48 hours on the Opal Coast

Hauts-de-France/2022

Chalk cliffs fringed by shimmering green pastures and iridescent sea, ancestral seaside resorts frozen in time or in full bloom, young tables or expert toques, but all driven by the same desire to shake things up... A luminous trip to the Côte d'Opale.

With global warming in full swing, some mischievous souls are claiming that "the North is the new South". Vineyards are even being planted on the slag heaps - that's saying something! Near the coast, the attractiveness of the area is clearly on the rise, and land prices are in unison. In Le Touquet, for example, the cost per square metre for some properties is well over the symbolic €10,000 mark. So where does this new attraction for the Côte d'Opale, between Baie d'Authie and Cap Blanc-Nez, between two towns whose image has been sadly tarnished by the arrival of shattered populations - some in need of repair (Berck), others not so much, it has to be said (Sangate)? Du Touquet, of course. With its ultra-concrete seafront with vintage charm, chic XXL villas tucked away between golf courses and forest, heavily guarded street sections (around Emmanuel Macron's holiday resort) and wind (a lot) in its sails, the town is seductive. A few good restaurants - few, in fact, given the clientele and regulars - and cool boutiques, many English, just as many Northerners, and ultimately few Parisians, even if the town displays its official name, Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, everywhere. A worldly resort, it's also a sporty one, with golf, sand yachting and tennis all on offer. - The Pierre-de-Coubertin tennis center boasts the largest number of outdoor clay courts in France - and "kite flying"... But it's time to leave this cocoon behind and head south along the dune towards Stella-Plage, a more working-class seaside resort that's rapidly gentrifying, and towards the seal colonies of the Baie d'Authie. Cross the River Canche to the north, and admire the elegant Belle Époque villas of Wimereux - called "Romance", "Aurore" or "Tilouine" - before breathing in the fresh air.-before breathing in the sea air at the top of the chalk cliffs. Nestling between two capes, they still seem to defy Britain's southern coastline. Then it's time to walk along the almost fluorescent green meadows that plunge into the Channel with its changing reflections, pearly when the sun breaks through, and penetrate into the heart of these hedged farmlands framed by the Course and the Canche. At the bend of a sunken lane, on a forgotten beach or facing a fort surrounded by water (Ambleteuse, built by Vauban, of course), you'll be delighted by the no-frills tables that often overlook the sea, and where the cuisine is just back from fishing. Now it's time to head further inland. After crossing the marshes, you come across a château that once belonged to the Givenchy family and has now been transformed into a guest house, and a bourgeois residence that has become a third-party venue and contemporary art center, the Chartreuse de Neuville. You're now facing the ramparts of Montreuil-sur-Mer. A 3 km walking loop offers magnificent views of the lower town and surrounding countryside. You'll discover a city fortified since the 9th century. Between 987 and 1204, it was the only port in the kingdom of France. Above all, here you are in La Madelaine-sous-Montreuil, a village transformed into a gastro hub thanks to the energy of one man, Alexandre Gauthier, who is totally immersed in these marshes and skies that never seem to rest.