2004, Day Eleven, Peronne

Day eleven 21st June

The Weather was turning cool so we decided to head inland away from the coast but also start to head north so that we do not have too far to drive on the last day. We head for Picardy I want to go to the municipal site in Albert but the others fancy a site in Peronne, it was on a Camping Qualite map we picked up in Houlgate. With it being a Camping Qualite site, they reckon it should be a good site, with pool etc.

The drive should have been simple, back on to the A84 round Caen on to the A13 back over the Seine via the A26 and on to the A29 a little bit on the A28 back on to the A29 round Amiens to Peronne. Now one map we had, it showed that the A29 went all the way to Peronne, another that the motorway was under construction and that we needed to be off the A28 on the E44 to Amiens. We thought we would chance the new road being open, it wasn't, so we stayed on the A28 to Abbeville and back down the A16 to Amiens. This meant that I was running out of diesel and there are no service areas on the A16 so we headed in to Amiens, armed with AutoRoute looking for diesel. The first one isn't open, the next one only takes French credit cards, I ask one nice kind French gent if I can use his card and give him cash, he agrees (another selfless act from a Frenchman) but he is unable to get his card to work, so eventually we have to head to the next station on the map. Luckily this one is open and takes cards or cash (it also sells coke we are very thirsty) but the fuel is a lot more expensive than the French only station.

Once fuelled up, its back to the A29 and onto the N29 via a short hop on the A1 and then on to Peronne along the N17. The site is on the left just before the river Somme as you enter the town.

Péronne
Camping du Port de Plaisance
Route de Paris - 80200 Péronne
Web Site

When we booked In Nicole & Tim enquired about the log cabins for hire and decided to get one rather than bother with the tent. Mick got there tent up on the next pitch to us, the ground was very hard, but they managed.

Then it was important to get the satellite working for the football that night.

With the sat working, me Mick and Tim head off into town to find something for tea, in the main square there is one of those large chip vans that are popular around this part of France (it could just be me but I don't remember seeing them in other parts of France), we got various meals all with chips to take back.

It got very cold as we sat outside watching England beat Croatia 4 - 2 but that was us through to the next round and another game on the 24th. It was the coldest I have been in all my travels in France, between the months of June and September and it was wet.

Day ten or Day twelve