We’ve all made the occasional random journey on London’s vast transport network just out of curiosity at some point. What’s in Zone 9? How far can you get from London on a red bus? Why does the tiny village of Lewknor get 24/7 direct buses from Oxford Street, Heathrow and Gatwick?
One day, the curiosity got to me and I had to give in to the urge of the unknown.
Until last year, you could buy a return train ticket from any South East London station to Calais, using a Southeastern train to Dover then the ferry.
READ MORE:The tiny village with just 700 people and no supermarket which gets a better bus service to Central London, Heathrow and Gatwick than half the city
With my Young Persons Railcard, the entire return fare all the way to Calais was only £22.35. So, one sunny Friday in the summer of 2011, I took my chances.
Southeastern used to sell the tickets for £33.90 return, cheaper with a railcard – they hope to start selling them again in the future
(Image: Wikimedia Commons)
The little advertised ‘Railsea Day Return’ ticket was so obscure, the only real proof I had of its existence was social media posts from traingeeks and a few articles from travel websites. There was nothing on the official website of Southeastern.
Unsure of whether or not I was able to actually buy this seemingly dirt cheap ticket for a day trip abroad, I told my family I was popping out briefly.
“Can you get milk? We’re gonna run out of milk,” I distinctly remember my mother asking me this morning ten years ago. I didn’t reply, just in case I arrived in a milkless France.
So, I made my way to Herne Hill, which happened to be the closest Southeastern station I could get to. At the ticket counter, I asked for the day return to Calais and the response I got was: “give me a sec!” Clearly, it wasn’t the most popular destination as the assistant reached for the phone to ring for assistance.
The walk from the train to the ferry involved darting in and out of lorries on the busy port roads
Eager to make any potential ferry, I decided to abandon my purchase at Herne Hill and try again at Bromley South, which with direct trains to Dover should know how to conjure up the mystery ticket. I was successful and onboard the train to Dover within the hour!
Dover, looking drab and miserable as ever, became even more depressing when I realised that I had missed the shuttle bus from the train station to the ferry port.
Now, in 2021, there is no shuttle bus at all, reflecting the drop in passengers making this journey due to the Covid-19 international travel restrictions.
After a 25 minute walk along some slip roads and a dual carriageway to the port, I started to wonder if this was the voyage to La Belle France I had in my head after all.
The day-trip tickets to Calais would allow you free admission on the next P&O ferry from Dover to Calais which had a spare foot passenger space after you arrived on the train from London
I had to swap one of the special ‘control’ tickets attached to my rail fare for admission onto the ferry. Before you ask, no I did not have to jump on board from dock to boat, a bus drove all of the foot passengers from the port entrance onto the ferry and then we all were left to our own devices for the 90 minute long crossing.
The traversée was not exactly glorious. It reminded my why I loved the Eurostar, which largely missed this bit out. The English Channel between Dover and Calais is the nautical equivalent of a motorway. It wasn’t the cruise I had pictured in my head when I woke up that August morning.
Arriving in Calais, I quickly realised the error of my decision. It was not La Belle France. The ferry terminal is a good two mile walk from Calais town centre along a 10 foot high metal fence, with barbed wire in places.
I remember being eyed up the whole way, first by the migrants wanting to get onboard a ferry, mainly by locals suspicious of why I was walking down from the ferry port into the town.
There was a high police presence all over the town given the tensions with the migrant situation, which continues 10 years later today
I didn’t pass another pedestrian along the entire stretch of road linking the ferry port to the town.
Arriving there I realised that for all the coverage Calais gets, it is remarkably average. It had a decent shopping centre, a relatively well kept park and a fair mix of restaurants and attractions.
Objectively it dawned on my that my overwhelming curiosity into quirks of public transport has probably led me on the worst possible day-trip you could ever make from London.
I grabbed a pint of milk, thinking it would make a great joke for when I returned home, only to realise it would have been cheese by the time I returned so picked up a tube of “lait concentré sucré en tube”.
The town hall and adjacent park were exceptionally well kept, but not quite worth the four hour journey upon reflection
For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the French dairy scene, that’s condensed milk which comes in a tube like toothpaste that French people squirt into hot drinks. A disgusting, weird souvenir on what has to be the most disgusting, weird day trip I have ever made.
I returned on an hour late ferry into Dover before dishing out an extra four quid on a High Speed train supplement to make back up the lost time. I returned home at around midnight, and kissed the floor like the Pope would.
The day-trip to Calais tickets are temporarily not being sold. As P&O stopped accepting foot passengers due to the pandemic and travel restrictions, Southeastern had to halt ticket sales.
The company is confident it will be able to offer the bargain fare again though.
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It said: “Given that restrictions are now lifting, we’re very hopeful it will make a return when ferry companies once again allow foot passengers.”
Definitely make the journey if you love epic journeys by public transport, absolutely don’t if you want to explore La Belle France.
Did you ever make the journey to Calais on the little-known day-trip tickets? Have you ever made an unplanned detour far from the capital? Let us know in the comments below!
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