Episode 7 - Cheriennes, (Pays des 7 Vallées - District of the 7 Valleys), Pas de Calais, France with Marion and Bill
Friday after singing 'Happy Birthday' to our son John via Skype, we left for the Chunnel about 10am and
managed to catch the train before the one Marion had booked, and still had time
for a coffee before we left. It was overcast but we had a good
drive from the French end of the Chunnel to Cherriennes and by the time we got
there the sun was out! We unpacked and sorted ourselves out and had a fairly easy time for the rest of the day.
Cheriennes is a very lovely small village with only a baker's and a superb restaurant and no other shops at all! The surrounding area is called The Seven Valleys.
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| Outside Marion & Bill's - on the left |
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| The front garden |
Next morning we walked to the
bakers with Bill where he bought bread and we got a couple of ‘pan chocolat’ as
Bill was going back and we were going to do a walk of about 6 kms I think.
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| Cheriennes CHurch |
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| 2 curious donkeys on the way to the baker's |
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| Just around the corner is the bakery |
When
we got to the first cross roads (tracks) we ate the pan chocolat, then continued
over several farmer’s fields on a round trip back to Cheriennes. We had a
national survey map so it was easy to follow the route and we noted some others
which we could do another time which were also well marked. Mike commented that there were no yellow shell signs to follow here, as there were on the Camino, but yellow arrows instead!
As we entered Cheriennes from the other end to where we started, we were now at the top of Marion and Bill’s road. I spotted Dominique in his garden and shouted a ‘bon jour’ and he
came to talk to us but we could hardly understand a word, except that he had
said something about having a drink with them tomorrow. I tried to say I would
ask Marion, but it all came out in Spanish as usual, chuckle! (It turned out
that his wife Claudette had already been to see my sister and had arranged that
we have a BBQ with them next day).
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| Outside Dominique's house |
Then, as we walked back home, I spotted Annette in her garden and the same thing happened, but this time
she knows a little English and taught me how to say “Nous apporte le
soleil ici d’Australie’ which means –
for those who don’t understand French – ‘We bought the sun here from Australia’
as apparently the weather had not been good before we got there, chuckle!
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| Annette coming to say 'bonjour!' |
When we got back to Marion and Bill's we had a
long cool drink as it was now quite hot (noon)
In the evening we walked up
the road to some English neighbours for
a roast lamb dinner - and lots of wine! - which was very nice indeed.
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| We spotted this lady hiding in some lavender! |
Sunday – another lovely
sunny day – we went to a boot fair at Capelle, a nearby
village. There was quite a nice lot of stuff there, which we couldn’t buy of
course, as we were travelling with a minimum amount of luggage, chuckle!
We had a quick cuppa when we got back, then
walked up to Claudette and Dominique’s for a BBQ. Claire, Tony, Veronica and
Robert also came and we had another lovely meal of sausages, huge pork chops,
lots of salads etc, cheeses and huge French cakes for desserts. We tried not to
drink too much this time!
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| Yes, that really is a magnum of red wine! |
Next day me
and Mike went for a very long walk (3½ hours!) through the village of
Regnauville and down to the Fond de Val, and back up again! It was longer than
we anticipated and a bit too long for me, but it was very nice and the
weather was perfect.
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| Regnauville |
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| Here we were 'attacked' by 2 little dogs! |
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| Half way - Le Fond de Val (Bottom of the Valley) |
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| A very large brown slug! |
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| Its all uphill now on the way back! |
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| A shrine at the corner of an old property |
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| Keep going Mais, you'll get back home eventually! |
The following afternoon we went to the village Seniors club and
played dominoes which was a right laugh as we can’t speak any French. Marion, Bill, Claudette and Annette
usually play French scrabble, but played dominoes with us instead. We helped
wash up afterwards.
The following morning we all went to Merlimont, which is at the
seaside. It was another lovely morning, but with a nice cool breeze and we sat
on the beach and had our coffee. The tide was right out so the beach was full of
families playing games and there was even a beach bowls competition going on!
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| Merlimont |
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| Beach bowls - yes the bowls did have a bias! |
Me and Mike had a walk along
the beach to look at the sand sail boards, which they were just fetching back
in as the tide was coming in fast.
We had a picnic lunch on the beach of
lovely ham in bocadillos and the rest of the empanada which Mike had made previously and some fruit...........
.....then we
packed up and Marion drove us (on the way back) to Montreuil, which Mike
remembered we’d passed through years ago when travelling via France to Spain on holiday! It’s a lovely old city and while Marion and Bill had a sit down and a rest........
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| Montreuil |
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| We left Marion and Bill on the ramparts... |
...we walked round the ramparts about half way
then picked up a town map from the tourist office and cut back into the old
town to visit the main square and cathedral, and eventually back to where we started.
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| .......while we walked around them |
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| .....while we walked around them |
Views from the ramparts
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| Look at the date - 1664! |
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| The Cathedral |
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| The old hospital/church |
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| The Town Hall (called The Marie) |
We had a lovely coffee and
waffles and cream in ‘Le Pot du Clape’ café. We tried to find out what this name meant. Marion thought it might mean the clay pot, as this was an old area where all the potters used to live. However the owner of the café said he thought it had something to do with a flap on the underground drains which controlled the water flow. Since we came home I looked in the French dictionary and found the word 'clapier' which means rabbit hutch, so if anybody can enlighten me (Cathy? chuckle!) I would be very pleased!
We all went to Hesdin market next day. It’s a good one, very big, with fruit and vegetables, cheeses, meats, fish etc as well as clothes, jewellery,
shoes and other goods. We got all the food stuffs including mussels and prawns for dinner in the evening! Marion and Bill went to have a coffee in Le Richeleau café while we went for another look around. We then joined them for hot
chocolate and Mike had a brandy with his as it was quite a cold, but sunny day.
