Weekend jaunt

[Georgeeboi]

Hi all,

I'm just looking for a recommendation. Please...me and a mate are free the August Bank Holiday and would like to pop over to France for the weekend, preferably a two hour ride from calais not to bothered about blinding roads but would like a quietish town with some nice bars and restaurants and a decent hotel. Thanks.

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[Wapping]

If you take the D roads, you can stretch a ride from Calais (I assume you plan on crossing via Calais) to St Omer to be two hours or indeed, two days. St Omer would meet your needs but there are lots of choices by way of alternatives.

It’s not too clear what you want.

When (day / time) do you intend cross?

What time do you want to arrive at your hotel? It’s easy to assume that it’s two hours after you arrive in France but it’s not clear.

When (day / time) do you want to come back?

Do you plan to arrive in Calais, ride for two hours, then stay the night (or two nights) there and ride the two hours back to Calais for your return?

Do you want things to see and do during the two hours of riding? Or things to see and do at any other time?

If you are not fussed about ‘blinding roads’ (whatever they are) do you want any (or all) of it to be on motorways?

 

[Paul Young]

Another vote for Saint Omer, here. We often use it as a stopover after the 300 miles to Ashford and tunnel journey, or as a layover before we do the same route home. Lots of choice of accommodation plus a choice and range of decent bars/restaurants

 

[Ex-Call Centre Chimp]

Yep, St. Omer is nice with things to see & do both within the town & locally around & about.
It also has the added bonus of some large supermarkets with cheap but delicious wine aplenty.

I stayed here last March (2022).

Restaurant Hôtel L’industrie , hôtel Restaurant à Saint-Omer

www.lindustrie-hotelrestaurant.com

Great little hotel, very well situated. It's above a restaurant. Be aware the stairs up to the rooms are incredibly steep and there is no on-site parking as such, though the owners were happy for me to leave my bike parked up outside on the pedestrian precinct. I was only there for 1 night though so how that might sit with the local parking wardens during the day time I couldn't say.

 

[Georgeeboi]

Thanks for the info guys.

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[Wapping]

Whilst you are happy with St Omer (you’ll have to do some work on planning a route that’ll take you two hours betwixt and between Calais and St Omer, as they are only 20 minutes apart via tge motorway) there are of course alternatives.

Here’s three, just as examples:

Arras, non-motorway roughly two and half hours. You could save a bit of time by hopping onto the A26 to do a part.

Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, one and half hours, non-motorway.

Saint Valery-sur-Somme, two and a quarter hours, non-motorway.

If you put those places onto a map, you will quickly get an idea of the places within a circle, centred on Calais, at between two and two and a half hours distance. Then do a bit of Google surfing / Google Street View / Booking.com / Tripadvisor to see what catches your fancy. Likewise, you can easily see how, by adding a bit of motorway, two hours will take you further, distance wise.

 

[adventuredon]

Whilst you are happy with St Omer (you’ll have to do some work on planning a route that’ll take you two hours betwixt and between Calais and St Omer, as they are only 20 minutes apart via tge motorway) there are of course alternatives.

Here’s three, just as examples:

Arras, non-motorway roughly two and half hours. You could save a bit of time by hopping onto the A26 to do a part.

Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, one and half hours, non-motorway.

Saint Valery-sur-Somme, two and a quarter hours, non-motorway.

If you put those places onto a map, you will quickly get an idea of the places within a circle, centred on Calais, at between two and two and a half hours distance. Then do a bit of Google surfing / Google Street View / Booking.com / Tripadvisor to see what catches your fancy. Likewise, you can easily see how, by adding a bit of motorway, two hours will take you further, distance wise.

My vote gets Le Touquet. A pilgrimage for all quick jaunts..

 

[Wapping]

If the OP wishes to do something more than ride to St Omer over his two (or is it three) days, then this post might be of interest:

GPX - A two day route in NE France, Calais / Baie du Somme

This easy two day route (I have ridden it in one day, once on Saturday and again on Sunday, running a new bike over a weekend) in northeast France (Calais / Baie du Somme) helps to put the lie to the theory that there are no decent roads in this corner of France. I have also used the same route...

www.ukgser.com

Here’s a trip report, based pretty much on the same route but started just down the road from Calais.

TRIP REPORT

It would be easy to amend the start point or ride from the Chunnel to the start point (the coast road or nip down the motorway) and go from there. Here’s how:



Chunnel to start

 

[Georgeeboi]

Thanks, wapping. appreciated

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[Wapping]

No problem. It struck me that you can do more to get the best out of your bank holiday weekend, than just riding to St Omer.