Sun 11 Dec Left before 8 for Bayeux, arriving at 9:30. It has a lovely old town centre with cathedral where William the Conqueror’s brother was the first bishop. This is how the Bayeux Tapestry came to be there. As you walked the 70m length of the tapestry an audio guide told the story of how William came to England. It was really good and the tapestry (needlework actually) was in great detail, well-preserved and quite imaginative in telling the story.
We attempted to visit the war museum but it was closed from 12:30 – 2:00, so we continued on to Honfleur, a harbour town. The scenery was lovely – little old villages and historical buildings and farms. It was very cold eating lunch by the water.
Continued on to Lille, apart from a petrol/coffee stop with a rather challenging coffee machine. It was a long trip with frequent tolls – lost count but probably €40 – €50 all up! Speed limits were generally 130 km/hr and not a lot of traffic until the last 50 km.
Had a bit of trouble finding the hotel as the GPS wanted us to enter a one way street the wrong way. Turned out that the hotel was on the corner and it would have been simpler to just go in. The hotel was nothing fancy but the room was big and the boys are pleased to not be sharing a bed! Sad to say, the restaurant was closed. Luckily I had an emergency stash of noodle cups and my electric jug. Two of the noodle cups turned out to be instant potato (flavoured) which were really nice. Looking forward to the buffet breakfast. Back to free wi fi – very useful for planning the next day’s activities and keeping the boys entertained.