Travel in France - Picardy
With my shoes tied over my shoulder and my trouser legs rolled up as far as they could go, the water we were wading through was well up over our knees. The mud flats underfoot gently sucked at our feet as we made our way across one of the intermittent stretches of water left over from the receding tide. With a surprisingly strong autumn sun on our backs, this was arguably the best way to discover the Baie de Somme in the region of Picardy.
The bay is a vast expanse of protected land that is a haven for wildlife and a natural playground for visitors. You could put Paris in its 72km² yet it is just one third of its original 220km² due to man reclaiming the land and the naturally occurring – although human accelerated – process of silting up.
A guided tour of the bay will ensure you get the most out of your visit; you can either do a circuit within it or cross the bay leaving from Le Crotoy and arriving at St-Valery-sur-Somme some six meandering kilometres later. The two towns stand sentinel over the bay, each one with its own charm. When they canalised the Somme in 1835, via St-Valery rather than Le Crotoy, the balance shifted and the wealth stayed with St-Valery. This distinction is much less pronounced today but there remains a certain gentility to St-Valery in comparison to Le Crotoy’s more rustic appeal. Seafood restaurants and creperies line the quays in both towns – Normandy is a mere stone’s throw away – and so you can pick and choose where to stop for lunch and dinner. Be sure to explore St-Valery’s old town where its huge gates remain and a gargoyle-clad church stands high overlooking the bay and Le Crotoy.
Our guide for the crossing, Ophélie, came armed with an auger and bags of enthusiasm and, having urged us to take off our shoes from the offset, we were soon squelching our way across the mud and leaving footprints in the sand in the ever-changing wild landscape. Depending on the time of day and the tides, you will find more or less of the bay under water. The tide recedes to reveal mud flats but the higher-lying salt marshes are only submerged during spring tides. The vegetation that thrives on the salt marshes includes samphire, sea astor and sea lavender as well as sea absinthe and a particularly virulent type of grass that is exacerbating the silting up problem.
We picked and tried samphire, ‘sea crisps’ and sea astor, all three with varying degrees of salinity and when we reached the recently exposed mud flats, the auger came out and we got to see some of the creatures that were under our feet. By the time we reached St-Valery, we had dodged quicksand, had close up inspections of lugworms and various molluscs including the hilarious soft-shell clam and learnt how to tell the sex of a crab.
The best way to get back to Le Crotoy has to be aboard the steam train that shunts back and forth between the two towns. The journey takes just an hour and it gives an alternative perspective on what you have just discovered at such close quarters.
Nature walk
Another way to explore the bay is on horseback. A little further along the coast is the Marcanterra Sea Ranch set in the wild Parc du Marquenterre. The 3,000-hectare nature reserve is on the migratory route of hundreds of thousands of birds and the pine forest is home to deer, wild boar and the mouflon sheep. While it is possible to do a nature walk on foot, there are certain pluses to discovering this wilderness on a Henson horse.
Some 200 Henson horses have been bred at Marcanterra equestrian centre at St-Quentin-en-Tourment. The breed was created thirty years ago to meet the needs and requirements of the region but did not receive official recognition until 2003. The sandy-coloured horses are well suited to the marine environment and are of the right docile temperament for trekking.
An afternoon at the ranch starts off with harnessing your horse in the neighbouring fields, saddling up and following your guide into the waiting wilderness. The park is dotted with hides and an early evening trek should give you birds and beasts aplenty. Formations of ducks, geese and other birds fly overhead and you will see egrets, storks and herons among hundreds of others at the water’s edge.
The advantage of being on horseback is that the horses mask the scent of humans and so we got a chance to see the deer before they skittered away. We followed sandy tracks through the pine forest before breaking out into the dunes and to have the bay at your feet as the sun gently lowers in the sky is quite magical.
The Bay of Somme is the top end of the region of Picardy and it stretches down towards Paris as a swathe of land with great diversity. The most northerly department, Somme, is steeped in war history and has the region’s short stretch of coastline whereas Aisne (pronounced ‘n’) butts up against the Champagne region and is the only area outside of Champagne to be able to use the term on its bubbly as the terrain is essentially the same. The third department, Oise (pronounced ‘waz’), is something of an extension of Paris with royal hunting forests and fine châteaux such as that at Chantilly.
