Rowed Trip - Across the English Channel & into France

Now 11-plus weeks into their epic, self-propelled journey from the northern tip of Scotland to Syria, adventurers Colin and Julie Angus share another exclusive Rowed Trip expedition dispatch about their travels by oar and pedal power.

The big question this week: They still have two-thirds of the expedition ahead of them. Can they make it, without their beloved custom bicycle trailer that was stolen from a French campsite?

“We were worried about crossing the English Channel in our homemade boats. Numerous people warned us about the dangers of the world’s busiest shipping lane - steep waves, quickly changing weather, and, of course, speeding ferries and tankers. Our plan was to row from Dover, England, to Calais, France, a distance of 21 miles.

We left at 4 a.m., in near darkness, rowing into steep and rolling waves and an uncomfortable wind. The weather was not ideal, but it was predicted to get worse in the upcoming days so we had to take our chances. A robust fishing boat chugged beside us; it was our support vessel, which is required by French regulations.

The sky was aglow with pre-dawn blush and Dover’s white cliffs of calcium carbonate were slowly illuminated. By the time the sun rose, we were a third of the way across the Channel. The horizon was dotted with freighters, their massive wakes rocking our boat. England faded from view and soon the hazy outline of land appeared over my shoulder. France slowly became more distinct and eventually we could see Calais’ sandy beaches dotted with tiny huts on stilts.

After just under 5 hours of rowing we stepped onto a French beach. My legs felt wobbly from the exertion but I was ecstatic. Not only had we made it, but we’d done it quickly. We were faster than the Olympic rower who crossed the Channel a few months ago but nowhere near the record time of 3 hours and 14 minutes. We figured it wasn’t too bad for homemade boats carrying bicycles and trailers.

Two days later, we launched our boats in the Calais canal, taking us away from this French border city and into endless farmland dotted with unassuming villages. Fishermen sat on the canal banks, their rods searching for pike while barges powered past us and small slimy unidentifiable corpses bobbed beside us. The canals weren’t quite as picturesque as their English counterparts, but it was pleasant being on calm waterways again.

Sadly, our journey was short-lived and soon we learned that we were not allowed to pass through all the locks. Steep walls of metal lined much of the canal making portaging impossible so we placed our boats on their trailers and continued through the French countryside by bicycle. Now we are cycling and occasionally paddling through Northern France en route to the Rhine River in Germany.” - Julie

If you have any sightseeing or cultural tips for Julie and Colin, please post them in the Comments.

Until the next dispatch,

— Andrew,
Senior Producer, Los Angeles Times Travel

[Photos: Colin and Julie Angus / Rowed Trip Expedition]

Permalink | E-mail | Print | Add to My Trips

This entry was posted on Monday, June 2, 2008 at 1:17 am by Andrew and is filed under Europe, France, Germany, Great Britain, Outdoors & Adventure, Rowed Trip. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a comment. Pinging is currently not allowed.