which I thought that would be an hilarious place to visit. With a 5-star rating, this campsite had everything, but it wasn’t the site that brought wonder to my inexperienced mind; it was seeing the Milky Way for the first time, filling an unpolluted sky with magic and brilliance. I’d heard of the Milky Way, but in industrial Lancashire, where I lived, you were lucky to see the sky at all.
Pastis, raclette, crèpes suzettes, frog’s legs, snails and mademoiselles were still in my future, but that first visit taught me a few things: the French are curious, friendly and a proud nation with a penchant for contact sports like car parking and queuing. But they make exceedingly great wine and cheese…and I brought a lot of it back with me, although the fromage fermier never made it to the ferry port.
That was more than forty years ago; I’ve been back every year since, and each time hope not to experience Force 10 again.