"A kind of East Groningen, but full of abandoned industrial areas, poverty, drugs and Africans who want to go to England". The critical viewer in Northern France is putting on an overly critical jacket.
Look at it positively: it is not very touristy and the region up to about four hundred kilometers from here can also be reached and driven quietly on secondary roads with a calm classic.
And if you just let yourself be guided by the inspiration of the moment, then you will arrive at the nicest places and places. You will find classics that are not nearly as well preserved as under the Loire, but often look extremely picturesque.
Or you end up in Hotel du Liverpool without a plan or an appointment, where the considerably tipsy owner with glasses repaired with a lot of tape cheerfully skips her head seriously in an agenda of last year to find out if she still has a room available for you ...
To imagine, watch the film first Welcome to the Sticks