Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, Le Crotoy FR 24-26 May 2022 We decided to stay in Saint Valery until Friday so we had a couple of days to look around. Tuesday was a rainy morning, with rainbows, but it cleared up and we were able to head into town for a look around. In the evening we did a boat cruise to look at the Baie de la Somme. The tide here is up to 10m, although at the moment it is a neap tide meaning a smaller than normal tide - only about 7m. So the times of the cruises changes every day to match the tides. Just downstream of our mooring is the ecluse maritime (sea lock). It is 250 m long and it's sides are just the banks of the canal. In order to help clear away sand which is deposited at the mouth of the estury they do hydronic cleaning - ie have water flowing from the canal, meaning that there is a tidal effect above the lock. Below are photos taken at different times of the day. There was always some of the flood gates open, and we never saw a boat go through. After the sea lock was the main marina. We were told it was quite expensive. The main part of the town was nice, with many Belle Epoque buildings down along the water front. It was a lovely ride along the sea wall. Past the lower town was the Medieval Town, up on the hill behind some raparts. Saint Valery was damaged in the WWII but there was still plenty to see, including views towards Le Crotoy across the bay. After leaving the medieval town we headed to the Mariners Church which was a little way out into the country, past a few more houses. There was a lovely view from there across the bay. On leaving the church we took the very steep track down to the coast, which had many bends - seen here from the sea. Halfway down we came across a wild boar - luckily he was minding his own business. From there we went to La Plage - The Beach (some views from the boat). Before we went home we went along the other side of the estuary to the point. From the boat, which left at 7:30 pm, we got some different views of Saint Valery And Le Crotoy across the bay. And more: Wednesday we hardly left the boat as it was rainy most of the day. Howard had an important Zoom call at midday, and we did some shopping in the afternoon. But Thursday we took the Chemin de Fer (railway) de la Baie de Somme, over to the other side of the bay to visit Le Crotoy. It was a grey and windy day, but we enjoyed our visit. Before we started the engine had to go from the back of the train to the front, utilising the turn table. The trip was quite interesting. The Bay itself is rarely full of water, so there are pools and creeks dotting around. Also there are sheep on the salt marshes, whose meat is a local specialty. We also saw hides which we assume were for the shooting season. At the port, there was a marina, as well as a couple of shipwrecks. And more interesting buildings to see. We had been very happy during our stay moored up against the Cobra - it was a nice and safe place, and the owners Sophie and Ben were very pleasant. However we had to use the gangplank from the front deck to get off Moondance.
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AuthorWe are sharing stories about and travels on our barge Moondance. Archives
August 2023
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