The day after La Ronde we got going at a decent time, along with several of the other campervans around us. We headed south, and hoped to find an open supermarket along the way. Alas, it was Easter Monday and all of the stores and businesses in Belgium were closed.
We did find an open boulangerie and when I went in I got quite excited – it was a full supermarket – except they didn’t carry wine! Bummer! But at least we had fresh bread for lunch.
We passed the border into France and encountered the same thing, at least at first. Then when we were passing through a couple of the towns we saw that the Lidl and Aldi stores had cars in their parking lots – success!
We stopped first at the aire in Crespin but what we needed most wasn’t working – the water tap to fill up with was out of order.
We continued on to the town of Bavay, which had a lovely aire with everything we needed in working order. It was both beautiful and quiet and I took Max for a nice walk in the late afternoon.
As we were in no hurry to get anywhere else we stayed the day, taking a leisurely walk around the town. It happens to have the largest Roman forum yet discovered in France.
We walked around a bit before being told that dogs weren’t allowed, so we continued on looking for a cafe for a coffee/drink.
The only cafe we saw had no tables outside that were in the sun so we retreated back to the campervan and made our own beverages. We then enjoyed another delicious roasted duck thigh with potatoes and carrot for lunch – it might even have been better than my first try was.
The next morning we headed a very short ways north to a proper campground in the village of Bellignies, but once again were thwarted in our efforts to find an open cafe/bar.
There was a nice looking restaurant, but it wasn’t open on Wednesdays – there was a menu on a chalkboard outside that sounded very good, but the place was all locked up.
Once again we went back to the campervan and ended up having fried eggs and toast for lunch. It’s very lovely weather finally, and I actually got my shorts on for the first time. Windows and vents in the campervan are all open and we’re really enjoying the sunshine and warmth.
Well…Trump hasn’t destroyed the world yet, but he’s doing his best! Why isn’t anyone saying no or stopping him? I try not to get too upset about things I can’t control…but good lord he is making the US a third world country and I still wonder what Putin has on him – something big. Or as Trump himself would say ‘the biggest thing in the history of the universe’. And if they are going to reinstate the military draft I wonder how many of his children will get drafted – or do they all have ‘bone spurs’ like he did? I will quote my sister here as I agree with every word: he is a ‘corrupt despicable morally bankrupt fat orange fuck’.
Anyway, it is another beautiful day here in northern France and we’ve stocked up at Lidls in preparation for the next three or four days. I looked up my photos from 2019 and we know exactly where we were then for Paris-Roubaix – here we come!
Sally McKenzie's European Adventures 