Pas de Calais

Personally, I find that shopping makes me drop quite quickly. It is one of my least favourite activities. But, hell, someone's got to do it. And with experience one finds ways to mitigate the downsides, both on the pocket and the ability to stay on one's feet. One of my ways is to do a fair proportion of my shopping in France.

Of course, this method would not reap the same benefits for everyone. It works best for people with cars living ...
...buying alcohol and tobacco. But even household staples can be cheaper across the Channel, and shopping is far from the only reason for making the trip. If you enjoy mooching around foreign places, or just eating out, your best plan is not to be content with shopping until you drop, but to drop in comfort at a French hotel and maybe devote some time to sight-seeing before returning home. To do so need not be expensive: fare deals for overnight stays ... more

Personally, I find that shopping makes me drop quite quickly. It is one of my least favourite activities. But, hell, someone's got to do it. And with experience one finds ways to mitigate the downsides, both on the pocket and the ability to stay on one's feet. One of my ways is to do a fair proportion of my shopping in France.

Of course, this method would not reap the same benefits for everyone. It works best for people with cars living near to the Channel ports, especially if they're interested in buying alcohol and tobacco. But even household staples can be cheaper across the Channel, and shopping is far from the only reason for making the trip. If you enjoy mooching around foreign places, or just eating out, your best plan is not to be content with shopping until you drop, but to drop in comfort at a French hotel and maybe devote some time to sight-seeing before returning home. To do so need not be expensive: fare deals for overnight stays are economical, while French hotels tend to be cheaper than their British equivalents. By staying over you add a lot of interest and excitement to a shopping trip at relatively little extra cost.

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PAS-DE-CALAIS

This review is focussed on the Pas-de-Calais, the French département (equivalent to county) immediately across the Channel from Kent. I apologise to readers who might find crossing by other routes to other départements more convenient, and also to those who having crossed from Kent would want to travel further afield than the Pas-de-Calais, but it is simply impossible to cover all the options in a single review.

Pas-de-Calais is in any case a more interesting and varied département than is sometimes acknowledged. No one would pretend it is the most scenic part of France, but it does offer some pleasant countryside if one knows where to look, as well as historic towns and coastal resorts. Any of a dozen or more localities will repay a stay and exploration.

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GETTING THERE

Couldn't be simpler. Essentially, there are five operators running frequent services:

Eurotunnel (www.eurotunnel.com). Car-on-train shuttles from their terminal on the M20 near Folkestone to Sangatte near Calais. 35 minutes plus check-in time.

P and O Ferries (www.poferries.com). Ferry from Dover to Calais. 75-90 minutes crossing time.

SeaFrance (www.seafrance.com). Ferry from Dover to Calais. 75-90 minutes crossing time.

SpeedFerries (www.speedferries.com). The new kids on the block, operating fastcraft from Dover to Boulogne. Crossing should be 50 minutes, but coming back with them once took nearly 3 hours - might have been just bad luck.

Norfolk Line (www.norfolkline-ferries.com) sail Dover to Dunkirk, just up the coast in the neighbouring département of Nord.

Hoverspeed, alas, are no more.

For all operators, fare structures seem to be variable. It is worth checking the websites for deals and special offers. Fares can also vary by the time of crossing; those who don't mind going early or late pay less. At the time of writing the cheapest overnight fare for car and up to five passengers was £30 return with SeaFrance or Norfolk Line, but subject to restrictions. In any case, that may have changed by the time you read this.

There are also independent websites (e.g. www.ferrysavers.co.uk, www.cheapferry.co.uk, www.ferryto.com) that offer to help passengers identify the best fare for their requirements.

However you approach it, the chances are that four of you will be able to cross by car for about £10 a head. So assuming you are going to bring back your quota of booze (or even a fair proportion of your quota of booze) the saving on that will pay for your fare and begin to contribute to your overnight stay. Bring back a vanload of maximum quotas and other bargains and you might well be ahead of the game even with the overnight stay paid for.

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SHOPPING

Price differentials obviously depend on current exchange rates, but you can almost always rely on significant savings on goods that are heavily taxed in Britain - particularly booze and tobacco. Bottled or canned beer is about half the price for British brands, even less for French ones. Wine is about £1-£2 a bottle less expensive. Cigarettes, I am told, cost considerably less than in Britain, rolling tobacco cheaper less again. In this case, though, I have recently been advised that the gap is narrowing and that for the best bargains one has to drive the 30 miles or so from Calais to the Belgium border. Petrol tends to be cheaper too, so go out empty come back full.

Less explicably, there are often notable savings to be made on everyday grocery items like washing powder, oven foil, tissues or cotton wool. Also for garden goods and DIY hardware. Why these things should be cheaper in France than they are in Britain is beyond my understanding, but not beyond my experience. It is worth going with a list of current British prices for non-perishable household staples, spotting the bargains and stocking up accordingly.

