Day Trip to France

by Elizabeth Johnstone

I shop a lot at Tesco and end up with fistfuls of their loyalty coupons. Since my family is long past the Legoland stage, I use the coupons for Eurotunnel. They have been worth four times their face value. Yes, that’s right. I haven’t paid anything for my Eurotunnel crossings for years now. The day return ticket for my last trip cost £63, but by using four £15 Tesco coupons, I paid a mere £3 for it. Sadly, Tesco have wised up to the fact that this is a fantastic deal and, from December onwards, the tokens will be for three times the face value of the Tesco vouchers. Never mind. It won’t stop me. We generally set off about 7 am, get the 9.50 crossing, arriving 35 minutes later, do a big hypermarket shopping, then go for a four-course lunch at one of our favourite restaurants. The Toques d’Opale is a group of restaurants in and around Calais where you will get a three/four course meal for 20 to 30 euros. We have been to several and have never been disappointed. 

 As for the actual crossing in the train, it is pretty dull but perfectly bearable for 35 minutes. You could easily spend as long as that on the London Underground. You sit in your car (armed with crossword, I-Pod etc) and if necessary you can stretch your legs or go to the toilet. I have loyalty cards for Carrefour in the Cité d’Europe and Auchan which is slightly out of town but more accessible for parking. Some French groceries such as confit de canard and cassoulet are hard to get hold of in England other than at overpriced food fairs so we stock up on those. Obviously, we also get a couple of cases of wine. When will the English realise that a dry fruity rosé is the perfect all-round food wine? 

We are usually booked on to a crossing about 4.30 pm but, if we arrive earlier, they can often move you up to an earlier crossing. The drive home takes about an hour and a half, so we are back home in the early evening, having had a gourmet lunch and shopping experience. It’s not a booze cruise, or really any sort of money-saving activity, although it is well worth going with an empty tank to fill up at £1 a litre or less, even with a poor rate of exchange. It is an opportunity to have a delicious lunch and, if you are me, to discuss each course with the waiter who is invariably astonished that an English person (a) speaks French and (b) (even more surprising than (a)) appreciates good food.

I should be on commission from Tesco, considering how often I have told people about this. However, I’m not going to tell you too much about my favourite Calais restaurant. You’ll have to find your own. Bon appétit!

First published in VISA 95 (Feb 2011)