After a wet evening and night unfortunately the morning wasn’t much better with a fine drizzle falling. The rain seemed to ease by late morning so we decided to make a break for it and set off to walk along the coastal path down into Boulogne. The first section of the walk was very pleasant through a nature reserve on the cliffs above the sea and then Port – don’t be deceived by the blue sky as these photos were taken yesterday….

As we ascended into Boulogne our route took us close to the Port and through the surrounding industrial area, not the most attractive or sweetest smelling area and to just improve things a light rain started to fall. I found this wall art on the side of 3 identical neighbouring residential blocks a rather odd mix of subject matter….

In the distance we could see the Basilica of the Fortified Old Town towering high over the town and set that in our sights.

We wandered through the rather grubby streets of the outskirts before passing through the tidier but rather quiet mostly pedestrianised streets of the new town….

Eventually arriving at the gates of the Old Town which were surrounded by fine well kept gardens with various monuments….

The Basilica (although not strictly allowing dogs) was pretty impressive….

Behind the Basilica is the moated castle, now a museum….

It was at this point that the rain started falling in earnest as we made our way down to the beach – which we had seen from a distance whilst walking the coastal path yesterday….

A quick bit of off lead play for a rather soggy Tilly as we still have about a 3 mile walk back up to the Aire. Fortunately we are on electric so will be able to crank on the heating to dry off – one tired pup….

Today’s stats:

• Miles walked – 9
• Beaches – 1
• O/N – £13