It was a misty, rainy morning that Friday 21st.  We woke to see that the pregnant Shetland Pony mare that Hubert had pointed out to us had delivered her foal overnight.  Very cute!  We had a pretty big day of driving ahead so we didn’t stick around long.  We had another great breakfast though, and a bit of a yarn with Norbert before we left. Nice blokes, the two brothers.  Then we pointed the machine in the direction of Calais and pressed the accelerator. It wasn’t a bad drive, though it was pretty rainy.  

We got to Calais about lunch time and got out and had a bit of a wander around, but it was so cold and nasty we decided not to stay long and continued on towards Sanctuary Wood, the WW1 museum which has actual trenches remaining from that war, they say.  They looked pretty authentic to us but who really knows?  The place was really quite disappointing actually, particularly since it cost €10 each to get in. They had an awful lot of old guns, helmets, uniforms, shells and various WW1 bricabrac, but it was all so badly preserved and displayed in such a haphazard, amateurish way that we actually thought it was a disgrace. It was sad.  I’ve never seen a more run-down, ill-maintained ‘museum’. The current owners are obviously just taking the money and not putting anything back into the business, nor fulfilling their obligations as custodians of those relics, which are in a way sacred, when you consider how many lives that war cost. Most of the display cases looked almost as old as the things they were displaying. It was dirty and very shabby. And it’s not like they weren’t getting people through.  When we got there there must have been three busloads of high-school students going through the place. We had a quick look through and left.  The memorial up the street was much more impressive.

So we pressed on towards Brugge, our final destination for the day. The weather had cleared a fair bit by the time we got to our hotel, a beautiful boutique place known as one of the best in Brugge, The Pand. It didn’t disappoint.  We had a great room too, overlooking the rooves of Brugge towards the spires and towers of the centre, just a few hundred metres away.  The manager was very helpful, and sent her assistant out with us to direct us to the car park. After coming back and settling in, we went downstairs to have a coffee in the lounge area in the lobby.  They brought us a tray with some delicious bikkies and such on it.  Then we went out to explore around and about.  

We had a wander over to the main square, where there were a lot of temporary structures relating to a local triathlon that was due to take place the next day, Saturday. Lots of bunting and banners. You still got a good idea of the place though so that was fine.  The architecture was stunning. After a while strolling around, we decided on a restaurant in the main square to have dinner at, De Beurze Restaurant, appropriately.  Jen had mussels and frittes, following her fine tradition of eating the local specialty. I’m not a mussel fan so I had some muscle from a steer, better known as steak.  They had a delicious and remarkable beer, Zot, whose head just wouldn’t quit. It just kept on rising and rising!  It was a very nice evening and it was fun looking out over the square. It was still light as we left the restaurant and began to make our way back to the hotel.  We took some photos of the view from the room from the hotel, as it looked so good in the dusk, and then turned in after a biggish day.

Calais    Sanctuary Wood      Brugge