After Rue, the D940 meanders through yet more dry fishing hamlets, whose crouching cottages are reminders of their former poverty. Some, like LE CROTOY, have enough sea still to attract the yachties, and are enjoying the inevitable holiday- and second-home boom. Le Crotoy's south-facing beach has attracted numerous writers and painters over the years: Jules Verne wrote Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea here, and Colette, Toulouse-Lautrec and Seurat were also frequent visitors. For accommodation, try the bed and breakfast provided by Mme Larsonnier at 26 quai Courbet on the harbour (tel 03.22.24.50.87; €40–55).On the other side of the bay lies ST-VALÉRY-SUR-SOMME, accessible in summer by a steam train (Easter–June & Sept–mid-Oct Wed, Sat & Sun; July & Aug Tues–Sun; tel 03.22.26.96.96 www.chemin-fer-baie-somme.asso.fr; €7–13) from Le Crotoy and Noyelles, and by two buses a day from Noyelles. This is the place from which William, Duke of Normandy set sail to conquer England in 1066. With its walled and gated medieval Citadel still intact and its brightly painted quays, free of modern development, looking out over mudflats and tilting boats, St-Valéry really is the jewel of the coast. Apart from the Écomusée Picarvie (April–Sept Mon & Wed–Sun 2–6pm; July & Aug also open Tues; €4) with its interesting collection of tools and artefacts relating to vanished trades and ways of life, there's little to do but enjoy the quiet. People walk and dig for shellfish, but you have to be extremely careful about the tide. When it's high it reaches up to the quays, but withdraws 14km at low tide, creating a dangerous current; equally, it returns very suddenly, cutting off the unwary. The town's tourist office (July & Aug daily 9.30am–noon & 2.30–7pm; Sept–June Tues–Sun 9.30am–noon & 2.30–5pm; tel 03.22.60.93.50) is situated on the quayside. There are two very attractive hotels, both with deservedly popular restaurants: the Hôtel du Port et des Bains (tel 03.22.60.80.09; €40–55; restaurant from €15), right on the quayside after the tourist office as you drive in from Rue; and the grander Relais Guillaume de Normandie (tel 03.22.60.82.36, fax 03.22.60.81.82; €40–55; restaurant from €14) on the waterside promenade at the foot of the old town. About 9km to the east of St-Valéry, and 2km from the station in Noyelles-sur-Mer (served by the steam train) lies the hamlet of NOLETTE. This is home to one of the most unusual war graves in France: a Chinese cemetery, where 887 members of the Chinese Labour Corps are buried. Employed by the British army in World War I, most of them died of disease. Their neat headstones, sharing two or three rather perfunctory epitaphs – "A good reputation endures for ever", "A noble duty bravely done" – lie in a field just outside the village.
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