We went to France last Friday – it was a lovely day! This photo is taken from Cap Gris Nez, the closest point to England. We couldn’t see England, but it’s out there, somewhere beyond the horizon…
Look at the sea.. no wonder the coast along this part of France is called ‘Côte D’Opale’ – the Opal Coast. So beautiful!
By the way, if you live in the South east of England, you should consider using your Tesco points to go to France for the day! We live about an hour’s drive from Folkstone where you get on the car train to Calais. We get up early to catch a 7:30-ish train which means we’re in France around 9.00 – the trip only takes 35 minutes but France is an hour ahead of England, you know.
Anyway, to exchange your clubcard points, go to the EuroTunnel page on the clubcard website and follow the instructions. You get 3 times the worth of the vouchers, so if you have £10 clubcard vouchers, you get £30 to spend on the train ticket. (Correct information at the time of posting in July 2011…) Check the EuroTunnel website for the prices and stuff.
Tony figured out this clubcard swap last year but I was a bit hesitant to go…I was really nervous the first time we took the train under the Channel, but I’m so glad I conquered that fear (driving under that much water is just wrong!), because we’ve had some lovely days in France and Belgium since…
We did a bit of tourist-y sightseeing too.. went to see La Coupole in St Omer. This was a bunker complex built by the Germans during WWII. It was going to be a base for launching V2 rockets against London and the south of England. But it was never used because the English bombed it extensively so it was never finished. It’s an impressive structure nonetheless. That dome is pretty darn big.
To enter it you have to go through a tunnel into the hill side… which kinda freaked me out. I was happy when we were out of the tunnel, I can tell you that! Some of the exhibitions at La Coupole are quite upsetting, dealing with the slave labour of WWII… Important, but upsetting.