Just photos – no particular theme
A pleasant mid-evening wander at The Yeld, on the western slopes of Brown Clee. The thunderstorms and torrential rain we’d had during the morning had passed – up here there was little sign of bad weather. I suppose the sheep did seem cleaner and whiter than usual…
It was the Brownhills Canal Festival 2012 today – a pleasant way to pass an hour or so. We thought the deep-sea diver was rather good – not just a clever generator of double takes, he actually could sing and play the (?) mandolin rather well.
http://brownhillscanalfestival.wordpress.com/
A great spotted woodpecker decided to grace our garden with his presence earlier this evening – spent long enough on the nuts for me to get out the video camera and tripod. Filmed through the kitchen window…
Perhaps Sunday might be a bit better? It wasn’t. There was some dry weather around – but also some very heavy showers. Driving north on Blakey Ridge, the road was dry, and there was a hint of sunshine – but down to our left, Farndale was getting a bit of a shower. We drove into it a mile or two further on, though it dried up sufficiently to let us get into the tea room in Rosedale Abbey a little while later…
We were staying in Yorkshire over the weekend – trying to avoid the showers (and later, the flooded roads) – not easy. A visit to Bempton, to view the seabirds, seemed like a good idea, though I had left the longer lenses at home. Not that it mattered too much – the birds are, in places, very close. I think they’re used to having their pictures taken. Bempton is home to Britain’s largest mainland colony of gannets, apparently, with thousands of pairs nesting precariously on the vertical chalk cliffs (along with various gulls, guillemots, puffins et al.)
See http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/b/bemptoncliffs for more.
Saturday 26th May:
The return journey soon comes around. We left ourselves with plenty of time for our ferry – so much so, that on arrival at Calais, we were put on the previous sailing. It’s only too easy to forget how busy and unpleasant are our roads in the UK, after a week of driving in France. Warnings of congestion on the M25 around Heathrow led us to choose the anticlockwise route and the M1 – M6. After the week’s highlights, the low point was obvious – beneath the Thames in the Dartford Tunnel…
Friday 25th May: A quieter day (to end with a trip to the local Intermarché, for one or two goodies to take home – cheese, wine, cidre – and a tankful of diesel, same price in €s as in £s at home). Not forgetting our last look at the Baie de Somme railway – succeeding, this time, in getting that pool in the foreground.
North of the Somme estuary lie many miles of sandy beaches, backed by high dunes. Nearest point of access (apart from a lengthy walk through the dunes to the sea, too far for such a hot day) was at Quend Plage. A walk for mile or two along the shore was sufficient (not being sunbathers ourselves, and we’re trying not to see the over-exposed bathers, who really would have been well-advised to cover up, for all imaginable reasons). “There ought to be a path back along the dunes, or perhaps just behind them”. There wasn’t. There were deer, but they ran away too quickly for the camera. There were paths, but they didn’t go where we wanted to, and away from the sand, a near-impenetrable scrub meant we had a hot and uncomfortable struggle back to the car…
Wednesday 23rd May: Another look at the coast. Before lunch, a trip to Noyelles (again), then perhaps a shot where the line comes close to the road, on the run to Saint Valery. The train got there more quickly than anticipated – so sheep provide the foreground interest that should have been a pool. Another day perhaps.
After lunch, we drove to Le Treport, parking on the Terrasse and taking the cliff railway down to the shore, then drove back up the coast to Le Hourdel to explore the shingle spit at the mouth of the Somme estuary.
A fine evening followed – for an exploration of Saint Valery, walking from the quay to explore the medieval quarter.
Tuesday 22nd May: A grey start… Firstly a quick pre-lunch visit to the CFBS at Noyelles-sur-Mer, junction with the SNCF main line. After lunch, we drove inland to Naours, to visit its Cité Souterraine. The underground passages and caverns here, hollowed out over many centuries, are extensive and amazing – well worth a visit
Our return journey took us through the village of Saint-Riquier, whose abbey church, described as “flamboyant Gothic”, is certainly eye-catching. (The bread and cakes from the baker’s shop were pretty good too). The day’s cloud was starting to break as well…
By the time we’d eaten the cakes, it was a fine sunny evening – time for some local exploration beside the Somme. Sadly, all the tall trees lining the river bank (clearly visible on Google street level) have been replaced by young saplings…
Monday 21st May: Cool and windy – just how cool we found when we braved the shingle beach near Le Hourdel – for all of three minutes.
We’d started the day with another look at the CF Baie de Somme – No. 1 “Aisne”, in attractive red livery, making a fine sight on the quayside at Saint Valery. After lunch, we would explore the coast – not staying long at Le Hourdel, then checking out the amazing lines of beach huts at Cayeux-sur-Mer (just along from Brighton Plage…)
We paused briefly at Ault – perhaps come again when it’s a bit warmer? – then on to Mers-les-Bains, and the wonderful belle epoque seafront buildings. Lastly, the short journey inland (it seemed longer, stuck behind the road train…) to the small and historic town of Eu.
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