11/10/09

Day 33 – October 11
After a summit meeting last night we decided on a return visit to St Valery en Caux for our last night before Calais, and before Lynn and Irvin carry on to Zeebrugge via Bruges for their return to Hull.
On the way to St Valery today we drove through some lovely little villages. In this area of Normandy there are an enormous number of timber and brick buildings, many thatched, that the French go to great pains to preserve and restore. The fields are also dotted with barns of the same construction which have not been renovated but must have been standing for literally hundreds of years.
The weather has probably been the worst we have had today, except for our soaking at Mont St Michel. That seems a long time ago now. Those days that have started off cloudy or misty have usually cleared quite quickly, and I can honestly say that we have not been bothered by rain at all. Any that we have had has not affected us. Which isn’t bad for this time of year! Autumn is however well and truly under way up here in northern France, and the trees are turning all shades of gold and red and the leaves are falling, as they no doubt are in England.
Being back on the coast today is lovely, despite the weather. We treated ourselves to lunch out at a seafood restaurant and had – yep! – mussels! They were really good, especially washed down with a very acceptable bottle of Muscadet!
We have spent the rest of the afternoon cosily ensconced in the motorhome watching the waves crashing in and chilling generally. Lynn and Irvin were slightly more energetic and went for a walk in the wind and rain and declared it lovely, but we weren’t convinced!