Loose_Grip/Pete's photos with the keyword: Hauts-de-France

A journey on the metre gauge Chemin de Fer de la Baie de Somme from St Valery-sur-Somme to Le Crotoy in northern France. This is the pretty terminal station at Le Crotoy with the turntable & engine shed in the foreground. Our train from St Valery was pulled by Nord 0-6-0 diesel 352 seen in the platform.

A telephoto shot looking from Cap Gris-Nez across Wissant Bay northwards to Cap Blanc-Nez. Gris-Nez is the closest point in France to England. Blanc-Nez is an Upper Cretaceous Chalk outcrop (white). Note the piles of chalk on the beach to the left - evidence of the instability in the cliffs

The sea birds vie for space with the kite fliers on the beach. Looking across the wetlands of the Somme estuary to the town of Le Crotoy on the Channel coast. This was taken from the window of the train to St Valery-sur-Somme on the Chemin de Fer de la Baie de Somme. In 1674, under the terms of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, the castle of Crotoy, dating from 1340, was destroyed so I'm not sure what that Disney-ish castellated building is.

Petit dejeuner at the Brasserie Le Cahors in Compiègne centre ville.

An early morning walk around the town. The recent history of this part of France can be told by the history of this bridge over the River Oise in Compiègne. It was built in 1949 replacing a bridge destroyed in WWII which itself replaced a 1923 bridge destroyed in WWI. The original dated from 1733.