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British Mensa Travel Special Interest Group |
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Friday
the 13th in Boulogne by Mike Cruickshank Friday the Thirteenth - an ordinary day or a day of doom and disaster? How to find out? It struck me that the cross channel ferries have been accident prone in recent years from the very real disaster of Zeebrugge to the more recent ludicrous spectacle of a ferry being beached outside Calais like a great steel whale. Add in all the other disasters which can adversely affect a day trip from London to France: cancellations, strikes, breakdowns, loss of passport / tickets / money, rough seas and food poisoning (and I've been hit by most of them over the years). Then go out and buy a ticket for a day trip to Boulogne for Friday the thirteenth. A surefire recipe for disaster or simply a pleasant day out? Friday 13 October, 9.30am, Folkestone So far, so good. I spent an increasingly panic-stricken five minutes looking for my season ticket (left in full view on the kitchen table) before setting out to catch the underground to Charing Cross. I caught a train fairly quickly. Unfortunately it proved to be the school-kids special. It was enough to convince me that I wouldn't have had the patience to be a teacher. I arrived at Charing Cross with plenty of time to grab a cup of coffee before catching the 8.55. It was a foggy morning, mercifully dense enough to blanket out great stretches of south London suburbia. It also invested the Kent countryside with a slightly sinister air. Grey monsters loomed up only to transform themselves into trees or cast houses as we sped past them. The train arrived at Folkestone Central on time allowing me to reach the Sea Cat terminal with over an hour to spare. After check in, I bought a bottle of scotch in the duty free shop, which allowed me to claim a free travel bag. Boulogne: The Sea Cat left on time. The sea was dead calm and, by the time we reached Boulogne, the fog had given way to warm and sunny weather. And in October, yet. This was far too good to be true. How best to tempt the fates to do their worst? Lunch. That was it. I headed for the Welsh Pub which, despite its name, is a restaurant. I have had some excellent meals in the Welsh Pub, but I've also been down with food poisoning a couple of times after eating there. I suspect the shellfish myself. Anyway, if I'm going to get clobbered, this is the place. No such luck. The meal was excellent, with no unpleasant after effects. What next? The supermarket! That's bound to be crowded, with long queues at the checkout. Wrong again - I went through the supermarket in record time, with only a few minutes to wait. Next stop was Olivier's cheese shop in the Rue Thiers. Perhaps they have closed down, or run out of the very cheese I want. No such luck. They are still very much in business, with a huge and wide ranging stock, from matchbox-sized goats' cheeses to huge cartwheels of cheese, which could cripple a strong man who tried to lift one. Everything I wanted, I got. I crept out, smelling of cheese and imminent defeat. My only chance now of proving that Friday the Thirteenth is a disaster area lies in the trip back. Perhaps the Sea Cat will sink, or the train drivers in England will have gone on strike. London You guessed it: it didn't and they hadn't. So there you have it. Friday the Thirteenth isn't all it's cracked up to be. A day of potential doom, gloom and disaster proved to be a very ordinary day out. Or is such ordinariness itself the real curse of Friday the thirteenth, turning what could have been a memorable day out into one which will be consigned to oblivion by its very commonplaceness? Judge for yourself Ticket: Combined rail and Seacat ticket £19.50. No connecting bus service from Folkestone Central to Folkestone Harbour. Taxi £2.00. Crossing: About 50 minutes. The 11.00 am crossing arrives Boulogne about 1.00 pm local time. If one takes the 17.15 return crossing, one has time for lunch and some leisurely shopping, but not really enough time for any exploring. The 19.15 return crossing allows some time for sightseeing, but can mean quite a long day if one is returning to somewhere like London. Food: Phillipe
Olivier's in the Rue Thiers is Boulogne's best known cheese shop, stocking
over 200 varieties from all over France. They also supply several restaurants
in England, including the Manoir aux Quatre Saisons near Oxford (this
particular restaurant served me the toughest duck I have ever eaten, but
that's another story). The Welsh Pub on the Place Dalton is quite a pleasant
moderately priced restaurant. In spite of the odd duff shellfish or snail,
it is also quite safe. First published in VISA issue 23 (winter 1996). |