Where's Bertie? He's at an Aire on the edge of the seaside town of Mers-les-Bains. It costs €7.70 to stay here including electricity and waste. Water is available for an extra charge. (Exact location: 50.06151, 1.40162)
Weather: Grey with the cloud base sitting not far above us (indeed, we drove into it on the way here). Today's top temperature: 3 degrees.
A final run along the ex-railway line at Neufchâtel, a visit to the now-restocked Lidl, then a 40km journey northwards. All of that took us up to 1pm.
There's a whole selection of Aires in the neigbouring seaside towns of Le Tréport and Mers-les-Bains and slightly inland at Eu-le-Tréport, and we thought we would start with the cheapest one that has electricity* included in the price. That has brought us to a place that has a bit of an organised-wasteland look to it, situated in an industrial estate. Aesthetically, it's not the most appealing place we've ever stayed:
The view out of Bertie's windscreen is of a wall made of concrete panels, beyond which are industrial units. I'm sure it looks a little more appealing when it's busier in summer.
We're exactly a mile from the sea, so it was an easy enough walk down to the promenade this afternoon, past the location where (what looks like) a Christmas market is just being set up.
As we popped out onto the prom, I remarked on the similarity with Aberystwyth. Okay, so there are some quite noticeable differences too, but the row of tall terraces, the wide prom and the hill beyond very much put me in mind of Aber.
The buildings are a bit less uniform than we're used to seeing in British Victorian seaside resorts, although the history here is the same (along came the railway, along came holidaymakers and thus development):
A rich variety of styles and colour
(*The circuit breakers are marked as 4A - the lowest we've ever come across - but I've managed to run the kettle (marked as 1080W) without tripping it. Fortunately, our fan heater has a 750W setting, which doesn't chuck out an awful lot of heat, but it will still save us some use of the gas heating. I wonder how long it'll be before I forget to turn off the heater before turning on the kettle or hob?)
(Fuel tax protests update: There are still plenty of yellow vests on display on dashboards, but we didn't encounter any blockades today. From all the fire-blackened spots around the main roundabout at the edge of Mers-les-Bains, there was a substantial protest there last weekend.)
Weather: Grey with the cloud base sitting not far above us (indeed, we drove into it on the way here). Today's top temperature: 3 degrees.
A final run along the ex-railway line at Neufchâtel, a visit to the now-restocked Lidl, then a 40km journey northwards. All of that took us up to 1pm.
There's a whole selection of Aires in the neigbouring seaside towns of Le Tréport and Mers-les-Bains and slightly inland at Eu-le-Tréport, and we thought we would start with the cheapest one that has electricity* included in the price. That has brought us to a place that has a bit of an organised-wasteland look to it, situated in an industrial estate. Aesthetically, it's not the most appealing place we've ever stayed:
The view out of Bertie's windscreen is of a wall made of concrete panels, beyond which are industrial units. I'm sure it looks a little more appealing when it's busier in summer.
We're exactly a mile from the sea, so it was an easy enough walk down to the promenade this afternoon, past the location where (what looks like) a Christmas market is just being set up.
As we popped out onto the prom, I remarked on the similarity with Aberystwyth. Okay, so there are some quite noticeable differences too, but the row of tall terraces, the wide prom and the hill beyond very much put me in mind of Aber.
The buildings are a bit less uniform than we're used to seeing in British Victorian seaside resorts, although the history here is the same (along came the railway, along came holidaymakers and thus development):
A rich variety of styles and colour
(*The circuit breakers are marked as 4A - the lowest we've ever come across - but I've managed to run the kettle (marked as 1080W) without tripping it. Fortunately, our fan heater has a 750W setting, which doesn't chuck out an awful lot of heat, but it will still save us some use of the gas heating. I wonder how long it'll be before I forget to turn off the heater before turning on the kettle or hob?)
(Fuel tax protests update: There are still plenty of yellow vests on display on dashboards, but we didn't encounter any blockades today. From all the fire-blackened spots around the main roundabout at the edge of Mers-les-Bains, there was a substantial protest there last weekend.)
Those tall terraced houses are lovely. Thank you for the updates.
ReplyDeleteThey certainly are eyecatching, and whilst there are a few that are a bit shabby, they are (according to an information sign) coming back into fashion and thus many are now being done up.
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