Where's Bertie? He's unmoved at the Aire at Wissant.
Weather: Mainly sunny, with just a few light passing showers. Windy.
The rain that came last evening was heavy and went on into the night. Per the forecast, the wind peaked at around midnight (50mph said the forecast and I certainly got disturbed by a few mighty gusts), and the rain finally gave way to showers. We woke this morning to blue sky above us, at least until the next shower came through.
Often (although not always) we have used Wissant as just a convenient night stop. With no driving to be done today we were able to do more than just sleep here, so just before 9am we headed out to do a 13.5km circuit that would take us north across country towards Cap Blanc Nez (sibling of Cap Gris Nez, which sits to the south of us), before returning along the cliffs then the beach.
The outward leg was good, but we'd come to appreciate how strong the wind was and that it was coming from behind. We approached the coast (where we were to turn back south) with trepidation, knowing what was to come.
Outward leg
It was brutal! It was an effort even to run the downhills along the top of the cliffs. When we got to the beach* the sand was perfectly firm, but the wind often had us battling forward at a walk. It was a relief to finally reach Wissant and be able to turn away from the wind, and into the shelter of the roads.
The return leg
Back at Bertie, by the time the water heater had done its job, we'd showered and dried down the shower, it wasn't long before we were heading out again to hit opening time at Chez Nicole Café. It's not a venue with an extensive menu. The choices are: moules frites Oú jambon et frites. That's it.
We've been there before, and our selection was the same as last time.
Before (nearly) and after
A minor side trip followed, to buy some bread for teatime (lunch out = excuse not to have a cooked tea), then back to Bertie for the rest of the day.
I took the opportunity to knit the last few rows, and graft the toes, of another pair of socks for Mick. When I made him the first pair earlier in this trip, I accidentally mismatched them - everywhere with mottled light grey on one sock was mottled dark grey on the other. So, I made a second pair with the exact same 'flaw', giving him two perfectly matching pairs. Of course, when he comes to pick two socks from his sock drawer, he won't notice the subtle difference, and it will be pot luck whether he wears a matching pair or not (and there's not a chance that anyone other than me will look closely enough to notice), but at least I can be happy knowing that I've provided him with two matching pairs.
Now, do I cast on something else, or wait until we get home, where I have a jumper that is about 98% complete? (Thinking about it, the only reason I didn't bring that with me to finish off was because it seemed a waste of space and weight to carry around a jumper for 2 months that I was going to finish within days and wouldn't need to wear in Spain. As it turned out, it's been so cool, I probably would have got plenty of wear out of it.)
(*This route isn't possible at high tide, and we certainly wouldn't have been able to do it when we first arrived yesterday. Fortunately, low tide this morning was at a perfect time for our purposes.)
Weather: Mainly sunny, with just a few light passing showers. Windy.
The rain that came last evening was heavy and went on into the night. Per the forecast, the wind peaked at around midnight (50mph said the forecast and I certainly got disturbed by a few mighty gusts), and the rain finally gave way to showers. We woke this morning to blue sky above us, at least until the next shower came through.
Often (although not always) we have used Wissant as just a convenient night stop. With no driving to be done today we were able to do more than just sleep here, so just before 9am we headed out to do a 13.5km circuit that would take us north across country towards Cap Blanc Nez (sibling of Cap Gris Nez, which sits to the south of us), before returning along the cliffs then the beach.
The outward leg was good, but we'd come to appreciate how strong the wind was and that it was coming from behind. We approached the coast (where we were to turn back south) with trepidation, knowing what was to come.
It was brutal! It was an effort even to run the downhills along the top of the cliffs. When we got to the beach* the sand was perfectly firm, but the wind often had us battling forward at a walk. It was a relief to finally reach Wissant and be able to turn away from the wind, and into the shelter of the roads.
Back at Bertie, by the time the water heater had done its job, we'd showered and dried down the shower, it wasn't long before we were heading out again to hit opening time at Chez Nicole Café. It's not a venue with an extensive menu. The choices are: moules frites Oú jambon et frites. That's it.
We've been there before, and our selection was the same as last time.
A minor side trip followed, to buy some bread for teatime (lunch out = excuse not to have a cooked tea), then back to Bertie for the rest of the day.
I took the opportunity to knit the last few rows, and graft the toes, of another pair of socks for Mick. When I made him the first pair earlier in this trip, I accidentally mismatched them - everywhere with mottled light grey on one sock was mottled dark grey on the other. So, I made a second pair with the exact same 'flaw', giving him two perfectly matching pairs. Of course, when he comes to pick two socks from his sock drawer, he won't notice the subtle difference, and it will be pot luck whether he wears a matching pair or not (and there's not a chance that anyone other than me will look closely enough to notice), but at least I can be happy knowing that I've provided him with two matching pairs.
Now, do I cast on something else, or wait until we get home, where I have a jumper that is about 98% complete? (Thinking about it, the only reason I didn't bring that with me to finish off was because it seemed a waste of space and weight to carry around a jumper for 2 months that I was going to finish within days and wouldn't need to wear in Spain. As it turned out, it's been so cool, I probably would have got plenty of wear out of it.)
(*This route isn't possible at high tide, and we certainly wouldn't have been able to do it when we first arrived yesterday. Fortunately, low tide this morning was at a perfect time for our purposes.)
Not sure if you are coming back in the next couple of days but don't forget British Summer Time this weekend. We too had gale force wind during last bight (Saturday) as I was snuggled down under a newly purchased duvet.
ReplyDeleteBritish Summer Time was part of the reason why we came back this weekend. More than once we've come back the weekend before the clocks change, meaning that we've just got back onto UK time and we need to adjust back to being an hour ahead. This time there was no adjustment to be made.
DeleteI hadn't checked the forecast for our last night in France so hadn't expected the big gusts that kept waking me up. Glad we weren't coming back by ferry!