From Dunkerque to Dover - Sharing My Ferry Crossing Experience ⛴ 🌊 | 坐渡轮过英吉利海峡

Currently, many families in Europe are on summer vacation, and the repeated Dover delays in the news remind me of my own Channel crossing experience three years ago. Fortunately, it wasn't as frustrating. In this post, I invite you to join me on that crossing trip from France to the UK. After a road trip in England and Wales, we returned to the continental Europe by ferry from the port of Dover.

If you prefer to travel between England and France without flying, you mainly have three options: Eurostar trains, Eurotunnel Le Shuttle, and Ferries. Or if you're feeling daring and energetic, you can also swim, row, kite surf, or paddle board... to cross the English Channel. Just be aware of the rough sea and howling wind.

Each of the three common options mentioned above has its pros and cons, which I won't discuss in depth today. I will focus on the ferry crossing because that's what we did the last time. Some ferry benefits include the convenience to travel with your own vehicle and stroll around on board with food and drinks :), as well as a breathtaking view of Dover's white cliffs from the boat's deck.

Both Eurostar trains and Eurotunnel Le Shuttle travel through the long dark tunnel, neither of them is as appealing to me as the open sea. Besides, there are fewer photo opportunities in a dark tunnel for my blog. XD

We first drove to Dunkirk/Dunkerque of France, as its port is closer to Belgium, just a little further across the border. Another major port is in Calais, which is further west of Dunkerque. There are also ferry routes between England's Newhaven and Portsmouth to France's Dieppe and Caen, but these are less travelled and more expensive.

As a map addict, I'll show you my screenshot of Googlemap upon arriving at England from the Channel that evening. (Also the shameless plug time for @pinmapple, where you can pin your travel posts and much more... :D) Hmmm, 2 bars, 3G still searching, and 2% of battery power left... dire dire straights! The blue dot on the map represents the port of Dover, and you can also see the French ports of Calais and Dunkirk/Dunkerque on the opposite side of the straight.

A few days before departure, I booked ferry tickets online from DFDS, a Danish international shipping and logistics company. The price varies depending on the vehicle type, travel time, ports, etc.. Crossing from Dunkerque to Dover took roughly 2 hours, whereas the crossing from Calais to Dover is half an hour faster but slightly more expensive.

It's worth noting that France is in a time zone that's one hour ahead of the UK. I still recall my sad sad experience of missing a ferry once in Greece due to the time difference. That was a long time ago though, when my phone didn't adjust the time automatically, unlike today's smarter phones.

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On the way to the port of Dunkerque, I saw loads of Polish lorries/trucks, such as this one below. I think I picked it to take a picture then because I love mushrooms😄:

Before reaching the ferry terminal, we had to first go through the border and security checks. It was before Brexit came into force and the covid pandemic, so I suppose there were less hassles then.

The ferry operator DFDS's terminal in Dunkerque:

Inside the terminal:

Nice view from behind the window:

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After the check-in, we were allocated to a boarding lane:

Another sign(pun intended) indicating that there are lots of lorries from Poland:

On board of the DFDS ferry:

Guess what I had for dinner? :) Not the best fish and chips, but quite filling:

And a piece of iced lemon drizzle cake too, yummy:

This time, I was unable to capture the white cliffs in clear detail since it was too windy and the perspective was unfavorable on the deck. The view of the cliffs and the lighthouse on the way back to Dunkerque was significantly better, so I will share those photos in another post. Here's a brief sneak peek:

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Arriving at England and looking at the Dover port from ferry:

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Driving away from the port... and on the way, there's great view of the white cliffs, the sea, and the sheep:

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The neat footpath and the port of Dover in the blue hour:
























The large sign of the white cliffs:



The Dover Castle at night:

That's it for my Channel crossing trip from Dunkerque to Dover. Thank you for joining and hope you enjoyed it too! :) Have you ever travelled across the English Channel? Was that by ferry? Please let me know in the comments!

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欧洲很多家庭当下正在度假，防疫放松后，欧陆和英国之间的游客往来也愈加频繁。最近多次听到英国多佛港交通拥堵的消息，让我想起以前穿越英吉利海峡的经历，那时候英国还没正式脱欧，没有现在这么繁琐的边界通关程序。

在英国和法国之间往来，不通过飞机旅行主要有三种方式: 欧洲之星火车、欧洲隧道列车和渡轮。或者，也可以像一些勇士一样，不惧汹涌的海浪和呼啸的狂风，靠游泳、划船、桨板、风筝冲浪等方式来横渡英吉利海峡。

上面提到的三种常见选择各有利弊，而我今天来记述一下从法国的敦刻尔克港坐渡轮到英国的多佛港这段经历。渡轮服务的优点包括可以开车装着行李从家里出发，到达后也不用再租车或依赖公共交通出行，也可以在宽敞的船上自由活动，吃香喝辣:)，欣赏多佛白色悬崖的美景······ 如果想站在甲板上尽情欣赏的话，同样需要不惧汹涌的海浪和呼啸的狂风～XD

而欧洲之星火车和欧洲隧道列车都要通过海底又长又暗的隧道，我觉得不如在开阔的大海上航行那么自在。当然这两种选择也各有好处，比如欧洲之星直连两岸的大城市中心区，而且自己不用开车，只管坐着就好，适合商务出差或背包跨国游; 欧洲隧道列车速度最快，只要35分钟就可穿越海峡，如果有一大车人分摊较高的费用就会比较划算。

^{All content by @itchyfeetdonica. Thank you for visiting!
图文 by Donica，谢谢来访！=)}

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