Day trip in North France?

[go_slow]

Wimereux is a lovely seaside town, a lovely drive along the coast road gets you there. I can highly recommend the beach cafe, excellent food. Its on the D940 before you get to boulogne, as lazy said, thats an excellent road.

http://www.informationfrance.com/disp_town.php?town_id=130

Just up the road is the aquarium in boulogne, thats worth a visit.

 

[Panter]

Yeah, agree with that .. we will take ours over and show them things like the Menin Gate and some of the war graves so as they can understand what happened in the past. But they need to be an age when they can understand what they're seeing.

Anyway, if you follow the D940 between Boulogne and Calais, you will pass Les Deux Caps - Blanc Nez and Gris Nez - which are a bit bleak and windswept but are both places you can get out of the car and wander about a bit. There's also a few beaches along that route.

Thanks for that, sounds perfect

Don't get me wrong, I would very much like to see the war graves but I feel it is a very emotive thing, I end up blubbing like a baby just seeing the images on TV let alone actually being there.
It's very important that she learns what happened, and appreciates it, but it wouldn't be a fun day out for her.

thanks again,

 

[rich p]

Montreuil is a nice bastille town with a great rampart walk abot 30 miles south of Calais and nearby Le Touquet has a good dune/beach area and some quirky buildings.

 

[Panter]

Top stuff, thanks guys

Looking forward to this now

 

[karen.488walker]

I 2nd le touquet. Been there a few times from the tunnel. Also you can pre order wine at sainsburys to pick up on the way back if you fancy it. Boulogne sur le mer also good. Good sea life centre. Every restaurant is good in le touquet. yet to hit a duffer.

 

[karen.488walker]

http://www.nausicaa.fr/index.php?lg=en

 

[TheDoctor]

+1 on Nausicaa - it's very good.

There's lots of WW2 museums, especially if you go along the coast road from Calais to Boulogne. Loads of little fishing villages and beaches. Deffo get the hell out of Calais as soon as possible tough! Boulogne is a lot nicer, and 45 mins away on the coast road - about 20 on the motorway, which is free between Calais and Boulogne.

Aqualud water park at Le Touquet is also good fun.

 

[Lazy-Commuter]

Thanks for that, sounds perfect

Don't get me wrong, I would very much like to see the war graves but I feel it is a very emotive thing, I end up blubbing like a baby just seeing the images on TV let alone actually being there.
It's very important that she learns what happened, and appreciates it, but it wouldn't be a fun day out for her.

thanks again,

.. totally understand where you're coming from on that; I feel the same way. I stopped overnight in Ypres with some colleagues on a work trip and we went to the Menin Gate. It's a big monument, and completely covered in names. A very moving and humbling experience. I feel it's important for kids to understand it, but it's a long way from a fun day out for them.

Montreuil is a nice bastille town with a great rampart walk abot 30 miles south of Calais and nearby Le Touquet has a good dune/beach area and some quirky buildings.

Yep, I'll vote for both of them as well. Me and Mrs-LC stayed a night in Montreuil several years ago when we did a small motorcyle buzz round Normandy for a weekend. We took an early crossing on the Tunnel and were heading down the D940 (coast road) at about six in the morning (fancied that rather than the motorway). We were up on a high point, it was a nice clear day in July and we could see the White Cliffs across the Channel .. quite a sight.

And the nice lady in the B&B at Montreuil moved her car out of her garage so we could park the bike in it.

 

[karen.488walker]

Where did you go?

 

[Panter]

Nowhere yet

Probably going to go in a couple of weeks time but I wanted to get some ideas before we even started planning it.

Thanks for all the suggestions all, there's nearly enough there for the weeks trip we'll do if the day trip goes well

 

[Paul Narramore]

Over the years I've travelled around the Nord Pas de Calais region countless times. Certainly the coast road between Calais ond Boulogne is very good and usually pretty quiet, and if you run out of time, the fast autoroute back to Calais only takes twenty minutes. For years we've stopped at the Restaurant Le Blanc Nez at close to Cite d'Europe and 50yds from the beach. Cap Blanc Nez and Cap Gris Nez are worth stopping at. The entire coastal road is very picturesque.

Personally Calais is best avoided as it was flattened during WW1 and 2 and is a pretty souless place.

St.Omer is quite nice but doesn't seem to have much to do there.

Ypres as has been mentioned has the Menin Gate where trumpeters from the local fire station play the Last Post every evening. Very emotional.

Bruges. Very beautiful but very touristy. This used to be a sea port centuries ago and still has canals winding through the city. The boat trips are excellent with multi-language speaking guides. Go up the bell tower in the main square. Buy frites mit frites sauce from the wooden wagon at the bottom of the bell tower. Musels are a must. Try a horse & carriage ride.

Cassel. On the French/Belgian border. Sat on the top of a hill with a windmill on top. For the price of a ticket visitors are also given a bag of freshly ground flour. The hill? This was the hill that the grand old Duke of York marched his men up and down.

Montreuil. The town is perched up on battlements with a commanding view across the countryside. Home of Jean Valjean (Les Mis) and Field Marshal Haig's HQ during WW1.

Dunkirk. I've never seen much in Dunkirk but am thinking of taking the bike over there in the next few weeks.

Cyclists must park their car in Dover, ride to the ferry then board as foot passengers - about £5 each. We're thinking of either riding to Boulogne and back (although it's hilly) or the other way following the old coast road to Dunkirk (which is flat).

Anyone taken their bikes over to France for a day trip?

 

[Panter]

Thanks all, we're in Montreuil right now!

Will post back later with bow the day went. Still trying to get used to driving on the Right at the moment!

 

[Mortiroloboy]

If you opt for the Newhaven Dieppe crossing (4hours) IIRC , your daughter will get plenty of time on a large(ish) ferry.

Upon arrival, you will find that Dieppe is an established Norman port town, it has a lovely chateau, various places to eat in the town centre, lots of interesting shops (if that is your thing) A fresh fish market by the Harbour. There used to be a Citroen 2CV factory there at one time. There is also some military interest, Dieppe was the location of the August 19th 1942 raid by the Canadians, it was a precursor to the D day landings,and was intended as a 'dry run' but as far as the Canadians were concerned an unmitigated disaster, but lessons were learned that meant the D day landings went more to plan.

Plenty of evidence of Hitlers 'Fortress Europe' on the cliffs above the beach where the Chateau sits, and from where the Germans were able to inflict total carnage on the Canadians. There is a bench overlooking the beach behind the Chateau, where nearby is a steel observation turret, which looks just like the top of a Dalek!

Along the beach promenade are grassed areas and childrens play parks, back from the beach and into the town there is (or was) I haven't been to Dieppe for a while, a brasserie called 'La Tribune' which serves food and drinks, enjoy a cafe au lait, a beer or glass of wine.

As a family we used to holiday every year at Dieppe, in those days the crossing was made in a SNCF (French National Railways) ferry, the two vessels that crossed from Newhaven were the Valency and the Villandry,(named after local chateaux) both long since rendered into razor blades! the ferries not the Chateaux!

We camped on a site at the top of the town in what had been a WW2 German Radar/Anti aircraft battery barracks.(Great fun investigating the old bunkers) the toilet/wash rooms had been the same ones as used by the occupying Nazi's.

At the back of the site was a velodrome (of sorts) which was basically a flat cycle race track, in August there used to be local races held, which were always well attended.

 

[rich p]

He's already there Mortiroloboy!

 

[Mortiroloboy]

He's coming back though? Right. then he'll read my reply and want to go back to visit Dieppe.