Hauts-de-France, 1 August

Another very leisurely start to the day, during which we wandered round the leisure centre and saw where they rented pedalos and ran the Teleski from. There were a bunch of children in tents, and some kind of pods where people could sleep, although I've no idea what they did for sanitation.

We also saw the first ride of the day, some of the children obviously experienced, others less so.

After coffee, we headed to Mers-les-Bains, first of all calling in at the local aire to use the services. It was a privately-run site, and not free, but the very kind man who ran it said not to pay his fees as we weren't stopping, but to go to the Auchan petrol station instead, which would be cheaper.

So we said we would do that, but first decided to wander round the town. Mers-les-Bains is a lovely place - much of it is a conservation area from the Belle Epoch, with the houses decorated in Art Nouveau and Art Deco style.  It isn't very big - we walked most of the length of the beach, and then back through the town, and had a croque-monsieur in a café on the seafront, and an ice cream from the place next door. Then back to the motor home - amazingly, we hadn't had to pay for parking - and I went to the Auchan while the Swan Whisperer dealt with the services.

Then we went for a drive across country, trying to find where the daughter had been on an archaeological dig many years ago - it did not, until too late, occur to either of us to ring her up and ask if she remembered - and finally came to this orchard where we are spending the night. It sells apple juice (too sweet for my taste) and rather nice cider, so we bought a bottle of each.

There is another motor home parked here - the first time we've had company so far this holiday; surprising, really, since it is the height of the high season.