Friday 13 October 2017

A day in France

Having arrived at the last day of our little holiday, we decided to spend it abroad!

This isn't as big a deal as it sounds, though, as the French border is a mere 6 kilometers from where we were staying.

The aim of our visit was Cassel, a litle town perched on a hilltop 176 meters above the Flanders plain, in the north-eastern corner of France, in the newly formed French region of Hauts-de-France (a merger of the former regions of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy).


Easier said than done, though, as getting there proved to be fraught with obstacles.

First, we had to turn back after just a couple of kilometers as Jos had forgotten his flat cap, and refused to spend the day bare-headed.

Then, due to a major road diversion in border town Watou, we got a bit lost. Luckily we had good old "Marie-Jeanne" (our SatNav!) with us, who navigated us by way of narrow country lanes through fields and villages where time seemed to have stood still.



The final stretch of our journey was a cobbled road zig-zagging up the hill, until we finally arrived in the town centre. There, we snagged the last parking spot at the edge of the Grand'Place, near the town's main church, leaving our car in a rather precarious position.

Nearby, on a corner, was a little café, where we stopped for coffee in order to get our bearings.

Here, time seemed to have stood still too.



Apart from "le patron" and his dad, who sat at the table next to us painstakingly cleaning a head of lettuce for lunch, the charming café exuding the spirit of French Flanders, was empty.

While admiring the café's rustic decor, its tiled floor, the fringed mantelpiece with its ornate figurines, we suddenly noticed the fly paper hanging from one of the lamps, proudly displaying its hapless victims.

With that in mind, it was with some trepidation that I approached the toilets which, much to my relief, turned out not to be of the French variety!



We were told that people are proud of their Flemish heritage here and that there are still evening classes teaching the language, which, confusingly, is a little bit different from the Flemish we speak on the other side of the border.

I'd printed a town trail of approximately 3 kilometers, called "Cassel, par rues et ruelles" from the Internet, but we were given a colour map outlining the same by the café's landlord.

The town trail starts outside the tourist office in the Grand'Place, and can be followed by way of copper stud marks in the pavements.
In spite of the map and the stud marks, typically we still managed to get lost a couple of times!



After exploring the Grand'Place and its historical buildings, notably the The Noble Cour mansion, a 16th-century Flemish building, which is home to the Musée Départemental de Flandre, we continued the walk by turning into the Rue du Château.


This narrow lane passes through the old castle gate before leading up to a public garden on top of the hill, with several viewpoints and orientation tables.


The Casteelmeulen ("meulen" is old Flemish for mill, the modern word is "molen") is a post mill situated on the highest point of Cassel Hill, on the site of the former castle. The present mill dates from the 18th century and is a listed building. It is still a working mill and can sometimes be visited.



From the mill, there's a path climbing up to the equestrian monument of Marshall Foch, who had his headquarters in Cassel from October 1914 to June 1915, during the Battle of Ypres.

It was here that we had our first wobble, as it seemed that the pavement studs and the walk's instructions pointed us in different directions.



As it was nearly noon by then, we decided to retrace our steps to the Grand'Place and grab some lunch. In spite of an uncertain start, the sun was out in full force, and we were able to eat sitting outside on the terrace overlooking the Grand' Place.



Afterwards, we continued our walk, eventually finding the path downhill which led us in the right direction.



At the octagonal Horne Chapel, we turned left and at the bottom of the street, turned right on to Rue de Dunkerque, passing an old horse trough on our right.



Here, we were accosted by a scruffy Frenchman walking his dog, who told us we were a couple of months late, as apparently the trough had been refilled and the borders replanted back in the Spring.

He then continued with a rant involving the local authorities, the EU, and the general state of the world which, as we all know, is foutu. We politely listened, nodded and mumbled some standard French replies, while backing away, throwing a casual au revoir over our shoulders, with him still nattering on in the background.



Soon, another gate, the Porte de Dunkerque came into view. Passing underneath brought us back to the main church, Collégiale Notre Dame de la Crypte, and the café, where our car was parked.

Still, the walk wasn't finished!

Behind the church is the old Jesuits' chapel, with a listed façade dating from 1687. Here, we had to turn right on to Chemin du Chapître, an alleyway of sandstone steps, emerging at the bottom on to Rue du Maréchal Foch.



