Thursday- drove down from calais stopping at Bethune for Lunch.
Friday- we had our Drive out Visiting La Ferte Milan, where there is a large castle above the picturesque town. visited the water wheel and walked along a lovely river.
We then Drove to Chateau Thierry which has a large Chateau above the Town. we had lunch there where the young waitress caused mayhem by mixing up our order and then bringing mains whilst we were eating our starters...after the meal we left and I accidently left my wallet on the table, I quickly returned 5mins later and it was gone and nobody knew anything about it. shame it spoilt a good day... we then drove to Longpont Abbey which was in serious need of repair. with no roof or windows..
Saturday morning- we visited the Market at Noyon and the weather was nice and sunny. we then decided to have lunch in a nice little restuarant. it was quite small so we sat outside under cover. then the rain came down torrential, the road outside looked like a river.. an hour later it stopped and the sun came out. what good timing. We then drove to the American War Grave site at Bony near St Quentin.
It was very surrean and peaceful, we walked around the visiter centre where they had photos and writings about the first world war, then we walked around the hundreds of graves. we all felt it was such a waste of life.
That night everyone came to our Mobile home for a last drink before the drive home Sunday. Good job I booked 3 bed homes as 12 people was quite cosy.
Sunday morning we packed up and met in the main carpark and then drove to Arras for lunch. We were all low on fuel so decided to drive to the nearest garage, but it when we got there it was derelict.. we then found another about 9km away so headed there thank god it was open as i was on empty.
Arras was a large town with a big Square in the middle, we all parked up and had a lovely lunch in a nearby pizza restuarant. time was getting on so back on the motorway we headed for Calais. 3 cars went on the Eurotunnel and 3 of us went on the ferry. we got to the ferry terminal an hour before our booking in time but had to queue for 50mins trying to get through immigration. we managed to get on the next ferry and had a lovely dinner in the restuarant. then the announcer said that because of bad weather we couldnt go into the port at dover. so it circled for an hour before going into dock. The crossing had taken 3 hours. We then drove home from dover in the high winds and pouring rain...
Overall we all had a great time, and I wish to thank everyone for coming, and It was very thoughtful of you all for helping me out in my little crisis...
Alex n Sue