Great day out with your MG? Post up a picture ?

[securespark]

The horse on the hill as we approach the train.

Driving on the train...a really weird feeling!

The maker's details.

And I can't quite fathom it (excuse the pun), but I have 4G reception in this train inside a concrete and steel tube under the sea...!

Now I've looked it up, it uses DAS (Distributed Antenna System).

It's a bit of an odd feeling. Like being on a train, with the joltiness, but instead of sitting in train seats, you're sitting in the car seats. And when you look out of the window, it's pitch black!

 

[Everest]

It's not that new - the train or mobile coverage in tunnels - you can enjoy it in the Dartford tunnel on your return too

Where are you heading to, or do we keep guessing?

 

[securespark]

Currently on the A16 heading to Dunkirk then onto Ypres and Lille.
Want to look at some of the beaches and war graves.

Mrs S lived and worked in Lille 40 years ago so is keen to go back.

Then our eldest is running in the Paris marathon on Sunday and we will take a TGV in to try and catch him in action.

 

[Rolfe]

I remember going to Bayreuth that way with my mother in the car, the year there was the almost-complete eclipse of the sun visible from England. (I remember that because my departure time had to be co-ordinated with a colleague who was desperate to go to Cornwall to see the eclipse. Then he had clouds, while those of us who stayed at work in Sussex got a perfectly clear sky to see a very nearly total eclipse.)

 

[Gomev]

I remember going to Bayreuth that way with my mother in the car, the year there was the almost-complete eclipse of the sun visible from England. (I remember that because my departure time had to be co-ordinated with a colleague who was desperate to go to Cornwall to see the eclipse. Then he had clouds, while those of us who stayed at work in Sussex got a perfectly clear sky to see a very nearly total eclipse.)

Total solar eclipses or even nearly total are so rare. They do come in batches though and there is one this year crossing Europe and again next year. As mentioned previously I have booked an ordinary package holiday for next year's in Spain.

Currently on the A16 heading to Dunkirk then onto Ypres and Lille.
Want to look at some of the beaches and war graves.

Mrs S lived and worked in Lille 40 years ago so is keen to go back.

Then our eldest is running in the Paris marathon on Sunday and we will take a TGV in to try and catch him in action.

Enjoy your trip and may the force of Electroverse, Tesla and Ionity be with you

 

[securespark]

Dunno what happened here ...

 

[MG Clive]

Dunno what happened here ...

?

 

[securespark]

Senior moment. I was on the move in Belgium and I could see that I had a double post, so I deleted it and left that perplexed comment!

 

[securespark]

Enjoy your trip and may the force of Electroverse, Tesla and Ionity be with you

Thank you!

Mrs S does not like Tesla...

I said we'd be glad of them if we were desperate to top up.

She said she'd rather run out...

 

[Rolfe]

Oh dear....

 

[securespark]

Anyway...moving on from our little disagreement...


We rolled off the train and made our way to Dunkirk, where we took a bus and had a wander round. Refreshing to find the parking was free. It was, in effect, PaR, although there was no signage or directions to explain that.

This struck me as a fantastic bit of engineering.

A huge frame of steel beams to hold the facade in place and to hold that in place, a massive pile of oversized Lego made of concrete!

Then we had lunch. Mrs S had a Carbonade Flamande. It was neither burnt nor in flames, but a Flemish beef stew and very good apparently.

I had this goats cheese on toast salad. On the menu, it had lardons too, but she omitted those for me. It was very tasty, a variety of letti, with tomatoes, dressing and crushed walnuts.

Statues in squares.

Flags on the seafront at Dunkirk.

 

[salty]

Great pics.

 

[securespark]

Next, we went to Tyne Cot cemetery, just outside Ypres, or Wipers, as the troops used to call it.

It is overwhelming.

From the visitor centre, cart used for the exhumation of bodies.

The entrance gate.

We then went to Ypres, where we parked the car in the main square right in the centre (really cheap) and went to the Menin Gate to observe the Last Post. This ceremony has been performed every day since 1929, apart from during WWII, when the Germans put a stop to it.

It was extremely moving and by the time it was over, I had a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes.

His Lordship in Grote Markt (Big Marketplace).

 

[securespark]

One last one from Ypres. The Cloth hall, dating from the 13th century.
Taken just as the sun started setting and the lighting came on.

 

[securespark]

We are now in Lille in the Worst Western Hotel. Actually, it's not bad!

Bit of a nightmare getting there last night as the route was blocked by roadworks and neither His Lordship or Google Maps knew how to get round it. They both tried to reroute us back to the same spot...

But eventually we worked it out.

It's bad enough in the UK, but in a French city you've never been to and in the dark, too. Even the locals were confused!

Edit, Mrs S has been here before, but left in 1986.

 

[securespark]

On Saturday, we went to Brussels.

The Mannekin Pis. I said to Mrs S "I always thought it was much bigger...", meaning the whole statue. A couple of blokes in the crowd laughed and I realised what I'd said.

A bit of Tintin. There's quite a few dotted around the centre.

And who can resist a Smurf?

And another Grote Markt.
Almost every town has one (or Grand Place in France).

Think the building on this side of the square is the Town Hall and there was a wedding celebration going on.

Yesterday we took a TGV from Lille to Paris to watch our eldest run in the marathon. When we got the tickets, the lady asked us if we wanted first class. An extra €4, she said. So we upgraded.