We had another wobble here. We kept on walking in the direction of the town centre, passing a bakery, where we bought a baguette and two brioches for our evening meal.

It then dawned on us that we'd missed a turning. We were supposed to pass beneath yet another gate, the Porte d'Ypres, but couldn't recall seeing it. Afterwards, looking through my photographs, I think the one on the bottom left in the above collage could have been it.

This should have brought us to a path called Chemin des Remparts, following the town walls. However, we were able to rectify our mistake without turning back as, almost immediately after passing the bakery, we came across a narrow alley leading to the Chemin de Remparts!



Back on track, we followed the path running at the back of the town's houses, with a variety of garden gates with peeling paint and rusty hinges, punctuating the walls.

We sat down on one of conveniently placed benches, soaking up the September sun and admiring the view.



The final stretch of the path becomes another alley, which at some point is only 70 centimeters wide, and emerges onto a road leading back to the Grand'Place and our car.

The next day, it was time to pack our bags and head home, saying goodbye to our little cottage and the lovely Johanna for another year.



--- The End ---

39 comments:

  1. I’ve loved your travelogue Ann and the fact that you have a name for your satnav haha.
    So many interesting buildings and it must be the best weather you’ve had this year xxx

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    1. Thank you Lynn. We are always arguing with our SatNav by the way. And sometimes, Jos ignores the instructions of both ladies: me and Marie-Jeanne, although he should know by now that we ladies are always right! xxx

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  2. What? Your trip is all over? I think you need to book another one, i do love your travelogues.
    How lovely to be able to nip across the border for a whole new experience - fly paper and all!
    Those doorways and cobbled yards are just the thing I get excited by, too.
    You both look fabulous, perfect ambassadors for the Belgians! xxx

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    1. I love writing them too, so I'm feeling a bit lost now. Luckily, Jos was given some vouchers for his birthday to spend on hotels or B&B's here in Belgium, so we'll probably be off on a little trip soon! xxx

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  3. Where I live, we only get out the flypaper in the fancier establishments :)

    How fun that you ran into a ranting local-just adds excitement to the visit. I do enjoy your travel posts, and I'll look forward to the next.

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    1. That café was one of the fancier establishments ;-) And I just love meeting the locals, too. xxx

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  4. seems a bit of a time travel - all this gorgeous ancient houses and the rustic café :-)
    i really enjoyed your stroll around cassel. again - totally our cup of tea of a trip! and we had to drive back too if the BW forgot his flat cap!! totally!
    :-D
    weekendhugs! xxxxx

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    1. That café was the perfect starting place for travelling back in time! xxx

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  5. Such a lovely walk, wrong turnings aside of course! xxx

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    1. Wrong turnings just add to the fun of it all. Unless they are seriously wrong and you get lost in the middle of nowhere. Which has happened to us as well, obviously ;-) xxx

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  6. Ann what a wonderful walk to this town. I love the noth fo france :)
    Thank you for these amazing pictures.XO Tina

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    1. Thank you Tina. There are quite a few nice little town in that area, for which we'll have to go back! xxx

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  7. I hope you have another trip planned for soon I love reading about them.

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    1. Thank you Gisela! We'll have to book another trip soon then ... xxx

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  8. Your walk looked so relaxing, with all the cobbled alleyways, atmospheric cafe with wonderful rustic decor and finished with baguette and brioche for supper. A lovely day out.
    I love the hats lined up in the back window of the car. xxx

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    1. Thank you Sally. I took the hats photo especially to end my travelogue with, and then almost forgot to add it, as it was over a month ago ... xxx

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  9. I am envious that you can just pop over
    the border for a taste of France. Sounds like a great day of exploring and I see the weather was better than Wales. Quel surprise!
    A scruffy ranting local to add even more colour to the day..how fab! Xx

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    1. We were so near to France that it would have been silly not to pop over. Quite a lot to see in that area, so we'll do it again next year. xxx

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  10. I am envious that you can just pop over
    the border for a taste of France. Sounds like a great day of exploring and I see the weather was better than Wales. Quel surprise!
    A scruffy ranting local to add even more colour to the day..how fab! Xx

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  11. Bwhahaha! I loved Goody's comment about fly paper in fancier establishments only. What a lovely post, thank you for sharing the pictures. I thought the final picture of the hats in the rear window was a fitting and nostalgic close marking the end of your stay.

