Bologne
By Léonie Cooper profile image Léonie Cooper
3 min read

Bologne

Said goodbye to Vince this morning as he went out the door to work; he said see you in Scotland but I doubt if he will connect with me there. I thanked him for his hospitality, he laughed which made me a wee bit paranoid.

I am returning to the UK for two reasons, first: my french family never engaged with me, and second: problematic health is requiring medical treatment. I don’t want to go back but see no other option. I walk out of Wervik, over the bridge into Wervik-sud. Instead of going to Lille, I took the A25 past Comines. The first and second lifts came from a woman and took me to Comines and Armentires

The second lift came from a man who claimed to work for the music industry, he dropped me off outside Dunkerque on a motorway slip road. The next lift came an hour later from a work van, they dropped me a few junctions south.

A Romanian lorry driver stopped, he took me to the port of Calais but would not take me over the channel, citing ferry fare. Hitchhiking onto the ferry was useless here, I walked over to the ticket office, 45 euros they wanted.

Hungry, with only my six Euros in my purse I decided to walk into Calais town centre to find something to eat.

This place had some wonderful buildings, very pretty

Disturbed and now triggered and anxious I picked up my walking pace, but managed to stop at a grocery and a supermarket; purchased an avocado and a tasteless shredded salmon sandwich. At the southern edge of Calais, I found a fort.

Here I tried to rest and unscramble my wound up mind.

Assessing my situation I asked people online for help, and all refused, and one ignored me and did not reply to me. I then decided to leave Calais out of safety concerns.

Continuing to walk south along a footpath, through a retail park, then a village until I came to a roundabout, not just any roundabout, this roundabout had a channel tunnel drill.

The first lift came from a man who could not understand a word I was trying to say to him, he dropped me off in a car park outside Marquise. With the remaining money, about 2 Euro I purchased some much-needed fruit juice from Lidls.

The last and final lift of the day came from a man playing dance music in his car, give me a mini tour of Bologne before dropping me off in the town centre.

From here, at sunset I found myself walking through the port.

Towards a pier.

Past a port building / lookout tower.

To take a sunset picture at the end of the pier.

walked along the river leaving Boulogne. Took much time walking a long road through an industrial estate in a place named Saint Leonard’s before arriving in Saint Etienne au Mont.

By Léonie Cooper profile image Léonie Cooper
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Diary Belguim France Hitchiking