15/10/2025
A Strange Kind of Day in Ambleteuse…
We’ve driven up from Valencia to Ambleteuse, a small coastal town in northern France, near Calais and overlooking the English Channel.
The weather has been very British: grey skies, wind and drizzle and our moods have matched. We’ve had quite an aggressive driving schedule to get here in just three days, a couple of missed turns took us into the heart of Paris’s financial district, as well as some interesting hotel stops along the way, Turns out a Première Classe is absolutely nothing like a Premier Inn 😅
Maybe it’s the tiredness, or the weather, or maybe it’s just this place. There’s a strong World War I and II presence in the area. And to answer my own question, no, we’re not near Normandy, but the Côte d’Opale has just as much history woven through it.
As has become a theme on this trip, the laundry (oh, the bloody laundry!) made an appearance again today. We found ourselves in a Carrefour car park having a minor altercation with a very rude French lady at the laundrette, which forced us to find another one a little further out. That detour turned out to be a gift, because that’s where we spotted the signs for the Meerut Indian Cemetery just outside Boulogne-sur-Mer.
In the misty midday air it was a solemn place. No one there but a gardener quietly tending the grounds. The rows of white stones mark the graves of young Indian and Gurkha soldiers, most from 1915, who had fought so far from home. We walked, chatted and read the names as we passed. It was one of those strange, out-of-time places, like something straight out of a Stephen King story where the rest of the world seems to disappear. It was… a lot of feelings.
Then, down the road from where we’re staying, sits the Fort d’Ambleteuse, built by Vauban in 1680 and later used in both World Wars. It’s now beautifully restored, standing proud against the sea, battered by storms but still standing.
Tomorrow we’ve got the mandatory vet appointment (the strict 24–120 hour rule for the dogs’ tapeworm treatment before heading back to the UK), maybe some more exploring of local memorials, and hopefully a bit of ping pong.