    You look lovely as always. Glad to see that you and Jos found time to shop.

    Happy thrifting ;)

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    1. Thank you! I loved Goody's comment too! I took the hats picture especially to end my travelogue with. Glad you like it! xxx

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  12. What an intriguing walk (minus ranting Frenchman!) - it seems you picked a good place to get lost in! Nice to see you and Jos looking so lovely!

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    1. Thank you Kezzie. You couldn't really get lost in a small town like that, just take a wrong turning now and again. Which is what we're good at, apparently! xxx

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  13. I love how you can pop over to the most lovely places!! Looks like an enjoyable trip. Thanks for linking up, xo

    -Patti
    http://notdeadyetstyle.com

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  14. How did we even drive before GPS? I remember I was getting lost all the time!!

    It must be wonderful to live in Europe - everything is so close together, 6 km apart - and you are in a different world! Languages do have a tendency to change! In Russia, there were German immigrants during the 18th century *Ekaterina the Great time), and many of "Russian Germans" as they are called still speak a dialect of German that their ancestors brought with them. Compared to which, modern German is very very different! I had a friend in uni whose father was a "Russian German", and we always had a comedy in class when he did her homework for her! :)

    Always wonderful photography and curious facts, my dear Ann!

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    1. I used to be quite good at navigating before GPS, but it's so easy to rely on them, isn't it. Although ours has a knack of taking you on a detour through the smallest of roads! Languages move along with the times, and only seem to get stuck with under-use. We met an old men who still spoke the "French" version of Flemish a couple of years ago, and we didn't understand a word he said. The French speaking guy he was with had to translate it for us ;-) xxx

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  15. What a pretty town, it was like stepping back in time. It also looked very quiet, I'm not sure I spotted another person lurking in the background of any of your photos.

    For us Brits we do find it so odd that you can just drive a few miles down the road and be in a different country. If we tried that we'd end up in the sea! xx

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    1. I guess you would indeed end up in the sea ;-) I looked through my photos and the only one with other people in the background is while we were sitting on the terrace. I'm quite good at framing my photographs so that there are not people in it, it seems ... xxx

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  16. What a lovely town. The street signs, buildings and street furniture were very quirky and interesting.

    I always seem to attract the scruffy ranting person with a dog wherever I go, too!

    I am curious about Tronc des Pauvres on the stone sign - what is it?

    Our Sat Nav is called Evie - named by OH's youngest daughter!

    Hope you're having a good week.
    xx

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    1. I'm glad your Sat Nav has a name too! Years ago, when Jos's grandson was little, we told him the name of our Sat Nav, and he said: ours is called Tom Tom ;-) The Tronc des Pauvres is a kind of charity box in which people could put money to help the poor. xxx

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  17. You guys sound like us. We ALWAYS get lost which can be a bit frustrating.

    Seems like you pushed onwards and still had a great afternoon.

    Those French do like to complain!

    Suzanne

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    1. I'm glad we're not the only ones who always get lost. Even with instructions, we're quite hopeless. Which can be fun sometimes but often frustrating indeed. xxx

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  18. How pretty! The art nouveau flavour of so many of the signs is really nice.

    Ranty old blokes are a universal constant. Everywhere's got one.

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    1. Thank you Mim, and you're absolutely spot on about the ranty old blokes! xxx

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  19. how fabulous excursion, the town looks so picturesque, and it's so lovely that you could walk without rain! and have a drink on a terrace!
    I must to comment on your trepidation about typical french toilettes, yes, I've experimented that same feeling! mwahaha

    And actually, those ranty old men are everywhere, and world is always foutu! (my french is very limited, but I could understand this pretty ol'word!)
    besos
    besos

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    1. Thank you Monica. Oh, I surely was glad when the toilet turned out to be a normal one! And we do seem to attract ranty old men! xxx

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  20. What a fabulous set of photographs, I think you've captured everything beautifully
    xx

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