C’est Cosmique

The sun came out for our second day at La Mailleraye sur Seine.

View from the Aire

English words ending in ic translate to ique in french, as I understand it. So economic becomes economique, politic becomes politique, etc..

So I felt reasonably comfortable in telling the waitress in La Presqu Ile restaurant in La Mailleraye sur Seine, when we first ate there, that the food was ‘cosmique’. She was pleased, if a little surprised.

We ate there again a couple of days ago and the food was again cosmic.

Starter..Salmon paté with prawns and gazpacho

Starter…Coarse pork paté salad served with a warm cheese sauce, normandy apple and a white sausage.

Main course… Chicken in a fennel and citron creme sauce and frites.

Pudding…Dame Blanche

Final Stop before the Channel.

We have now moved on to the final campsite of the trip…..Château Ganspette at St Omer. ( N 50.81912 E 2.17453) This is about 20 miles from Calais and Dunkerque so handy for ferries and the tunnel.

This afternoon we visited the Epercleques blockhouse, the site of a V2 rocket building facility in the second world war. It is a dramatic exhibition, and has been well done, with explanations and diagrams in French and English.

Epercleques Blockhouse

This is the south wing of the blockhouse, intended for liquid oxygen production to fuel the V2 rockets.

The north wing, intended for V2 storage, destroyed by bombing in August 1943.

V1 Flying Bomb

The V2 rocket. Designed to come down almost vertically at Mach 2; a much deadlier beast than its predecessor the V1. The facility was designed to launch 36 of these each day.

The blockhouse was solidly built; this notch in the top of the south wall was the result of a direct hit with a 6 ton tallboy bomb.

This is the crater left when the bomb bounced off the roof. It caused a mini earthquake which damaged the foundations sufficiently to put the blockhouse permanently out of action.

This is the last blog of the current trip; we are heading for the channel tunnel first thing tomorrow morning, then up towards Yorkshire.

About Peter and Nia

Rambling about Europe with the Kray Twins (Colin and Penny).