My trip to Calais, France

After travelling by P&0 ferries, we set foot on the French soil of Calais. After seeing and hearing so much about the French way of life on the television, I wanted to visit the country myself and see if it was wheelchair friendly. My trip to Calais was my first trip, and rather than book a hotel in advance, I decided to get to Calais and play it by ear. Yes travelling this way is a risk, and that is why I have two carers with me on my spur of the moment visits to a foreign country.

The port area of Calais was a little industrialised and not at all like anything that I had expected. I suppose I'd imagined it to be like it was on the television, I had expected to see lots of fields, and maybe a Frenchman in a black beret riding a bicycle with onions draped over the handle bars. So in the first few minutes of my visit, I was a little disappointed.

Anyway, first of all I had to find somewhere to stay, so after a few enquiries, we made it to the bus stop only to find that the two buses at the bus stop were not wheelchair friendly. So it meant that we'd need to get a taxi. There was nowhere that we could see how to get one, so as a young lady passed us, I called out in my best French, "Parle vous anglaise mademoiselle," I wasn't sure if she was married, so I thought I'd impress her by calling her "miss."

My French must have been very good, as the lady stopped and looked at me, and she smiled broadly and stated, "Sorry love I'm English!"

Well blow me down with a feather, I arrive in France, and the first person I try my French on turns out to be an English girl. Well at least my French and my accent had been good as she genuinely thought I was a local.

After explaining that we also were English, we asked her where we could get a taxi to the centre of Calais, and she explained that we would have to go back to the port and ring for one.

We decided that as we were not too far away, we would stroll to the town centre and what better way to see if the area was wheelchair friendly. This was a big mistake!

At first the footpath was decent but it was high and there were only a couple of slopes for wheelchairs, and then after a short time the footpath stopped completely and we had to cross a grassy area until the footpath started again. This was the same all the way to Calais centre. Once in the centre, things began to improve, but not much. The footpaths were either narrow or had high kerbs with no slopes. So an independent wheelchair user would have virtually no chance on the streets.

We went through the town looking for a hotel, and there were plenty of them, and well sign posted. The first few of hotels we approached weren't suitable for wheelchair users, and then we saw the Bonsai hotel and it had several bays for wheelchair parking, so it looked promising. Using his French and English Neal asked the proprietor if the hotel had any rooms that were wheelchair friendly. He was informed that there was two rooms on the ground floor, and as time was passing, as well as realising that this was probably going to be the best we were going to get we accepted the rooms, and we were shown to our rooms.

There was no way that an independent wheelchair user could get into the room as a large double bed was blocking the way and it appeared to be fixed to the floor, but with help from my daughter, Lesley, and son-in-law Neal, I got into the room. With help I managed to get into the bathroom, only to find that the shower was not wheelchair friendly as it had a lip of at least 3 inches, but with help I managed it.

We explored the rest of the hotel and found it fairly wheelchair friendly, and we approached the dining room, to find several steps leading up to it, so we had to have our meals in the bar games room on the ground floor.

Later we toured the town centre and I was pleasantly surprised at some of the beautiful architectural buildings there, but all I can say is that the streets of Calais are a wheelchair nightmare with high drops from kerbs or fast cars not giving way at pedestrian crossings. We entered the main square and found some of the bistros and restaurants had slopes leading up to the main entrance, but once inside, the area was blocked by chairs and tables near the door. Of course the bigger premises had plenty of room or the waiters made room so that the wheelchair user could enter.

Although the people were friendly, and the town of Calais has some beautiful old fashioned architecture, it has a very long way to go before it could be classed as wheelchair friendly.

My Rating for Calais France and Hotel

Independent wheelchair access in the town centre: 2/10

Independent wheelchair access into hotel: 4/10

Assisted wheelchair access in the town centre (with two carers): 6/10

Assisted wheelchair access accommodation (with two carers): 5/10

Customer service: 8/10

Hospitality: 10/10

Apartment value for money: 7/10

Mike Coatesworth