Cliffs near Sangatte above the Channel Tunnel route — Calais

How to Cross the Channel at Calais: What Are the Methods?

Bypatrick

Coming back to Calais, I gave myself one question to answer: how many ways are there, really, to cross the English Channel from here? The flippant answer — legally and illegally — wasn’t going to do. The proper one took me a free bus around town, a Sunday lunch in a car park, a walk along the overland route of the Channel Tunnel, and a quiet beach at Sangatte where a man once tried to fly to England.

Watch the full film above. The notes below are what I’d tell a friend planning the same trip.

Where I went

I started in central Calais and caught the local free bus out to Calais Airport, then on to the Cité Europe shopping centre at Coquelles — the small town that calls itself the “tunnel village.” From there I worked my way over the entrance of the Channel Tunnel and followed the route of the tunnel overland to the cliffs. That brought me down to Sangatte Beach, past the monument to Louis Blériot — the first man to fly across the Channel — and back into town.

What you’ll see in the film

  • The free bus that gets you from central Calais out to the airport without spending a euro
  • Cité Europe, the cross-border shopping centre that sits right on top of the tunnel
  • Coquelles, the little town that owes its existence to Eurotunnel
  • Walking the overland route of the Channel Tunnel, from entrance to coast
  • The forgotten remains of two earlier attempts to dig a tunnel — one from the 1870s, one from 1973
  • Sangatte Beach, with Blériot’s monument and a brief encounter with an amphibious car
  • A short list of every method I could find for actually getting across the water

Practical notes

  • Best time: [Patrick: confirm — late spring through early autumn for a comfortable coast walk?]
  • How long: a full day if you want to do the whole route I did
  • Walkability: flat through town and Coquelles, a gentle climb to the cliffs, then firm shoes for the coast path
  • Where to start: the free-bus stops in central Calais
  • Where to end: Sangatte Beach, then back into town
  • What I wish I’d known: [Patrick: confirm — the police presence near the tunnel exit, or any specific lunch tip?]

A little history

Most people picture the Channel Tunnel as a 1990s achievement. It is — but the idea is older, and the relics of earlier tries are still out there if you know where to look. There was a serious attempt in the 1870s, abandoned for political reasons; another in 1973, also halted. Both left traces near Sangatte that you can still walk up to.

A century earlier still, in 1909, Louis Blériot took off from a field near Calais and flew his fragile monoplane across to Dover — the first man to do so. His monument and a replica of the plane sit on the cliffs at the end of this walk.

Related walks

More from along this stretch of France:

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Patrick Ashton is a UK-based filmmaker walking the overlooked corners of Britain and Europe. More about Patrick →

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