For these purposes almost any big French hypermarket will do. The Carrefour at the Cité d'Europe shopping centre just a couple of miles from the Eurotunnel terminal at Sangatte is well-known (and swarming with English shoppers - I am told, and I believe, that it has a higher turnover in UK-registered credit cards than any retail outlet in Britain). If you want to avoid being one of them, there are also Auchan, Champion and Leclerc supermarkets not far away. Most French towns have at least one (watch out for signs to 'Centre Commercial') on their outskirts. For booze alone, there are numerous specialist outlets in and around Calais, including ones run by Tesco and Sainsbury for those really keen on using their loyalty cards.

But it would be a soulless shopper who went to France for savings alone, and who only shopped in hypermarkets. Food shopping in France is an aesthetic experience, and one best pursued in town centres, where everyday boulangeries, pâtisseries, confiseries, charcuteries and so forth display their wares with a presentational flair seldom seen on this side of the Channel. Even market stalls are often stylish. Of course, it helps that the wares are almost always of the highest quality. The French consumer simply won't settle for less, and therefore doesn't have to.

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PLACES TO SEE - PLACES TO STAY

This cannot be, in the space available, a comprehensive guide to everything to see and do in the Pas-de-Calais. What I propose is to list the main towns, their features and nearby attractions, together with notes on nearby places to stay. I have limited the latter to places where I have either stayed myself or have first-hand reports from people whose opinions I trust. In this context it is worth mentioning that I tend to avoid chains (of which there are several, e.g. Ibis, Novotel, Formule1, Campanile, some of which provide very good value) and look for independent hotels with character.

In alphabetical order:

ARRAS. The Chef-Lieu, or county town. About an hour's drive inland down the A26 motorway, but worth it. Two fine central squares (Grand' Place and Place des Héros) that form the site of a splendid Saturday morning market. Ancient Abbey (St Vaast) near town centre. Also underground passages used as British command centre and field hospital in WW1. Two characterful mid-priced hotels in the town centre are the L'Univers (0033 321 71 34 01) and Les Trois Luppars (0033 321 07 41 41).

BOULOGNE. The secret to enjoying Boulogne is to head up the hill on the north side of the harbour to the lovely old town (La Ville Haute), complete with ramparts (well worth walking the 10 minute circuit) old castle/museum, Basilique with soaring dome and labyrinthine crypt, old squares and streets with cafés and restaurants. The area between La Ville Haute and the port has less character but is good for shopping (seek out Philippe Olivier's famous cheese shop). The Nausicaa Aquarium is an excellent place to take kids. The port and industrial area south of the town are ugly and smelly (Boulogne has a way of letting you know it is a fishing port), but persevere beyond it and you will find the modestly-priced and friendly Hotel de la Rivière at Pont-de-Briques (0033 321 32 22 81). Watch out, though; the restaurant has ambitions beyond its unassuming exterior and although excellent is not so modestly-priced. Less unassuming but also good albeit somewhat pricey is the Chateau Cléry at Hesdin l'Abbé (0033 321 83 19 83). Inland from Boulogne at Wierre Effroy is a warm and welcoming farm-hotel, the inexpensive Ferme du Vert (0033 321 87 67 00), while further inland still at Le Wast is the Hotel Chateau des Tourelles (0033 321 33 34 78), which has good food and friendly service.

CALAIS. To my mind a notably less attractive town than Boulogne, but there is a bit to see in the middle with the Art Museum, War Museum, Lighthouse and Town Hall. There are numerous hotels in the town centre and on the sea front, none of which I've tried, but west of town along the coast near Cap Blanc Nez is the decent and inexpensive Hotel l'Escale (0033 321 85 25 00).

MONTREUIL. Picturesque fortified hill-top town south of Boulogne, about three-quarters of an hour down the A16 motorway from Calais. The mile-long circuit of the ramparts takes in great views and a mediaeval citadel. Cobbled streets and squares lie within. Places to stay include: the posh pricey Chateau de Montreuil (0033 321 81 53 04); less posh and less pricey but touristy Hauts de Montreuil (0033 321 81 95 92); and the weird but rather wonderful Hotel de France (0033 321 06 05 36). Just outside town, people speak well of the Auberge de la Grenouillère (0033 321 06 07 22), and I speak well of the cosy, unpretentious Auberge d'Inxent (0033 321 90 71 19). Inxent, incidentally, is in the pretty Course Valley, just down the road from Beussent, famous for its hand-made chocolates. South East of Montreuil along the equally pretty valley of the Canche is Hesdin with good eating to be had at the Hotel les Flandres (0033 321 86 80 21).

