September 2018 – Montreuil-Sur-Mer

Mid-way through September we headed to France and the walled town of Montreuil-Sur-Mer for five nights. We managed to get an early ferry and after a picnic lunch en route from Calais, we arrived in Montreuil around 2 pm.  We decided to walk the ramparts twice which took 70 minutes and justified our stop at Les Hauts du Montreuil for a Kir Royal for Annie and a glass of wine for Gerry. Walking the ramparts at the end of the afternoon and enjoying a drink before returning to the hotel was a ritual!

In the evening we ate at Gerry’s favourite Restaurant – Le Darnetal. We were not disappointed and enjoyed wonderful food and wines.

The next morning we awoke to brilliant weather which stayed with us for our whole stay.

We spent the mornings on each of the next three days walking in the local area. We had done some of the walks before and thoroughly enjoyed the tranquillity, the scenery and a very beautiful church at Beaumerie Saint Martin.

Each day we covered a total of about 8 miles and justified our wonderful lunches at Berck-Plage.

When we visited Montreuil earlier in the year, the weather was pretty foul and we found a restaurant on the front at Berck-Plage that was not only open but provided us with a really pleasant meal.  We therefore had no hesitation in returning and were not disappointed.

Berck-Plage was quite busy although the beach was deserted apart from some land yachters and a few people walking. The picture below shows some wonderful beach huts and if you look carefully you can see one seagull and also some people right at the water’s edge.

The morning of our final full day was spent in the town of Hesdin .  There was a large market filling several streets. We certainly enjoyed walking around – the sight of the fruit and veg and the smells from the food stalls were delightful! -the other stalls were also interesting to meander around.

We decided to have lunch in a restaurant called L’Ecurie. I mention it because if you ever want to eat in Hesdin it is well worth a visit.  The food (especially the vegetables), ambience and wine were outstanding.

We returned to Montreuil and enjoyed our customary walk around the ramparts.

Unfortunately, we had to return home the next morning. Despite it being Friday we had a great journey back including an earlier ferry than expected and a relatively free run around the M25.  What a brilliant few days.