Queueing for the ferry at 7.50am (after a 5.20am start, gah)

Phil and DH stare at the sea

Not wanting to miss out, the rest join in to see what they're missing

Outside Auchan in Coquelles (near Calais) trolleys (a.k.a. beer-haulers) are pressed into service

The vast aisles of the l'hypermarché

DH scopes out pàtes and saucissons...

...and then looks at cheese!

After the checkout

It's time for an impromptu cheese-and-stick picnic in the carpark (and I'd always wondered about those weirdos who get their Thermos flask out on the lay-bys of busy roads)

Nosher's summerwear and hat

Phil and DH slurp a very large Leffe Ambrée

Clairesie and Al

Phil is overwhelmed by the amount of beer (or actually which particular offer to take up)

A spot of "wedding wine" tasting is done

Later, on the promenade at Wimmereaux

Wandering past a striking green house in the 'burbs of Wimmereaux

Later on, Nosher, Phil and DH splinter off to visit a WW2 German gun emplacement, the Batterie Todt at Audinghen, Pas de Calais

Phil discovers the overgrown entrance to a machine-gun nest

Inside the machine-gun emplacement gives only the vaguest idea of being in one under fire

Right in the middle of the main installation. The circular track to the left is perhaps where the guns wheeled round

The inside is huge, and used to contain a gun capable of firing 28cm (nearly 12") rounds on coastal towns in Kent, some 25 miles away.

Armed with Nosher's torch, we explore the otherwise pitch-black magazine rooms inside...

...to find fascinating but spooky reminders of the original occupants: this one reads "against England"

It's difficult to describe how unsettling it is seeing this stuff in a completely dark place (which we're probably not even meant to be in)

A caricature of Winston Churchill holding a school slate with the equation "England + Russia = victory"

Another Winston caricature.

Outside, DH examines the holes from artillery impacts (one of which is perfectly shaped like the round that hit it)

Phil and DH look out as the guns used to towards the cliffs of Dover