Picardy, the region, is bordered on all sides by impressive neighbours so it is little wonder that it risks getting overlooked. To the north lies Nord-Pas-De-Calais where you will find both Lille and Calais as well as the coastal resort of Le Touquet; to the east is Champagne-Ardenne and the capitals of fizz, Épernay and Reims; directly below Picardy is Paris and the île-de-France and westwards lies Normandy.
It is essentially a rural region but is dotted with remarkable landmarks from picturesque villages to ancient abbeys and stately châteaux and its largely flat terrain makes it ideal for discovering on two legs, four, two wheels or on the waterways.
Danièle and Hubert Wynands cottoned onto this long before anyone else and their cottage industry can be found in the tiny hamlet of Trefcon, just outside St-Quentin in Aisne. Le Val d’Omignon has been up and running for 20 years and the couple, along with their two daughters, offer canoeing, horse riding, mountain biking and archery along with chambres and table d’hôtes and gîte accommodation.
Miniature waterway
We chose to do a spot of gentle canoeing along a tranquil waterway that wended through the picard countryside showing it in a whole new light. Punting along the verdant miniature waterway is idyllic and, after a brief induction from Hubert, you can while away a morning or an afternoon drifting along in the dappled sunlight. Should you time it right, you can be back in Trefcon for a hearty lunch with the Wynands. They use only local produce and have hunted down age-old regional recipes so it is a true picard experience.
We sipped on a local poiré or perry as an apéritif, enjoyed a delicious tarte au Maroilles, made from the local pungent cheese, for starter and then savoured tender rabbit cooked in beer and stuffed with prunes served with homemade potato gauffres before finishing with a baked apple dessert. The Wynands’ unassuming hospitality would rival any Michelin-starred restaurant.
Further south, nearing Paris and the île-de-France region, is another couple who have long appreciated the area’s natural attributes. In the small town of Pierrefonds, just outside Compiègne, Jacques and Elizabeth Dandoy have a chambres d’hôtes in the countryside. Their home is a fairytale juxtaposition of gothic turrets, half-timbered levels, balconies and a sweeping double staircase leading up to the front door. The rooms are exquisitely decorated and Jacques, as the former maire of Pierrefonds, and Elizabeth, a retired teacher, can tell you all you need to know about the area.
We settled on a cycle ride in the nearby Forêt de Compiègne that was once the hunting ground of the kings of France. The 15,000-hectare forest has 54km of cycle paths and with its beeches, century-old oaks and chestnut trees, is a natural haven for wildlife. Our circuitous route took us from Compiègne to Pierrefonds via St-Jean-aux-Bois and back again. The cycling is safe and easy and, if you’re lucky, you may spot deer or wild boar en route. All three towns are worth dismounting to have a look around. The abbey at St-Jean is huge and is the focal point of the small village and you can’t miss the breathtaking château de Pierrefonds, a ‘model château’ that has never been lived in. The splendour of the well-to-do town of Compiègne with its status as royal residence is the most imperious of the three and it appears quite incongruous with its rural surrounds.
The palace received all the kings of France however it was Louis XV who continued the restructuring that Louis XIV began and it was in the neighbouring Compiègne forest that the future Louis XVI first met Marie-Antoinette of Austria. With such regal history, an exploration of the town and forest is a must.
Picardy is a melting pot of influences yet retains its own distinctly picard feel, exemplified not only in its landscape and architecture but also by its food and drink. Crepes become picard when they are served as the local speciality the ficelle picarde, a pancake stuffed with ham, mushrooms and swimming in a molten Maroilles sauce and similarly, beer, cider and champagne are all given their own unique picard stamp here. While a cursory glance of a menu in Picardy may point towards familiar territory dotted with well-known dishes from the neighbouring regions, the end result is quite distinct and definitely picard.
This oasis of green, natural wilderness dotted with decadent royal residences and idyllic villages is remarkably just a short Eurostar journey from London to either Lille or Paris and, equally, is within easy driving distance of Calais.
In just a couple of hours you can be barefoot in soft, squelching mud or cycling through a cool beech forest earning a hearty meal and a good night’s sleep deep in the picard countryside. And you can have all this with a guilt-free conscience; while you may leave footprints in the sand, your carbon footprint is imperceptible.