Where is Great Britain?

A longer drive today, back to the English Channel, following one of the very straight Route Nationals.

We managed to avoid the ?bouchons? which signposts cautioned us against. Bouchons translate as a cork or stopper, and in this context means traffic jams. the French language is so expressive, our Gallic cousins have nothing as mundane as a long vehicle, for them it is a ?convoi exceptionale.? What we would call a poor road surface, in France becomes ?degradee.? I still struggle with the pronunciation, remembering to join the word with the preceding one, over pronounce some of the letters and to totally ignore the letters at the end of the word is all too often beyond me.

Driving through the Picardie area I recalled the daring exploits of Biggles I read as a child. The names of Douai, Cambrai and Arras transported back to my youth.

I was brought right back to earth with a bump reminiscent of one of Algernon Motgomery Lacey?s landings, when over a stop for lunch I explored a British monument and cemetery. This particular example held 9903 combatants who had dies in the same conflict Capr W E Johns portrayed with such humour, bravado and chivalry.

Le Touquet has a rather upmarket feel about it, very different to the part of France we had seen. It looks like a holiday retreat for the well heeled French.

Today?s Travel: 183 miles
Nightly Fee: 9 euros