France’s Forgotten Fortress: Vauban’s Stronghold by the Sea

France’s Forgotten Fortress: Vauban’s Stronghold by the Sea

In this episode of our journey through 
northern France, we arrive at a commanding reminder of centuries past, Fort Amluse. 
Built at the close of the 17th century under the direction of France’s most esteemed 
military architect, Sebastian Lestra De’vorban. This fort was commissioned by none other than 
King Louie I 14th to defend the vital estry of the slack and the nearby port. Today, 
the fort stands not as a bastion of war, but as a monument of resilience, open 
to the public each Sunday from April through to November. Though we did not step 
inside, we wandered around its perimeter, taking in the striking views and imagining 
the soldiers once stationed there. Join us as we take a look around the fort. A quiet senator 
of France’s northern frontier. Let’s go, folks. We need I’ll tell you what I have got though, 
Ian. If you want to try, I’ve got some dried fish from Japan. I bought Oh, is that is that like 
the dried orange? Do you put it in your gin? Yeah, you I could actually do that. Jin, fish 
scented gin. Absolutely filthy. So, is there no fish? Beef burgers. Chicken burgers. 
I love that. Um, you know, I like Cumberland sausages. They’re lovely. You are a bit fussy 
though, aren’t we? Chris is as well. I don’t know who’s I think Chris is le I think Chris 
is I You’re not as bad, but you are still a bit Where am I going? That down that way. Yeah, 
we said that we’ll come maybe a day when it just pier because it’s cheaper, isn’t it? Get a 
really cheap thingy and we could just do museums because when you spend on D94 continue on D94 
we come over today and it is proper rain. Yeah, you can. That might be a nice day to do a 
museum cuz at least some of it’s inside. It’s open though. It’s Oh, look. They’ve got 
the railway gun. Have you been in Negres? No. We went to go and it was shut. Wow. So, we’re 
doing a We’ll see how well you know we do it all order all of them day hopefully. We have 
been in all fairness we have been saying about that for years that we haven’t actually go shut 
down. Yeah. That’s my debate. There’s a building. Do you remember that one with Colin where we we 
parked at the farmers field and you did a whole video of us sitting there eating? Yeah. A bit 
like um Mim Moyets when we sat out in their car park eating their sausage rolls because it was 
closed. Well, the phone was ringing. Yeah. See, that’s this is Todd here. This is where you go in 
here. Oh, bus tour there. Remember? Yeah. Yeah, I do remember that. Yeah. So, we’re going on folks 
down. Yeah, there it is. Big case, mate. Good. I like Tid. It’s a nice uh You drone it? Yeah, I’ve 
droned it. and Oldenberg. Now you can see in the field there all the other little bits to be fair. 
I’m going to try and do this for I’ll give it a go anyway. I don’t I don’t care about the wind. 
I’ll just try see if bugging things out if it does. I mean the pro my issue with is with the 
wind it’s really hard to get good footage cuz it moves the gimbal and for me there’s no point 
and it is quite I see how it is down there. because I didn’t know that fort existed. 
Look at them waves coming. That nice down there. It’s lovely, isn’t it? So, you come here on 
holiday and spend a week here, couldn’t you? No. Is this where you’re coming for your honeymoon? 
How did you get Is this This is um Debbiey’s 10year surprise. 10 10th anniversary. 600 m. We 
can Oh, look. There you go. can rent the caravans. See? Perfect. Debbie would love it. There might 
be a local restaurant. You can have some snails. Would you eat snails? Definitely not. What if 
you was drunk? Are you a bit more slowly? Slowly. Look, to be fair, I was doing less than 30 miles. 
You’re saying danger? Yeah, it can go in. No, I wouldn’t eat snails. Nothing like that. 
Any insect. I I actually think the whole idea of eating snails is just disgusting. Turn left 
onto Ruger Star Danquin D940. Keep going around, lad. Look at that. It’s an old uh It’s nice, isn’t 
it? Seaside town. Let me get some film with this, folks. This is the new video around the around 
the town. Well, I even filmed out the window. Continue on D940 for 1 and 12 km. Some manure 
there. I think John want to wave. Who’s farted? Oh my god. No, I haven’t. No, he doesn’t like waving. 
Was that giveaway? I don’t know. I went anyway. He was stopped and it looked like he was waiting. 
