Maurice Godefridi

· 06 Dec 2021

Follow Following

With my motorhome in Montreuil

There are plenty of small, almost abandoned towns in France. Crossing the country with the camper you will find them unexpectedly in search of a place to sleep. This is how we also end up in Montreuil sur Mer, a forgotten French fortress town with a great history.

Tuesday, August 9
To the dentist, new teeth and unexpectedly pulled 3 teeth and then immediately with the motorhome in the direction of Brittany. It must be able. We drive to Calais and on to Boulogne, not winding along the coast but just on the motorway. From Boulogne we are looking for National and Departmental roads again, even though to find a place to sleep. Let's try Le Touquet, Paris Plage is also called the town and therefore 'grand chic'. One is therefore not waiting for camper campers. Nice to have seen, but we're only driving a little more into the hinterland. And so we end up in Montreuil sur Mer, about 13 km away from the sea, but on the Canche on a hill and that was of course the place to build fortified fortifications. We stay overnight all the way down. Nice by the river but with an ugly railway on the other side. A little nice and a bit spilly spot and French too. But what else can you expect. We are in France.

I myself at the moment also feel a bit spill. My new teeth are good, but the gums are very sensitive not to say painful. But what do you want, tear 3 teeth out of the gums and then stick a new denture over it?. That mouth must be scared. Food has become mostly drinking, yogurt, juice or everything juicy for the time being. Back to my baby time and back to Montreuil.

Montreuil sur Mer on the Canche
Montreuil not only has a French but also a Flemish past, because once belonging to the Netherlands with the Flemish name 'Monsterole'. The city originated from the creation of an abbey, hence the name Monsterole and Montreuil, of the Latin Monasterium or monastery. The Canche River also once bore the Dutch name of 'Kwinte'.
The name '. sur mer' becomes clear when one knows that the city was very prosperous until the mid-16th century, with a port on the river Canche that was directly connected to the sea. But everything bogged down, and when Emperor Charles also passed by with his army, and destroyed large parts of the city, the prosperity in Montreuil was definitely over.

The citadel and the city walls are part of a set of fortified bastions that were commissioned by the French King French I (13th century). It is strange to walk on those huge ramparts at nightfall. What do these immense buildings do in a lost French town. History becomes palpable. High on the well-groomed city walls, you have a nice view of the rural surroundings. It's quiet too, an elderly couple in love on a couch, two young men who hang out peacefully, light and moving silhouettes behind the windows of a kind of retreat house. An almost mystical mo (nu) ment.

Victor Hugo and Montreuil
The shadow of the writer Victor Hugo still lives under 'the tall trees of Montreuil'. Even though he has only been there for one day on September 4, 1837. The city must have impressed him because he partly situates his famous novel 'Les Miserables'. “A son arrivée à Montreuil-sur-Mer, il n'avait que les vêtements, la tournure et le langage d'un ouvrier. Il paraît que, le jour même où il faisait obscurément son entrée dans la petite ville de Montreuil-sur-Mer, à la tombée d'un soir de décembre, le sac à dos et le bâton d'épine à la main, un gros incendie venait d'éclater à la maison commune. Cet homme s'était jeté dans le feu, et avait sauvé, au péril de sa vie, deux enfants qui se trouvaient être ceux du capitaine de gendarmerie; ce qui fait qu'on n'avait pas songé à lui demander son passeport. Depuis lors, on avait su son nom. Il s'appelait le Père Madeleine”.

Hundreds of Montreuil residents now wear the clothes of their ancestors and those of the figures in his novel every year. Reality and fiction intermingle, history and dream overlap in the mysterious framework of the citadel.
Even without extras, there is a mysterious atmosphere in the citadel at nightfall. From the ramparts I can get into the thick stone walls through a small opening and thus get out of the city through a dark corridor with shooting holes. As if I have to flee the city! Through the steep alleys outside the walls, I get back to the Canche and to my own blinded castle. Tonight I can dream of knights and other romantic figures from a distant past, at least if my teeth leave me alone.