Part 1 - The way up

It took 3 days of driving to get up to our first week-long "gîte" or holiday home. We try to mix a bit of driving with stopping to visit interesting towns along the way. We also don't want to spend too many hours on the road because it gets boring for all of us. The first day, we stopped by the town of Brive la Gaillarde, or just Brive and then the Plus Beau Village of Charroux before stopping at a B&B that also provided an optional dinner. It seemed the B&B was fully booked and everybody was doing the dinner there, which was served at a communal table with all of us. Everybody spoke French, so it was a bit stressful for us :-)

Day 2 took us to the town of Moulins and then to the former citadel town of Laon before ending at a charming B&B in Troyes. One of our friends, Philippe, was raised in Troyes, so we had to be sure to stay there.

The next morning, we did a walking tour of Troyes before making quite a long drive up to a horse farm just south of Lille, near the Belgian border, where we will make our home for our first full week. On the map, we started at the I at the bottom, then up to the B, and finished in C, where we would stay for a week.

Part 2 - Week 1: on the Belgian border

We spent the first week in a gîte (a holiday home) on a horse farm just south of Lille, near the Belgian border. We spent that time visiting various towns and cities, both in France and in Belgian. Since there are quite a few of them, I'll put them on a separate Week 1 blog page.

On the map, week 1 basically is just C and D because there are quite a few towns there that I didn't want to specifically add as it made it really hard to read.

Part 3 - Taking the EuroTunnel

Initially, I had planned 2 additional nights along the French side of the English Channel to handle the vet appointment for Lucy, which had to be done between 24 and 120 hours before the arrival on the English side of the English Channel. However, after I made all the other plans, we got an appointment during Week 1 that still fit into the timeframe, so we had a couple days to just relax. As we left our gite in Avelin, we visited the town of Dunkirk, famous for the World War II evacuation and the fortified town of Gravelines before settling into a little apartment literally on the beach in Sangatte. I have a few pictures from the beach at Sangatte, with Lucy and jellyfish.

We spent a little bit of time actually in Calais, which in general doesn't have a very good reputation due to the "migrant jungle" that was here from January 2015 to October 2016. It was on a former landfill site and had upwards of 8,000 people there before it was demolished. We also stopped by an attraction called Saint Joseph Village which is (supposedly) an authentic village illustrating life in France between the 1900s and 1970s.

This was the first time taking the EuroTunnel with the car, so it was an experience to say the least. It isn't too long, but it is all on my EuroTunnel Le Shuttle page.

On the map, we started at C and went somewhat directly to E, following the line over the English Channel.

Part 4 - Week 2: in SouthEast England

After taking the tunnel, our holiday home this week was near the coast in SE England. Again, since there are quite a few places that we visited, I'll put them on a separate Week 2 blog page. We did a few towns, a few times on the beach, and a few famous golf courses (visiting, not playing) before heading back across the Channel.

On the map, week 2 is all around the E.

Stay tuned for the other blog updates ... I hope to have an update every couple days.

Part 5 - Week 3: on the French side of the English Channel

Back across the English Channel and to the small village of Wimille (pronounced We-Mille) for the last full week of our vacation. This week was more about beaches and walks with Lucy and less about towns and cities to visit. Surely, we did visit a few, and you can find all the details on my Week 3 blog.

On the map, week 3 is all around the F (I know, we didn't really move very far down the country).