Finally we had a chance to get away for a weekend. We took off mid afternoon Friday and hit the road to Dover. Probably not the best idea hitting London traffic on a Friday afternoon but amazingly it only added about an extra 15 minutes to our travel time.
From Bristol to Dover is about 3 1/2 hours of mostly highway driving so very easy going however incredibly boring. With the long days of summer in full swing we got to Dover with plenty of daylight hours left to explore.
We stayed just outside of Dover in Alkham at The Marquis. I have yet to do my Trip Advisor recommendation on this hotel but in short it was a lovely stay, fabulously comfortable bed, excellent shower and they even put together a breakfast tray for us as we were leaving in the morning before the normal breakfast sitting started. All this for only 55 pounds. Not bad.
Dover on the other hand was rather less glamorous however this was to be expected as a port city. We got to see the White Cliffs of Dover and Samphire Hoe. This was rather interesting as Samphire Hoe looks like it is a natural cliff face however it has actually been man made from the materials extracted during the Euro Tunnel Channel construction. Amazing! Much less amazing were the White Cliffs. Pretty yes, interesting, not really. I am glad I have seen them but to be honest they didn’t really excite me at all.
It was then off to Folkstone for fish and chips for dinner before hitting bed ready for our ferry adventure to Calais.
Generally foot passengers are a rarity on the ferries. Some don’t even accept them onboard (e.g. Norfolk Line). Here I was being all organised and pre-booking etc and in reality the guy at the counter said there were another 280 seats still available for foot passengers. Even during peak season you can generally be guaranteed a seat.
It was great to go back into France. We spent Saturday eating cheese, bread and pastries, walking on the beach and generally walking all over the town. Then we took a bus ride out to Cite Europe to visit the hypermarkets. This place is HUGE. It has the largest Carrefour supermarket I have ever seen! It could take you hours to walk around here but we weren’t really that keen on doing any shopping. Traditionally Brits come here to stock up on tax free items such as wine, spirits etc. To be honest, unless you are a regular drinker or own a shop I don’t know that it is really that worthwhile. We didn’t even bother buying any cheese as the brands on offer were no different from what we can get in England and the prices were marginally cheaper.
Calais was holding a music festival all weekend so by 4pm the streets had been closed off to cars and we had the run of the town. Live music, food stalls, good vibes. Thankfully our hotel was tucked just off the main street as the music was very loud!
Sunday was spent eating more cheese, bread, pastries and I even had some mussels with Roquefort cheese. Delicious!
Most people I have spoken to wondered why we bothered going to Calais. Personally it was an ideal weekend destination which we found relaxing, full of good food places, a lovely long beach and very easy to walk around. It was only 15 minutes walking time to the port from the city centre so we didn’t even need to bother with the bus. It was also a great opportunity to practice my tragic french! Once I finish downloading the photos I will post some.