The seats in first are in a 2/1 configuration where there are 2 on one side of the aisle and one on the other, rather than 2/2 in 2nd, so you have more room. The seats are wider and plusher.
Bit of a novelty having a downstairs and an upstairs on the train too. We didn't have to climb the stairs.

Couldn't believe how lightning fast the wi-fi on board was. I downloaded a speedometer app to check the train speed and it was downloaded literally in a split second.
Talking of speed, the maximum we hit was 192mph.

Not the fastest TGV in history but a good bit better than the retired Intercity 125...not that I ever remember them going full whack.

It meant the journey back took a little over an hour. The journey there took longer as it stopped at Arras. I would have loved to stop there, due to its links with WWI and network of tunnels dug by New Zealanders, but maybe another time.

As an aside, some of the retired 125s ended up in Southern Mexico!

We arrived in good time to meet number one son at the start line, but underestimated how busy the Metro was going to be.

However, this was not helped by the exit we were heading for being slap bang next to a main line where a train was waiting so there were people queuing to get out of the Metro to street level, people coming into the Metro from street level, people coming in from street level for the train and people coming from the Metro wanting to get on the train. All converging at a point not designed for that much traffic.

Anyhow, we got to the start line a little late. His time group had just set off.

After a bit of sightseeing, we went to the Petit Palais for lunch. Petit Palais, Grand Prix! Never mind, the view from our table was lovely.

Then we went to the nearest point from the start line that was actually the 28-29K point.

We had a tracker on our phones, letting us know where he was, and where we were.

Sadly, I think the tracker was off-kilter, as we missed him at this point, but managed to catch up with him with about 4 Km to go and then again at the end.

He says he doesn't want to do another but his US cousins are trying to tempt him into the NY half.

 

[securespark]

Yesterday was just a lazy day looking round bits of old Lille and the Citadel. On the way to the Citadel, we saw this. Not sure who put it there or why, but it made us smile!

This is the river canal that surrounds the land in the centre of which is the citadel. There are lots of cafe boats on there.

This is the nearest I could get to the Citadel, camera-wise.
Two soldiers told me there was no way I could take photographs of anything to do with the citadel.
Which is odd, because I took this photo with the citadel in the background.
Shrug...

An old pub (we thought), in old Lille, with one of those wonderful old faded shop signs.

 

[Rolfe]

That is weird. Great pics though. Brussels was the first "abroad" place I went to with my very first passport, as a PhD student attending an international conference. It was amazing. I remember most of these sights. It was 1979 I think.

 

[MG Clive]

I love the Tintin painting, I'd like to see more plain buildings painted with stuff like that.

 

[securespark]

Our last day yesterday. We were up at 07.00 (06.00 UK time), and left Lille at 08.00.

As we got closer to Calais, we saw more and more car transporters, mostly Renault. Most of them were carrying RHD Scenic, one was carrying a whole load of aubergine coloured 4s, but I couldn't see if they were R or LHD.
Is aubergine a UK colour on the 4?

We got there in great time and topped up a bit. Oddly, it was from 43% to 81%, exactly the same figures as we topped up from and to the day before. We were able to pick a train one hour ahead of our chosen one, but as it happened, there was a hold up in douane....and we lost that train, getting the next one. Still, we had the thrill of the car being drug wiped by the Police Nationale!

Thankfully, he said, "La rouge, c'est bon."
Quite amusing because the geezer wiped the steering wheel and the top of the door card on the driver's door, but nothing on my side, so he obviously thought Mrs S looked guilty as sin and I was sweet and innocent!

But thinking about it now, maybe he just assumed we were both drivers...

Getting on the train, with the original EuroTunnel logo.

Sadly this shot is OOF, but this is at the Morrisons/ Gregs shop after you get off the train. It says car parking only, no HGV. Wheelclamps are in use.
Woe betide any poor camion driver who parks there in error not speaking (nay reading) the lingo very well.

Welcome to the UK!
And it just reminded me with a heavy heart that we were back in the land of companies armed to the teeth with Denver Boots.

We stopped at Toddington to top up using Gridserve.

Couldn't get it to work for love or money. The card reader said starting, but His Lordship said Quack Quack Oops!

Rang GS, who didn't really know what the issue was, but said a remote reset would sort it out.

Someone using the other lead on the same machine as ours asked if we were having trouble, as hers didn't work, so we told her we were waiting a few minutes for a remote reset.

A couple of minutes later, we're still on hold with GS and the lady next door is plugging back in telling us it's working fine.

We decided to wait so we could talk to the person at GS.
So she comes back, says it's fine, we run through the procedure she recommends, including (get this) holding the plug firmly into the charging socket on the car...

But it still failed.

By this time Mrs S is pis, I mean rather annoyed. So, still on the phone to the (un)help(ful)line, we reversed into a recently vacated bay. That didn't work either. By this time, we were thinking the problem was with the car, not the charging unit. After all, the lady next to us charged OK after the reset and GS said the person who was in the bay we reversed into charged OK too.

Before we gave up altogether on Gridserve (which we had previously had no issues with whatsoever), we tried a third machine.

Plugged in, tapped, charging.
Halle-flipping-lujah!

On our way again after an M&S lunch.

Total home journey time 10 hours.

Total mileage 740, or 1191 Km.