Hesdin to Le Crotoy France

Travelled:167km
Visited:Hesdin
Stay:Le Crotoy-aire €6/24h parking, €2 water. Large spot on the Somme Bay. N50.218220 E1.633290

We spent the morning doing some shopping to fill the empty fridge then photocopied the bike receipts for the police report. By 12 noon we had returned to the camp site to lodge our paperwork with them with the hope that their insurance will cover the loss as our insurance policy will not! Slightly disappointing.... time will tell. Anyway, we headed South to Hesdin and stopped for a walk around this town that was laid out in 1554 for Charles V after he made it part of the Spanish Netherlands. It remained an important military fortified town until 1842. However it returned to French power in 1659 with the Treaty of the Pyrenees.  There were 2 significant buildings in town. The Town Hall is dominated by a Belfry which hold 2 tons of bells and a Breteche where the town crier would ...well.. cry!? 

The Notre Dame Church had escaped destruction from the revolution and the two World Wars, hence it was in its original condition in much need of a reconstruction. Unfortunately we could not enter as it was closed. Very unusual. The tourist office gave us a brochure on the town and did have an extensive part on the church.

After stretching our legs we had to decide 'where to next?' We settled on Le Crotoy, where our friends from Perth, Mike and Jan, had come to visit. There are a few options here, we chose the one closest to town. It was quite busy but arriving a 4pm allowed us a few options. We chilled out until after dinner then went for a stroll.