Day 20 Monday, April 29th Nieuwpoort, Belgium to Shenfield UK

 It was a lovely sunny, warm morning as we awoke and went to breakfast in the Dunes Hotel, Nieuwpoort.  We took advantage of the usual sumptuous breakfast.  We managed to drag ourselves away from all the wonderful food and returned to our rooms to complete the final packing before checking out and beginning our journey back to the UK.  We left the hotel and headed towards the tunnel but because we were not due on a train until early evening Ian had looked up some 

sheep and Bergues wall

suitable stops.  The first one was in France - the small town of Bergues  - with it's city walls and traditional feel.  We parked just outside the walls where some sheep were grazing and walked towards the centre passed the old cattle market.  We had a quick

Bergues belltower

 walk around the modern market being held in the town square and listened to the bells from the belltower (you couldn't avoid them!).  We found a cafe and enjoyed some refreshment.  

remains of abbey

After this we made our way to the remains of the abbey which dominated the town.  The original abbey was destroyed after the French revolution but some parts obviously remain.  We walked around the site and marvelled at the construction before wandering back to the car.  We then set off towards Calais and Ian drove until a patisserie was spied as we approached it. We stopped and Ian went to purchase essential 

tourists!

more tourists!

WW2 remains

supplies. We carried on through the town until we reached a car park behind the beach to the south of Calais.  We parked and decided to walk along the beach.  The tide was out and the sand was fine so we enjoyed quite a walk along the beach.  We passed some of the Atlantic wall from WW2 which was gradually falling into the sea.  After a fine walk we went back to the car and drove to the Cite d'Europe where found a restaurant for a meal. Fully fuelled we went to Eurotunnel and we arranged to get on an earlier train and waited for our time.

A smooth journey through the tunnel and we were back driving on the left hand side.  An hour or so later we arrived at Ian and Ruth's home.  We settled in and enjoyed even more chatting before it came to bed time.