He probably thought it’s a crazy English driver. We’ll just hang on. Nice, isn’t it? It be nice 
to live here and have a constant smell of sewage. Is French people just look a bit French? M old 
sewage. Jesus, folks. Well, look, he’s going surfing. It’s pretty little cold for surfing, 
isn’t it? It’s a pretty little town though, isn’t it? To be fair, you have 
the old skins. But again, look, look how clean it is, though. There’s no 
rubbish and crap on the floor. Rubbish. It’s nice. Yeah. Bump here, mate. Oh, look. Filits and sandwiches 
there. Good shot. That car’s behind. Jesus, folks. Right. We’re seeing Yeah, we see you in 
the air. How long we got actually? Are we going the right way? I don’t know. 
My navigator’s not navigating. Yeah, we’re going the right way. That’s 3 minutes away. 
It’s not too bad. Only 4 minutes away. We started it. You’re quite far back, aren’t you? Yeah. 
That’s kind of where you was. That’s why I was sort of s I couldn’t put my legs together. Yeah. 
It’s quite quite crowded in the back. Really? It’s a very It’s a massive car space. I love the car, 
but it is very badly designed. I will admit that. Inside it’s like there ain’t much room, is it? We 
would go to like 600 m turn in the back. 600 memb. Yeah, that was a long way, wasn’t it? 3945. So, 
that’s got to be another tank. Oh, yeah. Look. Did you know about that museum? No, I didn’t. Wow. 
Doodle bug. Look at that. Isn’t that good? Closed, I’m guessing. Of course it is. Cool. Bug. Do 
they open museums or they just closed all the time? I think they’re always It’s still like 
Oh, whatever time it is. Where’s my phone? Oh, wait. I think we missed turning. I did 
say right. Coming up. Turn right. Li. No, it’s not in limp. That’s why I Welcome back 
to the UK. What? In 800. Welcome back to the UK. Really? Does anything open in France? 
Sundays are not and it’s 9:00 in the morning. I forgot it’s Sunday. The continent 
of Europe just close everything down on Sundays. Really waste of time. 
Just down the end of this road, folk, we are going to see a castle. 
It’s not a castle. Fort. Sorry. Watch these French ones here. It’s clean though, isn’t it? It’s 
very nice. It’s nice. Look at that. That’s a um old catamarang. That 
was small one though, I believe. That’s a nice house with like the turret 
thing round. Yeah, proper old. Uh uh where now? Straight down. E. It’s like, does the 
road stop here? Because you just don’t know, do you? There’s no lines. There’s no markings. 
Right. That’s right. That I bet that was Look at that. Bet that was an old hotel. Yeah. Look 
at it. 1912 written on that. That’s cool, isn’t it? Is this even a road? Very. Wow. So 
good. Looks like the Adams family house. Leon G. Wow, this is very like Spanish looking, 
isn’t it? It’s like a mosque. Turn right onto Rudy Fort. Then your destination 
will be on the left. Sit down there. Head west on Rooted Way towards Boulevard De 
Liberte. Then turn left onto Boulevard De Liberte. Yeah, let’s do that. Turn left onto Boulevard De 
Liberte. Then you will arrive at your destination. Disappointed. Why? That it’s so windy cuz I really 
would have liked to have droned. There it is. Wow. All right. Huh? What? All right. 
Yeah. What are they doing? Just have his mouth. He’s there. stairs. There’s a car. Do you want to park? Do you want to park? There’s 
a car. Yeah, I am. I’m parking. I need to I’m reversing parking cuz that’s normal. Doesn’t know 
that. Well, then if he goes slow enough, he would know. He stop. That’s fine. I’ll wave, too. Thank 
you. See, I am polite. Oh, that’s that that didn’t go very well, does it? Just just I’ll let him 
pass first. Actually, it went didn’t go too bad. Did you not see him with his 
mouth? Cuz he was he had his binoculars and I’ll turn around. He was going I was going to turn around and go. Oh, that really 
cracked me up. Oh, Jesus, folks. Bless him. Yeah, indeed. He’s a nice folk. Let’s have a look at 
this guy. Right. Can we have a before we go? Do you reckon it’s too windy? Oh, wake up. 
Wake up. What is the Vindoff here? Well, we’re going to have a look. Moderate. Why don’t 
we get to Yeah, I think we worked out before. Moderate is bad. Yeah, but you got a drone app 
that tells you. I just look on my phone. Look, moderate. Well, it tells you whether it’s good or 
not. Really? Um, yeah. Did I download it? Yeah, I did have it. I don’t know if 
I’ve got it on here anymore. Um, there it is. Look. A UAV forecast. I’m offline. 
Ah, I need to turn or did is it off already? Oh, it’s not good. F really gusts 34 miles an hour. 
