Must Get Out This Weekend

[trebor]

After phoning the locals in and around dover. I was getting the feeling that the chances of getting into the channel this weekend were slim. My usual contacts on holiday or about to go on holiday, away on family trips or knee deep in painting and decorating. It wasn,t looking good. I'd checked the weather for the weekend. Saturday morning looked ok. The wind picking up in the afternoon. Sunday not great with strong winds all day.. It was thursday night before my last contact had no good news. NO DIVING. This is really bad news..
How is one going to get in the channel. P&O ferries is my last resort maybe I could ask the captain If i could..... No that's really a bad idea...
So day trip to Calais. It's not a real drama to get to Calais as I live in Kent. Twenty minutes to Dover, 90minutes crossing and hey presto! France..

Onboard we enter from the stern of the ferry and made our way towards amidships where full English awaited us. Up onto the decks its windy and foggy. The sea itself is'nt that lumpy. The wind must be travelling the same direction as the tide. There is only the first signs of white horses..Back down below decks we head towards the bow section for a good look around and a pint of Boddingtons... My buddy signals to me that its time to go. So we disembark with no further incident.
Out side the ferry terminal we catch the bus into town. This is made really easy.. You don't have to feel like a complete prat,trying to remember your o 'level french "je voudrais un billet a la centre ville, s'il vous plait." The bus is clearly marked in english. Bus into town 1.1/2 euro' s Great..

Theres not that much to see in Calais as the Germans flattened about seventy percent of it in 1940. However I like it. Very good seafood (mussel and Chips mostly), great beaches with gun implacements, Bunker complexes..and inner city fort with citadel which was the last line of defence before the fall of Calais. If these relics of the second and first world war were in england they would be locked up, fenced off... Very impressive and worth a look. How ever I get execited when I see a pill box in kent. Don't know, what that's about..
There is also a very good war musuen in the city park. (around the corner from the rail station). The museum itself is a German bunker and gun implacement. It looks cool if that's possible.. The park has grown up around it almost like camoflage.. A really good museum. I've been before about three years ago it was only a few euros to get in. Its a bit more now. They have models, guns, shells, engines, bombs and loads of info on shipping and subs. News papers engish and french from the period. Could be a good place to source information on channel wrecks...

After a bit more beer and a bite to eat, we return to Dover an hour early than we left France. As we were only foot passengers it was only 12quid return each, got stung on the parking £10. We had a lovely day in the channel and calais. Sadly no diving

Rob,

[Debs]

My god - you actually spent time with Ali at a weekend! Next it will be flowers and chocolates and remembering her birthday.

[trebor]

Originally Posted by Debs

My god - you actually spent time with Ali at a weekend! Next it will be flowers and chocolates and remembering her birthday.

Lets not get carried away here. However I did pay for the museum and the beers. She payed for the ferry

[Debs]

You really know how to treat a girl

[Debs]

... and they say romance is dead!

[Diving Dude]

Rob, so you gave up a dive day to do a channel crossing shopping day!

Next you'll be moisturising and exfoliating your skin.




Please give me first refusal when she makes you sell your dive kit