ST OMER. An attractive market town about half an hour's drive inland along the A26 motorway, with a fine Cathedral, pleasant park, and characteristically French central square dominated by a large town hall surrounded by cafés at which to take an aperitif while watching the world go by. North-east of the town are some moodily atmospheric marshlands (the Audomarois), through which boat-trips and walks can be taken from the hamlet of Clairmarais. Also worth seeing is the V2 Blockhaus at Eperlecques. Places to stay locally include two upmarketish Chateaux-hotels - the Cocove (0033 321 82 68 29) (which I like) and the Tilques (0033 321 88 99 99) (which I don't); and the mid-priced, friendly La Sapinière (0033 321 38 94 00). People who like the Chateau Tilques also tend to like the Hostellerie des Trois Mousquetaires at Aire-sur-la-Lys to the east of St Omer (0033 321 39 01 11), but again I don't; both seem to me to be pitched at a certain type of English tourist with pretensions, among whom I would not like to think of myself as numbered. Some way south of St Omer but worth a mention is the little town of St Pol-sur-Ternoise, where the Hotel Le Lion d'Or (0033 321 03 10 44) offered excellent value when I was last there, admittedly some years ago.

LE TOUQUET-PARIS-PLAGE. South down the coast from Boulogne, this is a stylish resort in the summer, a rather chilly wind-swept one in the winter. It boasts plenty of hotels in every price-range but, for reasons that escape me, I've never stayed there. If you want a period experience - the period being early in the last century when Le Touquet had cachet - I'm told it's worth trying the Hotel Westminster, but somehow it's never appealed to me enough to justify the price.

Apart from the numerous privately published guidebooks on the market, a full listing of hotels (and indeed campsites) in the Pas-de-Calais is available from the Comité Régional de Tourisme Nord - Pas-de-Calais, 6 place Mendès France, 59800 Lille, France (0033 320 14 57 57).

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EATING OUT

These days there is cheapish fast food available in France, and generally it is better than you would find in England (try the "flunch" at the Cité d'Europe shopping centre, for example), but it is not what France excels at.

What France excels at is its range of small independent restaurants and hotels serving classic food and regional specialities at reasonable - rather than cheap - prices. Set menus for a three- or four-course dinner at a mid-priced restaurant will generally be in the £10-£20 range, but the quality and value are usually excellent. As with food shops, the French consumer will not tolerate less and establishments providing less do not survive there.

Generally, if I am staying overnight in the Pas-de-Calais, I choose a hotel where I know I will get a decent dinner (see some suggestions above). The hotel will welcome you more warmly if you eat as well as stay there, and you stand a better chance of staggering safely back to bed afterwards.

Given that I expect to eat a big dinner, I have a light lunch. If the weather is fine there is nothing better than buying a baguette, some cheese or saucisson to put in it, perhaps an artichoke or tomato salad from a charcuterie and some grapes to eat in the open air. If it's cold or rainy, you can normally buy a simple plat du jour (recommended main course) - or maybe just a soup and/or starter - quite cheaply. Just because the restaurant will offer you an elaborate menu doesn't mean you have to order an elaborate meal.

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SIGHTS AND ACTIVITIES

Many of the main places to see have already been mentioned above. There are numerous other museums and monuments worth a visit, and they are well advertised and sign-posted locally. Most towns of substance - and some without substance - will have a Tourist Information Office, eager to give you details, though they tend to be reticent about attractions outside their immediate area. Little brochures, leaflets, information sheets and maps are something of a French speciality, and you will soon accumulate far more than you will ever have time to act upon.

However, one worth mentioning, that I have frequently acted upon is a little booklet called Randonnées à Pied, à Cheval et à VTT (walking, riding and cycling routes) issued by the Parc naturel regional de Nord - Pas-de-Calais and obtainable at most Tourist Information Offices, as well as from the main regional one, address as above. Particularly recommended are their walks at Cap Gris-Nez, Forêt d'Ecault/Hardelot-plage, and the Forêt de Boulogne.

Strange to relate, they omit the walk around the battlefield of Agincourt, near Hesdin, though this is a pleasant enough outing for an Englishman and there is fun to be had reading the accounts of the 1415 campaign in the Visitor Centre. For some reason the French version, whilst extolling the success of the French strategy in bringing Henry V to battle at Agincourt, fails to mention the outcome of the ensuing engagement!

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THE NATIVES

The French have a reputation in Britain for being supercilious, snotty and offhand. It is mostly undeserved. It has arisen partly because the British tend to have their first experience of France in Paris - and Parisians have a well-deserved reputation throughout the rest of France for being supercilious, snotty and offhand.

But it is also partly the result of the way English tourists behave. The French are proud of their language and their culture, and they value the everyday courtesies. You do not need to be a fluent linguist to remember to say "Bonjour, monsieur" or "Bonjour, madame" when you start a conversation in a shop or café and to let fall the odd "merci", but it will make a world of difference to how you are received. Once you have shown that you are trying to be polite and to speak the language, the locals will be much more responsive and much more tolerant of your imperfections.

People in the Pas-de-Calais meet more British visitors than people elsewhere in provincial France. This cuts both ways. It means they are more likely to understand and speak some English; it also means they are more likely to have encountered boorish behaviour from British day-trippers primarily intent on maxing out on the cheap booze. This makes it doubly important to convince them that you are not one of the latter, especially if you are.

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What more can I say, except "Bon voyage, et bon appetit"?

© torr 2004, 2006
 

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