Anniversary weekend - Day time

As our wedding anniversary fell on a Saturday this year we decided to do something nice. We had wanted to go back to Rocksalt for a while, but going all the way to Folkestone just for dinner seemed a bit of a waste of travelling time. So we found a cheap hotel within walking distance with the idea that we could spend Saturday doing something, pop back to the hotel to get ready for dinner and not worry about driving home. Having explored the various tourist options around Folkestone and Dover (and discarding most of them) we decided to book ourselves on a day trip Ferry to Calais as we hadn't actually done this before as a couple.

Saturday morning was an early start with an 8:25 crossing on the Pride of Canterbury. The day didn't get off to the best of starts with Ollie driving my car and hitting some sort of finch type bird as we headed down the A2. Luckily there was no damage to my car (less could be said for the bird) and we arrived at Dover with enough time for a coffee before we boarded the ferry.

Ferries really aren't what they used to be. With us both remembering different features and amenities from our crossings in our youth the Pride of Canterbury was something of a disappointment with the only redeeming feature being relatively inexpensive tea that was half decent considering the UHT milk.

We went to Cite Europe first which was like stepping back into 1995. I got some shorts, a jumper and a scarf in C&A and we had a look around Naf Naf. The shopping centre was really quiet so was nice to wonder around and look in the shops. I got some Delirium beer and a glass to go with it.

We also went to the designer outlet there which was absolutely deserted. Can't really understand why. I managed to find a warm running top so there will be no excuses about not running in the cold!

Then was a visit to Auchen which hadn't changed very much since we were children. We just bought a sandwich for lunch and ate in the car before heading back to Calais for our ferry (Spirit of France). We had seen that P&O had an offer on their club lounge at £6 per person which included a glass of Champagne, all the tea, soft drinks, juice and snacks as you could manage in an hour and a half. Plus access to a very comfy and quiet lounge with it's own deck area.