Close that. I think it be honest. I think it’s too windy. Wind direction blowing. Yeah, 
it’s moving that sign. It’s moving the car. I need to pin this, Chris, cuz I didn’t 
know about this. When we come over to drone, there’s loads of stuff like this down the side. I didn’t know this was here. What is 
it called? Uh, gay four. Who? Huh? He’s still there. Look, he’s falling 
asleep. Bless him. Bless his heart. I don’t know if it’s got a name, you know. 
So, we are someone’s house in it. Oh, yeah. George Clooney. Oh, I’ve got 
no signal. That’s why. Fort D. Yeah, I can’t even pronounce that. But give me 
a second cuz either I’ve got no signal or £4 to get in. Um, opens at 14:30. 
That’s a bit of a weird time. Need to check if my Roman’s on. So either 
I’ve got no signal or my Roman’s off. But today it opens at 1430. Yeah, that’s what 
it is. Half too. I don’t know. That’s what it say. Right. What’s it called again? 
Fort D A M B L E T. Oh, too quick. Fort D. the amborns. Oh, it says it. There you go. That’s That’s where it is. That sounds like Steven 
Hawkins. It is. Why didn’t I know about that? What? Why have you never told me about that 
before? Oh, look. There’s that other museum we drove up. Should I add it to the list? 
What’s that’s that one we just drove her? Oh, it’s on my list already. The one we How come you 
didn’t know about that? Well, yeah. How come you didn’t tell us about the music? Because if you’ve 
got like over 4,000 pins, you think I remember everyone? I would have thought you would have 
remembered down this way cuz it’s sort of like I listen enough of the attitude. Enough of that, 
folk. You reckon we’ll be able to get down onto the rocks and have a look at this castle? I think 
so. I think I’m going to try and get my coat on top of my fleas. Should you have a look then? I 
It’s nicer looking from here to be fair. Yeah, I might ask to borrow his binoculars. Right then. 
We’ll see. We see you on the beach. What’s that? Do you have a boat? Why have 
you got so much? You know, just in case it’s needed, boat. Cheers, honey. Hey. Yeah, I know you were 
considering droning. Yeah, Ian. Do a zoom in, please. That’s far. I can’t 
get in very far. Oh, please do it. Oh, can I go and do like an interview? Excuse me, sir. A nice place to have a flat, though. 
I really want Can we go inside? You all right? Yeah. That just flew back at me. 
No, I didn’t. I’m careful. That is lovely fort though. What’s it for? Fence, isn’t it? Yeah. The 
policy walls, I guess. It’s got some signs here, folks. Should we have a look at these? Looks 
really old. It does. Why is no one as depressed as I am? Right. Translate folk. You speak French. 
Memorial de French. And French. French. Well, that’s pretty unfortunate, folks. Well, we got 
an old photo there from 1970. It’s a shame that they can’t put it in English as well. In 18, no, 
1680. Look at that. 1950. Chris by order of him. De Lewis the the 18th. Um I think we should 
walk around because it’s low tide then if you come you might get a good opportunity. Yeah. 
Should we do that? Should we get down there? Let’s do it before the tie comes 
in. Shall we? Look at that. I’m so annoyed I can’t drone cuz if I go 
up like 100 meters I’m guessing it’s going to be quite windy. Yeah. It doesn’t feel too 
bad. You’ll lose it. If you go out in this, you’re going to lose it. Such a shame. Well, 
this is close. It’s not far, is it? No, it’s not. And I didn’t know about it. So, thank 
you very much. That’s all right. No problem, folks. It’s the last at sea north of 
Sherbour. No, you got you’re you’re screenshot that, can you? So, no. The last 
fort north of Sherborg. Hang on. I didn’t mean to do that. What have I done? What’s it 
say? Google pixels. I I might not go with them, folks. Why? What’s a lot of troubles? Lot of 
troubles. I don’t know how to use a phone. You know this. I’m going to try. Right. The last 
fort I see uh north of Sherborg and the only one in Van north of St. Marlo. It’s also the last 
of the seven sea forts which protected Bologone under Napoleon in 1804. Oh wow. So they’re 
really old, aren’t they? Ain’t that mad? That is so cool. I really love 
that. I need a closeup. Hold on. We get that. So that’s 1804. That is mental. 
That’s like the first stages of the Western Heights. That for a photo landscape. 
Doesn’t need to be in landscape. No. No one likes landscape. Am I just a little weird? Beautiful Fortnite. Yeah, it is. Yeah. An oldie. And it’s nice that it’s low tide. 
