Calais

After leaving London we spent one night in Dover before taking a ferry to Calais. We had been reading a very old guide book about Dover so we arrived there under the impression that there were two hostels in Dover. We wandered for a long time in the pouring rain before discovering that the numbers are done differently over there. Where we go back and forth across the street, they go down one side and back up the other. So we turned around and trudged back the way we came until we reached the appropriate location. And to our horror there stood an abandoned and burnt building.

We asked at the tourist information place and they said there was no hostel in Dover and hadn't been for years. So we found the cheapest B&B we could (still a fortune). We thought a double bed was cheaper than two singles so we said we would share. The man gave us a funny look and thinking back, the rooms were probably the same price.

They served us an english breakfast that Willow took advantage of but I didn't have much appetite for the greasy food. But we were paying for it anyway so I tried to eat as much as I could. This turned out to be a mistake when we were crossing the channel. It wasn't too rough

but I spent the entire time with my head on the table.

When we arrived in Calais it was so windy that they couldn't lower the foot passenger ramp so we had to wait until all the cars were off and they sent a bus on to get us.

We set off with a little map to find our hostel. Determined to avoid paying for the bus. Of course hours of wandering the industrial part of Calais followed but eventually we found our way and discovered that the hostel was quite nice. And not far from the beautiful beach. The Video below is to illustrate the fun we had on that beach.

We left Calais after only one night there (it is really very small) and boarded a train for Paris...