A pretty wet and wild start to the day so we hung on until after lunch and were lucky to stay dry and even see some blue sky and sunshine in the couple of hours we were out and about.

Starting our walk with a stroll along the river to the vast and busy sea port….

With huge ferries seemingly leaving and arriving every few minutes and in between all the smaller craft rushing to get through the port and out of their way, if it wasn’t so windy you could easily while away the hours. Instead we turned our attention to the rather spectacular sandy beach – Plage de Calais which butts up to the Port on the west side…..

We spent a while watching this beauty of a smallish tall ship approach and enter the harbour….

Before skirting around the beach (dog ban) and wandering along the promenade to meet the Calais Dragon….

An incredible feat of engineering this 12m high and 25m long – 72 tonnes of mechanical structure offers rides along the promenade whilst breathing fire and smoke. We didn’t see it in action today as it was just too windy to hang around but maybe tomorrow?

From here we crossed the bridge to the town centre – not the most exciting, in fact without the colourful and very noisy in the wind bunting (Pride?) it was rather disappointing….

Though the Tour de Guet (13th C Watchtower) was pretty impressive and the church of Notre Dame likewise…..

Today’s stats:

• Miles walked – 6
• Beaches – 1
• O/N – £15.00