Calmer at the end of the day

This is the scene just after leaving Calais on the way back to England this evening. Totally different to the scene on the way out, when there were servere gales and very rough seas in the Channel. The one day we had to go to France with Chris and De'Shaun coincided with an unseasonally deep and active low pressure blasting its way across the country.

We were delayed almost two hours leaving at 11.15 on the boat that was supposed to be the 06.40 departure such was the disruption. We watched from the ship in harbour as incoming vessels pitched and yawled their way to the harbour arms and we were assisted in docking by tugs. It was rough in the harbour, the boat moving up and down against the jetty wall.

It was one of the roughest crossings I'd been on but a little quieter than coming the other way as the wind was coming from astern, but even so there were rogue waves that slammed into the ship with loud crashes and sheets of spindrift and spume flung high and forcefully over the windows.

Chris was fine, I got through it with a coffee and Kit Kat, De'Shaun tried a sparking white wine (!) as a calmer but in the end we came safely into Calais.

Our first stop was a restaurant in Calais, in the Place D'Armes, giving De'Shaun the experience of French dining. I don't think she was too impressed with the food, but there again, Calais is probably not the best place to go for the authentic French cuisine. Chris and I had pate, steak and a desert, the steak being a bit tough and chewy.

From Calais we drove down to Boulogne to a quick trip around the walls of the Old Town, a look into the Cathedral Notre Dame and a drink in the cafe Mairie, which is another French experience.

By then there was just time to visit Cite de Europe on the outskirts of Calais to show De'Shaun the pleasures of a French supermarket and buy a few things - a drop of beer and some biscuits mainly.

On the final few miles to the port we passed the massed camp in the sand dunes of the refugees attempting to board trucks for an illegal crossing to the UK. Literally hundreds of tents and hundreds of people walking along the road to the port, collecting near the entrance but being prevented from going much further. A sad sight.

We were booked on the 20.35 ferry but didn't know what to expect but were pleased to find we were delayed only about 45 minutes on the departure that was meant to leave at 17.15. Not many cars or passengers on board but a full load of trucks. It was only as we left that the clouds finally lifted and the wind moderated so we had a more comfortable but not entirely smooth crossing back to the UK.

Mission accomplished, De'Shaun had experienced France and Chris enjoyed revisiting places he'd been to in the past and had not seen for a few years.