We wake to the promise of another very hot day in Esquelbecq, so have a slow morning catching up with rest and looking for places to stay. We walk to Esquelbecq to explore and find the Automaton Museum. It is a fascinating place but too late for a tour so walk to the Church of St Folquin, a son of this village, scholar and cousin of Charlemagne who founded the church in 855AD (the year of his death).

The church of St Folquin is vast inside but interesting as it was devastated by a great fire in 1976. The timber roof was lost and has been replaced completely and the inside refurbished. The fire must have destroyed or seriously damaged much of the interior as it now houses the charred and burned remains of statues which have been kept in-situ.

At 12.00 midday we walk over to the chateau and purchase tickets for the gardens, at €5 each it seems a bargain for the extent and variety of what is there. Also built in 1606 and retaining its original layout it was a pleasure to wander in such a fragrant and peaceful garden filled with the calming spirits of its ancestors. Its moated setting is enhanced by the retention of its original 17^th century layout: the walled kitchen garden, formal box-hedge square, magnificent herbaceous flower beds enhanced by some present-day features (the enormous watering can with snail) and fruit orchards with fruit cordon hedges.

In total contrast is the chateau’s darker WWII past when it was commissioned for the allied troops in their fight against the Nazi invasion in 1941. The large, underground and ugly concrete WWII bunker has been restored as a living reminder of hard times, it places the chateau in the context of its 400 year history or war and peace.

Back at Hymer we have lunch on the aire de camping cars at Esquelbecq and move on, first on D17 to Wormhout and then the A25/E42 to Lille and N41/N47 to Lens. Finally on A21 to the old industrial town of Grenay, now very run down but still with the signs of its old industrial coal-mining past. The Aire de camping cars in the middle of the town of Grenay is a little gem. Only about eight spaces but on the edge of the park with trees and picnic tables, tennis courts and skate-board park, free including water and electric hook-up (for three spaces). We get the last of these and park in an elevated position next to the church. It chimes every hour through the daylight hours.

The day is incredibly hot, well into the thirties and we have no tree shade, so sit out in the park (later we note we are bitten). We watch another six motorhomes arrive and fight for spaces and more who arrive and leave as there is no space left. Salad for tea with jambon ham and a bottle of Crémant is light and tasty, while eating we note our neighbours are from Glasgow, their accent so thick even we can hardly decipher what they say!

We watch with incredulity as the man from a huge motorhome goes to the garage at the rear of his motorhome and takes out an extending ladder, positions the ladder and climbs up to free a jammed satellite dish on the roof of his motorhome. We are always surprised how important television is to many people. On the other hand, people who have televisions can’t understand why we don’t have one and tell us about all the good things we’re missing. What a good thing that the world has people who are different.

Another very hot and uncomfortable night.