France; Coast & Country
The summer is here and what a perfect place to spend it in a sunny France dipping our toes in the cool sea water .
A fantastic morning was had at the Sea Life centre in
Boulogne. Inside the underwater world we spotted a variety of brightly coloured
fish, luminous looking jelly fish and other sea creatures. We sat and
watched a 3D interactive show where we all had to wear headsets to enable us to
view it. We learned about turtles, dolphins and the whale shark.
Our excited group headed to Le Crotoy for a trip on the steam railway. First, we had a wander round the pretty little town right on the river where there were plenty of shops to pop in and out of. More gifts and postcards were bought before it was time for our ride.
After our picnic lunch we took our seats on the old fashioned carriages and set off through the picturesque French countryside and into the Bay of Valery. During our journey
we passed several other steam locomotives with passengers on board who we waved
and smiled to them.
In the lovely village we were staying in it had its own chocolate factory. As we approached the factory, we could smell
the chocolate! We had a tour booked where we were told all about the cocoa tree
farm, showed pictures of what the growing pods looked like on the trees and how
the beans were prepared once picked for shipping to the factory in large sacks. We watched in fascination as each stage of the
chocolate were made...and of course we enjoyed the samples they offered us
which were delicious. As we left we couldn't resist buying gifts to take home. There were so many delicious things
to choose from.
An adventure on the Rando Railway was enjoyed which none of
us had done before. We were told we would have
to cycle the open carriage to power it. Two of us had to pedal and man the brakes
and one to sit and just relax! Fortunately, we had battery backup for the
return journey. We set off in stages, one leading one in the middle and one
carriage bringing up the rear. It was such fun whizzing along down a small
gradient. We soon reached the end of the track where we had to turn the
machines round and head off back. We all agreed it was great fun!
Today we headed for a town called Ètaples. Our first stop was at the incredible market which sold everything
from clothes, jewellery, bags to fruit and vegetables. We spent a long time
wandering, all buying some last-minute gifts. This
afternoon we had organised a boat trip along the estuary as the tide had come
in. There was lots
of wildlife for us to spot along the riverbanks. At the mouth of the estuary
there was a sand bank with seals on it. The captain took us as close as he
could so that we could see them. There were even some in the water.
No comments:
Post a Comment