The trip from Blankenberge to Calais was a breeze, it’s so much easier and quicker when you have the tide with you! We left at 7am, about an hour before the tide turned in our favour. Once it did we carried a 1.5 knot tide all the way and it just started easing as we got to Calais.
The timing was absolutely perfect as in Calais you have to go through a bridge to enter the marina, which opens 2 hours and 1 hour before high water and a couple of times after high water. As we arrived we knew the bridge was about to open as all the other boats outside the marina were undoing themselves from the waiting buoys, so we just floated about for a minute, the bridge opened and in to the marina we went. As I said, perfect!
There is a great marina in Calais with a Netabord wifi (not free). There is no laundry in the marina but there is one 5 minutes walk away in the town. Basically as you come out of the marina if you turn left you go to a massive sandy beach and if you go right you go into town.
Top-Tip:
If you want to go into the city centre proper there is a small free bus which takes you into the centre and the stop is just as you get into town on the ‘Rue de Le Mer’. If you take the bus and get off at the theatre stop you can take another bus, no 1, that takes you to first a big Auchen and then goes on to City Europe and costs all of 1€ per person.
If you go to the beach there are lots of activities for kids, plus of course ice cream by the bucket load. We took Lucy for her first paddle in the sea and of course an ice cream. We really weren’t prepared, we had no towel or change of clothes or a swimming nappy but we made do and she had a great time playing in the sand and paddling in the surf.
Cost : 30€ inc electric
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