Grey day in Calais? 2023

[kerouac2]

As long as Calais is considered a dreary city, there is no reason to tire out my camera with colour settings.

None of this dates from before the war.  It was all just rubble.

This was already Calais in 1940 with 4 more years of war to go.

But some people will always want to live with a view of the sea.

[kerouac2]

Since my last visit, the Dragon of Calais has taken up residence.





Even on an ugly winter afternoon, it was popular.



It lives in a big hangar.



During the summer, it clearly has even more fans.



But I was here for the English channel.



But I did not even walk out on the jetty due to the gale force winds.

[kerouac2]

local hero





A few people were drawn to the raging waters.

[kerouac2]

The next day was sunny but even windier. I wanted to go up to Cap Blanc Nez but could not even stand on my feet there.

[kerouac2]

But this second day was sunny and quite nice in spite of the gale force wind.



I may have been overreacting since the ferries did not seem the least bit concerned by the weather.





Nevertheless, the jetty was completely closed because it was too dangerous for pedestrians.



I will never understand how the seagulls and other birds manage to fly in these conditions.





The Dragon of Calais preferred to stay safely tucked away.

[bjd]

Yesterday afternoon we went to Capbreton - a smaller port, only for fishing. There too we had incredible winds and our son mentioned some saying about big messy waves mean the seagulls fly overhead rather than staying in the water.

I'm sure the seabirds use the winds to play on the air currents, given the way they hover overhead.

[kerouac2]

Yes, they seem to enjoy hovering, but they also manage to advance against the wind, not just them but also other local birds. Of course I do understand that they are a bit more aerodynamic than I am.

[kerouac2]

Going back to the city centre, I found myself trapped by the open draw bridge.



Many of the cars became impatient and went to the next bridge more than 2 km away. This did not appeal to me.



There seemed to be a technical problem because this guy crawled around with a wrench for some time.



Finally the bridge swang back into place.



This is the symbol of Calais. It was a medieval building and then it was the city hall. After the destruction in 1940, they decided not to rebuild the building.

[kerouac2]

I actually moved on from Calais and decided to try Le Touquet. It was just as windy there.





When I took a shower later, I had to wash sand out of my ears.





Going back to Paris, it was still windy inland.





I need to return to the coast at a later date, perhaps for the Berck kite festival in April.

[mickthecactus]

I’ve always wanted to go back to Le Touquet.

[nycgirl]

That dragon is pretty neat. I did a quick google search and learned that it can actually breathe fire.

[kerouac2]

Did you click on the YouTube video?

[nycgirl]

Oh, I somehow missed it the first time around. Watched it just now, very cool, and surprisingly lifelike.

[lugg]

The video of the Dragon really shows how impressive it is.

Great set of photos of Calsis , a place I have travelled through often but not for some time. I really liked your beach photos ...really great. There is something quite affirming about a beach in Winter I think

[bjd]

My favourite photo is the first of the three landscape pics of your return to Paris. The colours of the new green on the trees and the blue sky with clouds make me think of an impressionistic painting.

Is the Dragon of Calais made by the same people who did the machines in Nantes and Toulouse?

[kerouac2]

It was made by the "La Machine" company in Nantes which operates the original giant elephant. Besides the dragon of Calais, they also made a dragon for Beijing. I'm sure that more must be on the way.

[whatagain]

Never been to Calais.
Don't think i ever will.

[kerouac2]

60km from De Panne. 50km from Dover.

[bixaorellana]

Even in the teeth of the wind you managed to get some remarkable pictures. A question I had at the beginning was answered further down in the thread, to wit ~ yes, the jetty does get closed to pedestrians when the wind makes it too dangerous to walk on.

I guess the wind made it hard to enjoy a beach walk on this visit, but since I'm not a beach person I enjoy brooding overcast days at the beach more than cheerful sunny ones, so loved the appropriately black & white views. most particularly the water lapping at the brick boat launch and the first one of the dune fences.

That said, the subtle colors in the later pictures of the stairs, the dune fence, the willows tossing in the wind are equally lovely.

Only 31 miles from Dover remains an amazing fact to me.