You can actually walk around it. That side could say the same 
thing or it could be open. Just the ground. So the sea 
is actually battering this, isn’t it? Yeah. Perhaps it only opens at low 
tide. I didn’t think of that. What? Low tide. Yeah. Yeah. And that’s Mil November. 236 in season Sunday public holidays. 
So it’s always 2:30 to 6. Entrance 5. That’s cool though. Yeah. That is good. 
Guided tours for groups £7 per person, 20 minimum. So 5. That’s cheap to 
be fair. It’s not a lot of money. It’s really cool. I like it. I love forks. 
That’s quite help. That is quite clever. So to do anything Yeah, it is. It’s really I’ll forget 
to use it. Forget about it most of the time. Watch that. It’s quite slippery. Oh 
wow. Quite slippery is an understatement. He just he wants us to fall, don’t he? Like he’s he’s hoping he’s praying that someone 
will slip. I haven’t worn this before, so it’s hard to tell if it’s actually really 
slippery. It is slippery. It is slippery. Well, it’s the rocks are weathered 
more than the actual. Yeah. Sort of similar to Martell Towers, isn’t it? Nicer coming in. I’m not sure. 
It’s quite wet, isn’t it? Maybe going out. Those gun positions at the top there. The gun positions. You reckon I’ve done that Let’s keep this thing. Wow. It’s quite hard to walk 
on these stones, folks. Rocks. I’ll go this way. The rock is going to be a bit too concrete. Oh, yeah. It’s also been repaired there. So, I 
wonder if there’s a bit knocked out. Yeah, it’s true. Maybe you had like a It’s been 
It’s been chopped and changed over the years, isn’t it? Like that building there is probably 
later. That’s been really nicely repointed though, isn’t it? Yeah. I mean, that’s all been really 
nicely repointed. And this the bricks are falling out. Yeah. 1804, folks. It’s nice. It’s lovely, 
isn’t it? So close yet so far from England. So, what beach is that? Not sure, folk. Not sure if 
we’re in Normandy yet, are we? I think that’s the fact we’re not. What’s 
that? Oh, yeah. Oh, wow. There’s a bunker. Oh, there’s two bunkers. Look. And one 
behind there. I didn’t think that was I saw that and it didn’t clock. Is that 
a bunker? Where? Yeah. The one on the side. Yeah. Yeah. And there. And one behind the 
trees over there. There’s one there. Yeah. Jackson over there. Oh. Oh, that’s welcome. 
Is it? Look at that. See, I saw that. I didn’t didn’t looks like sewage or something. Yeah, 
I did. Yeah. I thought it was something to do with drainage. That looks like some sort of 
machine gun, doesn’t it? Sticking out there. That’s why that bit missing over 
there. If you had something in the little concrete building and 
the two section out to get across. Yeah, they we’ll have a look on the maps, but 
I don’t know if there’s more bunkers and bits. Just beyond the grounds of the fort, nestled 
along the sandjunes and battered by seabbze, lie far more recent relics of conflict, the 
German blockhouse bunkers built during the Second World War as part of Hitler’s Atlantic 
Wall. These stark concrete structures now sit silently along the coast, their presence both 
sobering and surreal. They’re next on our journey, and they tell a very different story. 
See you then, folks. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Northern France: Coastlines of Conflict

Join us on a cinematic road trip across Northern France, where war and history have left lasting scars along the cliffs and beaches.

From the mighty Fort Vauban — a 17th-century stronghold built by Louis XIV — to the eerie remnants of German Blockhaus bunkers, we’re uncovering stories of invasion, defence, and forgotten conflict.

Escape the Chaos:
https://www.youtube.com/@Escape-the-Chaos

This is Episode 2, but don’t forget to check out the previous episode, where our journey began beneath the English Channel via the Eurotunnel, heading into France and tracing the path of the Atlantic Wall.

Epsiode 1:

New locations every week. Forgotten history. Unearthed.

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⚠️ Dangers of Exploring:
Urban exploration and bunker exploration can be extremely dangerous and may involve risks such as unstable structures, hazardous materials, and legal consequences. This video is for entertainment and educational purposes only. Do not attempt to recreate or imitate any activities shown. Always prioritize your safety and obey all local laws and regulations. The creators of this content do not encourage trespassing or unsafe behavior.