A morning in Arras and Gravelines

It was a beautiful morning in Arras, so after giving time for the sun to rise a little, we set off for the town centre.

There is a little electric shuttle bus available free of charge from the swimming pool next to the motorhome aire, taking passengers up to the town.

They don't allow dogs onboard though, so we walked. It wasn't far.

Arras is a great town, it has two main squares, Grand Place and Place des Heros.

Both are unique in their lovely squares with elegant scrolled gable buildings, decorative brickwork, stone columns, galleries, covered arcades and street cellar entrances, all of which were destroyed in WWl but carefully restored to their full glory.

They are now a protected monument.

I've seen this style of building before in France, Holland and Belgium, but I don't think I've ever seen so many together.

They're doing a lot of work in the squares, setting up a ferris wheel and preparations for the Christmas markets I think.

Some photos of Arras

Later we drove closer to Calais, Gravelines to be precise, which is a lovely fortified town which forms a star shaped island on an inlet to the English Channel.

We're parked up by the blue tag marked Aire de camping car on the left overlooking the Marina.

I've used this parkup before and found it to be a great place for a night and only 20 minutes to the Eurotunnel terminal.

Some photos of Gravelines

Tonights the last night of our trip sadly, tomorrow we're back to normality and joining you in the pantomime that is the UK at the moment, and which you've all been enduring these last few weeks.