White cliffs to wetlands; discovering France’s Pas-de-Calais
09.04.2024 - 12:45
/ theguardian.com
With the tide out, it is a magical moment, rivulets of water swirl and eddy through the sand, the white cliffs of Cap Blanc-Nez loom behind me. There’s not a soul in sight. This jagged headland marks the start of the Côte d’Opale, which runs south-west from Calais for about 75 miles, and is part of the Pas-de-Calais region.
While most travellers arriving in Calais or Boulogne head straight for Paris and beyond, I’m here to explore this affordable and often bypassed corner of France. The wild “Opal Coast” has sandy beaches, fishing ports and quaint seaside resorts, and 30 miles inland are the fascinating and attractive vegetable gardens of the Audomarois: immense, unspoilt wetlands outside the medieval town of Saint-Omer, my next destination.
The Cap Blanc-Nez juts out from sheer chalk cliffs that run to a second wild promontory, Cap Gris-Nez. Hiking or biking the 10 miles separating the two capes can take a day: the route runs across deserted dunes and beaches that feel endless. Just by Cap Blanc-Nez, the friendly, family-run Hôtel l’Escale is a good base for exploring the coast and sampling top-notch local cuisine. Third-generation chef Vincent Brignoli creates a €26 dinner menu using local, seasonal products: it might include pork terrine with endives and juniper, an intense homemade soup of chunky cod in creamy shrimp sauce, pungent maroilles cheese from a nearby artisan dairy and to-die-for chocolate mousse.
The next day I go south towards Boulogne-sur-Mer. Each resort I pass has surprises in store. Wissant has a street market every Wednesday, ideal for buying a beach picnic with village produce like La Fromagerie en Herbe’s organic goat cheese and freshly picked fruit and vegetables from Les Jardins Intrépides. The sleepy fishing village of Audresselles is famous for its flobards – flat-bottomed boats used for crab fishing (a crab festival takes place each summer) – and on the waterfront is the coast’s strangest place to stay, Le Ch’Ti Blockhaus. It’s a concrete second world war bunker converted into a four-bedroom B&B.
One mile down the road is Ambleteuse, where the beach promenade is marked by an impregnable-looking fort jutting into the sea. The Unesco-listed fortification was built in the 17th century by renowned military architect the Marquis de Vauban to protect the port. To work up an appetite, I follow the steady stream of hikers across the beach, past families foraging for shellfish among the rocks, and into sand dunes that go up to the edge of the Slack river estuary.
Arriving in Wimereux just before lunch, I have time to wander past this belle époque resort’s holiday home mansions, designed in an ornate art-nouveau wedding-cake style. It takes a good two hours to feast on the seafood