Day 6, Part 1: Calais and the Strait of Dover – 2014 Medoc Marathon Diary No. 16

Medoc marathon and North French trip in September 2014
Medoc marathon and North French trip in September 2014

Local time: September 16

This time it will be relatively light. Next time it will be heavier.

I stayed one night in Lille, and I should have returned home by now, but my stay was extended due to the Air France strike, so I can spend two more days sightseeing.

However, I can’t make a drastic excursion because the rental car I hurriedly rented in Paris has a mileage limit.

So, I decided to continue wandering around Northern France loosely.

Going for the Curry

First thing in the morning, we headed to a town called Calais. The place is around here. I wonder if I can write « Curry » in katakana like this.

We made it through the morning traffic in Lille and arrived just after 10am.

When I was wandering around the city at random, I arrived at the vicinity of what seemed to be the city hall. It is very magnificent.

It is quite a nice city as far as I saw from the car window. By the way, the parking lot in front of the city hall seemed to be free.

City Hall and the Citizens of Calais

When it comes to curry, the first thing I’d say is « Citizen ». Rodin’s.

There was a JoJo-like citizen.

The flower beds are magnificent.

Straits of Dover

There was an information desk in the city hall and I could get a map of the city, but there seemed to be a little museum, but it didn’t seem to be much, so I went back to the car and moved to the sea.

Yes, the Strait of Dover. On the other side of that is England.

I was in a daze, wondering why I had come to this place.

ferry landing

While I was looking at the sea, I thought to myself, « Will I go to England or Le Havre? So I decided to go to Le Havre.

I’ll explain in a moment.

  • 「エトルタ行ったことない→行きたい」
  • 「でもレンタカー距離制限ある→どのみちお金かかるならフェリー楽しいかも」

The idea was to go to Etrurta via Le Havre.

If you exceed the distance limit, you will be charged an additional fee proportional to the excess distance. On the other hand, traveling by ferry also costs money. But if it costs money anyway, a ferry ride might be more fun than a very tiring long-distance drive. That’s why.

But, is there a ferry to Le Havre in the first place? So I went to the ferry terminal anyway.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure, but it seemed like the only way was to go to England, so I decided to walk away without doing anything, partly because it was so annoying.

Doesn’t matter, but the shop here, £1 = €1….

If it wasn’t for the distance limit, I would have gone overland to Etrurta without hesitation…

We ended up going back to the Somme.

After this, I briefly looked at Lonely Planet which I bought in Lille yesterday, but there seemed to be nothing after all, so I decided to go to the next destination.

In the end, we decided to go back to « Somme » which we passed yesterday. Details next time.

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