The picturesque Pas de Calais has plenty to offer tourists camping in France’s north coast department. Its proximity to England, and the convenience of the Eurotunnel and ferry transport options from Calais ensures easy access to its most important features. The region has also been at the centre of many monumental events, which means holidaymakers, with an interest in history, will find this an interesting destination to visit.
Agincourt
In 1415, Pas de Calais was the setting for a remarkable English victory over French forces in the Battle of Agincourt (Azincourt in French). The battlefield is located ten minutes from Saint Pol sur Ternoise, and features a visitor centre where you can learn about the Hundred Years War, the tactics of the day, and how the landscape was a decisive factor in the battle.
In Shakespeare’s famous dramatisation of the event, Henry V disguised himself on the eve of the battle and wandered among his army encamped in the French hillside. This enabled him to hear their fire side discussions and their doubts about the impending fight. On the day, 26th October St.Crispin’s Day, Shakespeare has the king deliver a rousing speech to motivate the troops: “To morrow is Saint Crispian / then will he strip his sleeve, and show his scars / and say, These wounds I had on Crispin s day.
It has been almost six hundred years since Agincourt was the centre of conflict between England and France. Camping near here is a good option for holidaymakers, with the woodland campsite, Domaine de Drancourt, St Valery, a little more than an hour s drive from the battlefield. Tellingly, the site offers archery among its activities – a discipline that won the day for England – and you can try pony rides, mini golf, and hire bicycles too. Furthermore, instead of going “once more unto the breach,” you might opt for the beach, since the coast is only seven miles from this rural site. The notorious World War I battlefield of the Somme is nearby too, should Agincourt whet your appetite for wartime sites.
The Dunkirk Beaches
An alternative to St Valery, for staying in this area of France, is Camping la Bien Assise, Guînes, which is a similar distance (a little more than an hour’s drive) from the Agincourt site. However, this campsite is much closer to a more famous and recent battlefield where things did not go so well for the English forces. Dunkirk, where a defeated and outflanked British Expeditionary Force waited to be evacuated from the beaches and return to England, is situated in the neighbouring department of Nord Pas de Calais, just a few miles from the Belgian border with France. Camping la Bien Assise puts you about thirty five miles from this historic location. Dunkirk has a beautiful long stretch of sandy beach lined with seafood restaurants.
Nowadays, an invasion of holidaymakers is the only British invasion you are likely to see in this part of France, with camping havens in the north east providing them with fun and friendly places to make their own, without having to wage a war to win them.
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