Best Hotel Reccs?
Bearing in mind I'm more Arsey than Timolgra if get my drift ...
Hotels are personal things, some will not stay anywhere that does not have a lockable garage to stable their steeds in, whilst others are happy to leave their awesome on the street. Me? I will use either method and employ a little common sense. On this trip we used the Ibis Budget hotel in St Omer and the Poste hotel in Bouillon. Here’s an example of why:
I chose St Omer as it’s a convenient town to stay in, if you plan on travelling over on the Chunnel in the mid-to-late afternoon or evening. We caught the 15:30 train, arriving in St Omer at about about 18:00 by the time the three of us had filled up at the petrol station. Why the Ibis Budget and not one of the other hotels (including a regular Ibis) in the town? Easy. I made the bookings late and wanted the ability to cancel should one or both of the bods with me not make it. The Budget hotel was cheaper (by about euro 30) for the one night in question, it has a better car park, has two petrol stations conveniently close at hand, is easier to get to than the other Ibis and is only 10 to 15 minutes easy walk in to the town’s main square to eat. Thirty euro pays for either a chunk of petrol or the evening meal, so it’s a worthwhile saving. I didn’t want to have breakfast in the Ibis Budget. Why? Because I wanted to ride to Bouillon the next day down the country roads, rather than take the motorway to say Cambrai or St Quentin; this route takes longer, so I figured on leaving at eight rather than the more usual departure of say nine or nine thirty. This got us underway in good time and we could stop after about an hour, at nine, to have a coffee and croissant breakfast in a cafe in St Pol. Time saved, some money saved, it’s a bit more ‘fun’ and it suited me, which (to some extent or another) is all that matters.
Had the Ibis Budget been situated (as some are) a mile or more outside of the town centre or on some dreadful industrial estate (as some are) I would probably have chosen something different or a different town entirely. Had I gone over on an earlier train or even the next morning, I’d probably not have stayed in St Omer at all. Horses for courses, I guess.
To give an alternative example of where I have stayed: The cafe at Cap Gris Nez. This is not a hotel at all, it’s a cafe / bistro (they speak a tiny bit of English only) but they have three or four rooms upstairs, which I only discovered by chance after stopping there for a coffee for years. It’s basic, shared toilet and bathroom (some people refuse that) and the owners are friendly. That they do not speak English will put some off completely *. The motorcycle parking is outside, which will put some off, for sure. The menu is in French (it’s what they and most of their customers speak) and will include moules and other ‘bottom dwellers’ which will not suit some punters from the UK. I like the place, others will hate it or simply not stay there at all, no matter what.
* I can get by in schoolboy French. I don’t speak Japanese, Croatian or Spanish. That would not put me off staying somewhere similar in Japan, Croatia, South America or Spain. To me it’s part of the fun. Learn to count to say, five or at a push 10, to say please and thank you and maybe the local word for beer and give it a go. It’s free and nobody will shoot you.