We had noticed that the price of fuel had gone down by around 6 cents over the past 8 weeks so was keen to see if England had also reduced their prices like the French definitely had. 

The campsite was the only one that we knew to be open in this area so we had no choice but to stay here, we were familiar with Wimereux but had never stayed at this site just outside the town before. Tricky Auto had often commented about this site as being good on the Caravan Club forum although the reviews on the ACSI site were not too good. Passing the Travellers Official Campsite next door as we arrived was not the best of first impressions and the wait for the reception to open allowed a quick view of the immediate area. It looked a bit tired and full of static caravans and lodges and we later found that the site was almost entirely permanent residences or holiday homes with a small area at the very far end, high up, of the campsite. 

The pitches were of a reasonable size for us but not quite as anticipated, the hard standing was a section of the pitch about the width of the motorhome and due to the recent rains the grass was very soft and muddy. There were when troughs in the grass and a neighbour was quick to advise us of the problems some had experienced that morning in getting off the pitches due to the soft ground. I initially selected a pitch at the very top of the site with views across the English Channel and very faint white cliffs of Dover could be seen in the distance. It was nice for me, being an ex-sailor, to watch the large ships going down Dover Straits, the busiest shipping lane in the world when I last sailed through35 years ago. 

The toilet block was nice and clean but there was an absence of heating which surprised me greatly as this site was open all year. We even had heating back down on the Costa Brava and at all the sites between so this was a disappointment. When I did use the showers the next morning the room was cold, the water hot, but it was dark. The lights had gone off at 0730 and sun rise was not until after 0800 so I think they must have failed to alter their timer clock at the end of October when the clocks went back. I mentioned it to reception as I could not see to shave; having had this body for 56 years I was able to find my way around it to shower in the dark. I went back to shave at 0830 in a still darkish cubicle, I hope tomorrow is different as we rise earlier to catch the train. 

I had some concerns about getting off the pitch the next morning, particularly if another motorhome arrived and took the pitch almost directly behind me as I would not be able to turn onto the narrow hard road surface without going onto the soft ground with my front wheels. The next morning another pitch became vacant where it was easy access on and off so I moved down a tier. It was better as well because the high winds during the night had made the van rock around because it was perched at the highest point on the site and very exposed. 

We could have caught a bus to Boulogne from the main road at the end of the lane but we decided to go into Wimereux where we could shop and enjoy a meal at a restaurant we had visited before. The 20 minute walk into the town was blustery and once on the prom we could see the white horses at sea and the waves crashing on the beach. Horses, probably from the stables just near the campsite, were being exercised on the beach also. 

Well we catch the train in the morning but at least the free Wi-Fi at the site enabled me to post this last campsite story. I shall, as usual, post a roundup of the holiday sometime after we get home. I hope you have enjoyed reading about our travels once again. 

Regards, Roy