Les Deux Caps

A day out along the Calais coast

15 April 2004

As payment for helping me paint the kitchen I offered to get Jean-Jacques a carpet for his room. Rather than just head to the shops in Boulogne I said that we could do a tour of the Two Caps as they are called here; Cap Blanc Nez and Cap Gris Nez, the two points closest to England and for Blanc Nez the equivalent of the White Cliffs of Dover.

It was fantastic weather as we drove up the autoroute to Calais and by the afternoon temperatures would be touching the twenties.

The Atlantic Coast of France was of course turned into a defensive system by the Germans during the Second World War and all along our beaches you can find Blockhauses and other concrete emplacements. The Normandy Beaches are not so far away from us and even here on our own section of coast it is all to easy to imagine the Allies struggling ashore under the eye of the German emplacements.

Unfortunately despite the good weather England insisted on remaining hidden by a shroud of mist in the distance. There were moments I thought I could see Dover, but then it may well just have been yet another of the ferries making its way home.

After walking along the cliff tops at Cap Blanc Nez we grabbed a bite to eat at Wissant and continued to the lighthouse at Cap Gris Nez, with its grey boulders along the sea shore. We clambered down to the shore for a look at the rock formations which are truly strange, almost like round rivet heads. Some of the pieces appeared to be definitely parts of concrete bunkers but the rest formed by nature.

Having climbed down we had to get back up again which was healthy exercise for the lungs (Remind JJ - give up smoking!) At the lighthouse we passed a group of suits whom JJ thought were Notaires from a phone conversation he overheard, we tried The Chinaman says: Jump! but they took no notice.

A little further along the coast towards Boulogne you can find the Musée du Mur de l'Atlantique at the Batterie Todt with its 283mm Naval Gun mounted on a railway carriage. There are only two of these guns still left in existence from the 28 made - the other is in Arizona. The Kanone 5, could send a 255 kilo shell 62 kilometres.

The museum is quite interesting and gives an idea of the living conditions for the gun crew as well as a history of how it was put together and thousands of items of militaria.

According to one young French boy just in front of us on our way way round the machine guns all go: De-De-De-De-De.