Marks & Spencer stands out in the high street as a shop that sells things at sensible prices. I don’t mean low prices (it’s a long time since I gave up any pretence of being able to do my weekly food shop in their high-class supermarket), I mean sensible prices; £10, £15, £50 etc… rather than the ridiculous £9.99, £14.99 & £49.99 where the only person to benefit is the man who operates the one pence machine at the Royal Mint.

I’ve just discovered two rival companies that have adopted the M&S approach to things; P&O Ferries & Norfolk Line who ply their trade between Dover and Calais and Dunkirk respectively. P&O are direct and fast – £30 for a passenger with a bike on the 19th July. Norfolk Lines are less direct and it takes longer as a result (a two-hour cruise down the coast to Dunkirk) – £10. As long as I book before the day itself, I get that price and with only myself and a bike, there are no issues with finding space on the boat (according to the chap at P&O). I’m in no rush so I’ll probably save myself £20 and go with Norfolk Lines. This does, however, lead to another change of route; the Eurovelo 5 route passes through Calais – it’s the shortest route from the UK to France and was presumably also the route taken by Sigeric and his mates en route to Rome along the Via Francigena. Dunkirk is 20 kms up the coast but as you can see from the map, the effect on my cycle for the remainder of the day towards Saint Omer is minimal. They are ugly arrows aren’t they?

Was all that sufficiently interesting (see previous post)?