I was indeed up early and showered, almost feeling like a human being I cycled the 5 minutes into town, the market was in full flow half 8, lots of fresh fruit and veg, cooked and cured meats, bread and of course cheese, if the van hadn't only just returned to a somewhat normal, read combination of lived in by a bloke for 3 weeks and a handful of magic trees (not quite Paulie's magic forest but close) I would have been tempted to buy some more. I also saw a market stall that offer an answer to a question that had been bugging me, why do French men get their clothes ? Well now I know, I spent a full ten minutes looking around this rather large market stall and came to the conclusion that there was not a single item for sale that I would contemplate wearing if my life depended on it and I am by no means fashionable, the only comparison I can make and this will only make sense to a few readers, would be to an Asian run company called "Leisure lines" who used to frequent Holsworthy market on a Wednesday morning throughout the eighties and early nineties, for everybody else, it was just crap.
I returned to the van glad that not only had I visited Etretat but that I had plumped for the camp-site, I said goodbye to the French couple set up next to me and off I went. I wasn't expecting much from Dieppe, I knew the Aire was close to the ferry terminal so I wasn't counting on it being quaint, as I approached the town/city ? I topped up with cheap diesel in anticipation of my hack down the A303 tomorrow, I found the Aire with ease, it wasn't quite as bleak as anticipated and was literally 100 yards from the terminal, no chance of getting lost in the
morning ! I parked up, locked up and unstrapped the bike for my final cycle round the final stop of my tour, you cross back the other side of the harbour for the town and pebble beach of Dieppe, only a 5 minute ride and you are almost instantly met with quite how nice a place it is, not the industrial and harsh environment I was for some reason expecting, it was also really sunny, which helps.
I spent the day ambling around, taking in the sights, learning as much as I could about the place and people watching along the open plan seafront walled each end by high white cliffs, I can see why this was such a difficult place for the Canadians to attack in 1942 and why it was such an easy place to defend. There are memorials and Canadian flags everywhere, even now, a nice touch I think.
I ate this evening at a strange little bistro, the owner asked me before I ordered what my favourite part of the French cuisine was and without hesitation I said cheese ! He proposed that I had a dish that I can't pronounce let alone spell that was a sort of French twist on calzone using more like a bread than a pizza crust and stuffed with 4 French cheeses, a goats cheese of some description, Camembert, Brie and Rocheforte, it was amazing and washed down with a Leffe or two saw me content for the evening. I watched the sun go down across the sea towards Blighty and lingered for a while to take in the last sights and sounds as I made my way back through the town, as I rounded the corner to go back to the ferry side of the harbour it turned out that France had one more bridge surprise for me, the cantilever bridge was being raised to allow a couple of trawlers out, nice to watch the engineering in action, some massive hydraulic rams right there, even if I had to wait 20 minutes in the middle of the road.
So to the van and my evening writing session, Dieppe had been much nicer than I had given it credit for, maybe it's because I'm going home in the morning and it was more what it signified than the place itself but either way, I'm glad I spent the day here. It's now half ten and I have only one decision left to make, my ferry is at half 5 and you need to be booked in an hour and a half before it goes so I need to be up at half 3, should I have a snooze or see it through watching Game of thrones ?
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