lt by Henry II to impress high ranking guest pilgrims from the Continent coming to Canterbury on the Becket pilgrimage. Roman light house. Saxon church. Second world war tunnels for Operation Dynamo (Dunkirk evacuation). Dover museum in town – Bronze age boat. Oldest boat in the world: 2500 BC.
Ferry to Calais this morning. Arrive 1100.
Get lost in Calais briefly. Sun comes out. Walk along busy coast road. Leave for hiking path where we meet nice French couple. Our age or younger. Very fit. 18 grand children. Six children: 1 son, 5 daughters. Youngest child 39! We walk with them.
They show us route via Cap Blanc Nez. Very nice, sunny – but longer than road. Past endless German blockhouses at the top of the cliffs. Monument to French and British navies of WWI. Bomb craters.
This is where the huge German guns were with which they shelled Dover – even as far as Canterbury!
Calais and Boulogne were liberated by Canadian troops in September, 1944.
Why Wissant? Because this is probably where Sigeric landed; not Calais. Tomorrow we head east and inland. If today had been clear we would have been in sight of England all day. But not tomorrow!
Wissant by 5:30. 18 km, 6 hours; 3 km/h. Lovely day.
End day with excellent moules frites and biere de l'abbaye at Chez Edwige. Not sore. Legs, arms, shoulders, back seem to be toughening up.
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