Le Crotoy - a love / hate relationship

Raff
Jul 16, 2019
5 min read

Our stay in beautiful Le Touquet was always going to be a hard act to follow- it really is the town with everything (everything we enjoy, anyway!) Beautiful sandy beaches, dunes, stunning cape cod style villas nestled in leafy boulevards and the upmarket and interesting array of shops, restaurants and antique shops which live side by side of these magnificent homes- many substantial holiday homes for families visiting from Paris.

We look forward to returning for a longer stretch, but the aim is to arrive in Honfleur for my birthday (22nd July) which is a long standing tradition for us. We go back to the same restaurant which I adore- Le Breard, where the food is out of this world and in our favourite town in France. So, a move South was necessary.

When John mentioned Le Crotoy as being a good stopping place, I had some slight hesitation and memories back to 2014 when we first visited the town. We arrived late at night and the aire was quite full, motorhomes squeezed next to each other on grey gravel.

Despite it being July, rain lashed down on us and the wind buffeted the motorhome (our previous one, Walter) through the evening. We woke from our light sleep at 5am, surveying the site- not very inspiring with thick fog blanketing the aire. We then suffered a catastrophic power failure- we had no lights, water pumps or blown air heating due to a battery issue. I was mid way through a shower when it completely failed and I was left unimpressed! We were glad to be moving south and out of that town, where the only good thing I remember was the fresh croissants from the local Boulanger.

This was my lasting memory of Le Crotoy and it had left a lasting imprint of an unpleasant visit- in retrospect I can see it was to do with things completely out of the town's control- bad weather and a fault with our battery (which was later rectified by installing a new battery and a solar panel).

I reluctantly agreed to return, hoping that this visit could give us a better experience. After all, in motorhome circles, Le Crotoy is a pretty popular stopping place and I wanted to do it justice.

We arrived at our aire- a paid for site just outside the town at €10.40 night- not bad as it included electric. The pitches were quite tight though meaning John had to do some scary manoeuvres to get ourself onto our pitch (which was huge, once you squeezed past a high curb and thick hedge!). It was also time to do more laundry and grocery shopping so we headed down to St Valerie Sur Somme which was such a beautiful quaint village with a long promenade with huge houses facing on to the estuary and many eateries. We found a self service laundrette (thanks google) and had a stroll as our clothes and towels washed.

We took everything back to the motorhome where we erected our new whirligig washing airer (B&M in Whitstable) and let the sun do its' thing!

The site was pleasant enough.. but, it backed on to a busy road which seemed to become busier and busier as the days went by. Motorcycles racing past, speeding cars, ambulances and lorries all added to the noise and it made it a less than pleasant stay. It seemed impossible to drown it out and the longer we went, the more I seemed to tune in to the noise.

So, on to Le Crotoy. We visited on a Saturday and the town was extremely busy. Understandably- it's a beautiful place with unspoilt charm and character. Fisherman's cottages bedecked in hanging baskets full of geraniums cascading down to the street- artisan cheese shops, charcuteries, organic supermarkets, ice cream parlours and by the main drag, a choice of several seafood restaurants .. which I'll get back to in a moment.

We took a leisurely stroll around the town, taking in a few miles and exploring the beautiful cobbled avenues and hard to find alleyways which lead to the river. The sun was shining and it was beautiful, with a lovely ambiance as families strolled enjoying their day.

We headed back around to the main "drag" where many of the seafood restaurants converge by a park and the water's edge.

It was lunchtime and we were in a good mood so we decided to enjoy a moules lunch with some rose wine. A perfect end to the perfect day, with a positive image of Le Crotoy completely wiping out my bad memories of 2014.

However, within a short while of consuming my moules, I came down with food poisoning. The next two days were not pleasant, particularly the first day. We binged on episodes of Big Little Lies (series 2- it's amazing, I highly recommend it!) and I was able to finish off a small carton of natural yoghurt and water. I hadn't felt that ill for a long time and I ended up quite unsteady and light headed for the next few days.

Of course, after the event, I checked Trip Advisor and it had the worst rating of all eating establishments in the town (30th of 30th),much worse than the local kebab shop, visiting pizza van from God knows where or the random street vendor selling candied nuts and plastic bags full of sweets.. and the reviews spoke of upset stomachs, poorly cooked food and dirty toilets/ kitchen etc. I usually do check reviews for these reasons but it was a spur of the moment decision and it had prime position (it looked better than some of the others). I left my review on Trip Advisor and I learnt my lesson. Despite being on a Keto diet and avoiding all carbs for a few weeks, I gave in and had some bread which I enjoyed but was left feeling quite guilty about!

I feel much better now but unfortunately this bad experience has replaced my last experience and I have no plans to return to Le Crotoy!

Maybe it would be third time lucky? I am not taking the risk though. I've given that place two chances and I was pleased as we left.

The food poisoning and noisy site is now a thing of the past and we are enjoying our favourite stop yet- wild camping by the beach and surrounded by cattle and old fishing boats. There is no electric here but it is peaceful and all I can hear at night are the waves on the shore.

But that's all to come in the next instalment!