LE CROTOY AND COLLIOURE

Over this miserable wet and cold weekend, I watched the brave marathon runners from all over the UK raising money for charity and Rick Stein on Saturday Kitchen, eating a huge plate of fruit de mer in Le Crotoy. This reminded me of the many trips we have made to the French coast – both north and south. Le Crotoy is famous for many things, the beach is unique in that it faces south on the northern French coast. Jules Verne wrote his famous 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, whilst living here and Toulouse-Lautrec and Paul Signac were frequent visitors. Jean Pierre Guerlain lived here and named one of his famous perfumes after the blue colour of the dawn rising on the water – L’Heure Bleue.

During the summer in France we would visit Collioure on the Mediterranean coast, near to the Spanish border. Collioure is renowned for the many artists who would come to paint because of the rare blue quality of the light. Matisse and Derain were the leaders of the Fauves (translated as Wild Beasts) movement, which used strong colour over the realistic style paintings of the Impressionists. Dotted around the town are various copies of famous paintings by the Fauves. One of our favourite restaurants was the Amphitryon, situated right on the beach. Their speciality was a huge fruit de mer platter which would take us most of the evening to eat.

One summer, we packed up our Volvo Esate with luggage, ready to go down to the coast. Abi and her friend Victoria were in the back with Bella, our basset hound. Ed started the car but the engine refused to budge. We tried the garage but that was closed and as it was a French holiday weekend, the emergency breakdown services were unable to get to us until the end of the day. We had no other choice but to take our other car – a mini estate. We transferred everything over to the mini and left for the coast, stopping at Perpignan Airport en route to collect our friend Liz. When we arrived at the hotel, I went to reception to book in and they informed us that they were overbooked and there was no room at the inn until the next day! As it was August, the whole town was full, but the hotel managed to book us into a villa a few miles up into the mountains. The hosts were amazed when we drew up and five people, a basset hound, and many pieces of luggage poured out of the car. The villa was beautiful and we were soon enjoying a cold gin and tonic and swimming in the pool.

The next day, after a delicious breakfast, we re-packed the car and went back to the coast. We booked in to the hotel which overlooked the sea and the coastline with magnificent views. We sat on the balcony looking out to sea, having a glass of fizz and discussing where we would eat that night. We decided to book the Amphitryon Restaurant as it had been recommend by friends – we were not disappointed.

The meal was excellent with the freshest seafood, including live oysters. Victoria, Abi’s friend explained to us how to test if the oysters are fresh by squeezing lemon on them and if they contract, they’re alive and ergo – edible! 😋