Abbeville and Beyond

A bit of background ... Edward III's invasion of France was intended to demonstrate that King Philippe VI was incapable of protecting his domain and its people. Edward III claimed he was the legitimate heir to the French throne, the grandson of Philippe IV, descended through a direct line rather than through a cadet line like that of Philippe VI, only a nephew of Philippe IV. 

Several weeks into the invasion, Edward III requisitioned supplies from England intending to replenish his army at the port of Le Crotoy, just north of where the Somme flows into the sea. Advance scouts reported all of the bridges across the Somme had been destroyed or were heavily guarded and the French were closing in on the English position. 

The Somme flowed through a wide, marshy flood plain and in a tidal portion of the river, near the town of Abbeville, Edward had knowledge of the existence of a ford that could be crossed at low tide. When his army found the crossing, it was guarded by a French force and a skirmish ensued. With the English longbowmen's superior range providing cover, English men-at-arms beat back the French and the English forces crossed just before the tide waters flooded the ford once again. St. George, the patron saint of soldiers, smiled down on Edward that day.  

We arrived at Abbeville at dusk and checked into Hotel Mercure.  

Hotel Mercure - Abbeville

We struck up a conversation with our congenial hotel manager who thought we were quite mad in our quest to find the ancient ford given the manmade tidal control canals that had been built since the 14th century. However, like any good forward scout, she located an environmental map noting the location of the wetlands management office mentioned in our guidebook, noted as a landmark for the ford. 

Just after 8 a.m. we headed out. Without her help I doubt we would ever have located the isolated railroad levee behind which lay the muddy, dirt track we needed to travel. When we saw the condition of the track cum road, we seriously questionned our own sanity but forged aghead nonetheless. 

The track to Blanctaque

After a few kilomters, we turned left and much to our delight spotted the wetlands management building. We parked and half-waded our way alongside it. My heart pounded as certainly as King Edward's must have when he 'found' the ford. I had less to lose than he had but you can tell by the smile on my face how elated I felt at that moment. The Somme itself was nowhere in sight ... only the surrounding wetland ponds aflutter with quacking ducks and the pristine morning air alive with birdsong. Pausing, I thanked the sirens for their aid.

   

Victory!

Our day's adventure had only begun and if I thought the route to Blanctaque was 'iffy' it was a 5-lane highway compared to the next leg of our journey.  Sometimes the GPS genie plays games with us mortals ... (see below)

First sighting of the Somme
We dared not stop on this track for fear of getting
bogged down in the flooded sections.

Retracing our route south toward Abbeville, we hoped to circle around town centre to our next destination but encountered a 'barre' (road closure). Rather than argue with our GPS, we omitted the next village and moved on heading south toward Poissy, just 17 miles west of Paris.

The fortress at Picquiny.

Our travels took us through fertile agricultural fields toward the town of Picquiny and its medieval castle fortress. In each village we encountered, we found another ancient church with narrow stone streets and clusters of buildings radiating out from the church environs making it obvious that worship was then and is now of high importance in the residents of these quaint French towns.

Late in the day, in the middle of nowhere, I realized that I had misread the petrol gauge and we were seriously lacking. Thanks to our GPS genie, we discovered a town only 13 km away that might have a petrol station ... and the race was on!  We both breathed a sigh of relief when we pulled into the station but soon discovered the automatic, unmanned pumps would not accept any of our credit cards!

But like ealier in the day, the sirens were watching over us and a 'white knight' pulled in on his motorcycle.  After we explained our dilemma in broken French and his aid in trying our card in the pump one last time, he offered to charge the petrol to his card if we had Euros to reimburse him.  Due to my frazzled nerves, I didn't think to get a picture of him but this one below is close enough.

Our White Knight

 Nerves settled, we tooled on down the country road ... light was fading but that sign we just passed said we were in the Vexin.  OMG!  When young Henry was 'courting' Eleanor, (remember the founders of the Plantagenet dynasty) Henry's father Geoffrey and King Louis were arguing over ownership of The Vexin.  Knowing he had Eleanor's lands on the horizon and not wanting to piss off Louis, Henry convinced his father to 'let it go'.  And here we were. 

Our awe faded with the light and as the traffic heading toward Poissy swelled. We arrived in the peak of rush hour, found our hotel right where I remembered it would be, on the right after we crossed the Seine.  Once again the sirens watched over us providing a parking space adjacent to the hotel that offered no guest

L'Esturgeon Hotel sur la Seine

parking!

We checked in but it was too dark to explore the park along the Seine marking the spot where the old bridge had stood. From this photo, the area seems idylic but on the side of the hotel you can't see, stood the Poissy train station and traffic, traffic and more traffic. Given the stress of the day, we both agreed it was time for a drink!

We headed down to the dining room for a perfectly French dinner - really the first we had since arriving. For the most part, we had been living on baguettes, cheese and ham on the road. We decided on the prix fixe 3-course dinner splurging on making it to Poissy in one piece - not unlike the Black Prince might have felt in 1346 but for entirely different reasons.

Our first course was a delicious soup with a very pretty garnish of cream cheese & chives.
I didn't take any pictures of our main course because I didn't eat it ... in my ignorance, I mistakenly ordered some sort of dish made with kidneys, not the veal I thought I had ordered. Oh well ... more room for dessert.  I had a selection of cheeses and Mary opted for the pastry.

Butternut Squash Soup

Chocolate & Pear Pastry

 We toddled off to bed planning to view the Poissy bridge in the morning ... so I'll leave you here and say goodnight.