Travel With Me to: Channel Villages

Travel With Me to:

Channel Villages

Feelings felt: at ease, rootedness, nostalgic

Something keeps drawing me to the coastline along both sides of the English Channel! A family historian traced our lineage back several hundred years to Essex, central England, but I feel so rooted in these coastal villages that I believe someone along the way had to have lived and worked along the sea!

Le Touquet

My son and I first visited Le Touquet, in France, a summer or two ago, to escape an unbearable heat wave in Paris. It felt absolutely magical, like we had stepped into another era. Interwar and WWII-era bungalows lined narrow lanes, and locals sporting espadrilles and pedal-pushers strolled along carrying market baskets. After retrieving beach-cruiser bicycles, the scent of browning butter drew us toward the Manufacture Du Touquet shortbread bakery. We filled our handlebar baskets with treats and continued toward the beach.

Seagulls cawed and salty breezes brushed our faces as we pedaled along an isolated path for miles to the cape, in search of seals and hoping to spot the famous Cliffs across the Straits of Dover.

Once the sun rose high enough to warm the sand, we walked past carousels and sandcastle statues on the promenade and took spots in the sling chairs at one of the half-dozen private beach clubs, enjoying drinks and service with fantastic views.

Pedestrian-only streets made for pleasant window-shopping the next morning before repeating beach-life activities. Weeks later, we returned with special friends in tow, eager to share the magic.

Rye

Since I’ve been in the UK this spring for my Fulbright placement, I set out to see if the towns on this side held the same charm. I had read of an old seafarers’ village called Rye and decided that would be my first stop. The village is quaint and historic and absolutely drew me in as soon as I stepped off the train. There wasn’t a chain store in sight – just lane after lane beckoning with independent shops and restaurants. I started my day at an apothecary-turned-coffee shop, then tried not to turn my ankle climbing the steep cobbled lanes, running between 15th-century inns and captains’ quarters.

A bus will carry visitors to the seaside, where you can meander past sailboats and wartime defenses to a stone beach.

I decided a day trip wasn’t enough, so instead of heading back to London that evening, I boarded another train to another nearby town that had piqued my curiosity.

Folkestone

Folkestone first blossomed as a popular tourist resort during Victorian times. It now provides a mix of modern and “throwback” inns, shopping, and dining options. The city felt larger and busier than the others, but the beach zone was walkable. I stayed in an oceanview room in the Voco, which has taken over a quirky and lovely 1864 inn atop Leas Cliff. I made a plan to wake early and travel to Dover during low tide, in hopes of accessing a shipwreck I read about on the train (see previous post about my morning at the Cliffs of Dover) before returning to explore in the afternoon.

Folkestone’s lovely boardwalk was the perfect place for a long stroll along the coast, passing over the swinging bridge that connects rocky and sand beach zones. Colorful huts line the promenade for miles, and an old incline carries passengers from the beach to higher ground. I’m not sure I would make a special trip back just to go to Folkestone, but to be fair, I was there too early in the year to take full advantage of summertime beach activities or get a thorough feel for all it has to offer.

Calais Ville

A few weeks after the Rye & Folkestone trip, I took the Eurostar from London to Paris; while I usually prefer the highspeed, direct option, I decided to take a slower route back, in order to experience ferry service across the Channel. This came with added bonuses – stellar views of the Cliffs from the water, plus a few hours in Calais before boarding the ship!

Calais Beach felt different than the others. At one end is massive a ferry and shipping port, providing a unique view into port operations, and ships frequently passed closeby. The beach itself was expansive and sandy, similar to le Touquet’s, but rather than private clubs scattered along the sand, several adorable mid-century modern buildings lined the promenade above the beach. Each one housed treat shops -– friteries and ice cream vendors. I ordered a small frites and tore open the salty, steaming bundle to enjoy from a bench overlooking the water. Heavenly!

Thanks to Calais’s free city bus and navette system, I also had time to visit two war memorials, the Rodin statue in the gardens of City Hall, and the fire-breathing Calais Dragon before catching my boat to England.

I certainly have a favorite on each side, but all provide access to beaches and activities just a couple hours away from the capital cities. Which would you choose, the slower pace of the quaint villages, or the conveniences and amenities of the more bustling towns?