Cross-Channel France: Nord-Pas De Calais: The Land Beyond The Ports (Bradt Travel Guide) - Softcover

Ruler, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 184162327X ISBN 13: 9781841623276

Publisher: Bradt Travel Guides, 2011

Synopsis

Nord-Pas de Calais is Britain's first stop in France; it's where the ferries dock and the Channel Tunnel emerges into daylight. Bradt's Cross-Channel France is the only English-language guide dedicated to the region. It delves not only into the port towns, but also into the forgotten France that's rarely reached. It takes visitors to sample Vieux Bologne the smelliest cheese in the world, and to climb the hill at Cassel – up (and down) which the Grand Old Duke of York marched his 10,000 men. It leads travellers to Agincourt, the site of a cornerstone battle in British history, and to Dunkirk, from where World War II troops were evacuated. It also reveals where visitors can shop for cut-price goods, where they can cycle, walk and ride horses, where they can find the best seafood and seaside resorts, and how they can enjoy colourful regional events like the Festival of the Giants. Bradt's Cross-Channel Franceis packed with information for day trippers and those on longer family holidays.

About this title

About the Author

John Ruler writes on the Nord-Pas de Calais region for newspapers and magazines and has an extensive photo library. He is also a specialist in horse riding.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

When it comes to talking turkey, the good folk of Licques are in a league apart. Each year, two weeks before Christmas, the Confrérie de l'Ordre de la Dinde de Licques (Fellows of the Order of the Licques Turkey) hold a three-day festival devoted to this bastion of festive fowl. And be it fine or, dare we say it, foul, the small community of some 1,500 souls swell to several thousand who, flushed with Christmas spirit, bring a genuine glow to the seasonal festivities,

Feel free to join in: the rip-roaring slice of rural tradition starts in earnest on Sunday morning with free cups of steaming hot turkey soup ladled from a monster cauldron heated by a open log fire in the village square. This heralds not just the arrival of the turkeys, a gobbling group of around a hundredwho spill from a lorry to strut their stuff on the cobbled street; it introduces, too, the joint stars of the show – the Confrérie, dressed in all their finery. Joining them are a colourful cast of brothers and sisters from the Confrérie de Chou-fleur de St Omer, whose green cauliflower costumes mingle with the equivalent purple and white of their hosts. Watch out, too, for the Confrérie des Amis de la Tete de Veau de Licques bearing a cow's head – not real, we hasten to add…

Headed by musicians from the local Licques band and girl majorettes – the turkeys ambling with little or no coercion, close behind – the whole joyful procession climbs slowly but surely up the main street. Families wave and cheer, while an accordionist regales them with regional songs in Ch'ti or Ch'timi, the local patois that inspired the hit movie Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis (see page 000) which pokes gentle fun at the folk from Nord-Pas de Calais.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bradt Travel Guides
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 184162327X
• ISBN 13: 9781841623276
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240