In 1909, on a broad stretch of sand just outside of Calais, a new-fangled flying machine took to the air shortly after sunrise on July 25th. Heading out over the English Channel, it followed the French naval vessel Escopette as it steamed towards the English coast. Aboard the vessel was Alice Blériot. Flying the aeroplane – one of his own designs – was her husband, Louis Blériot, on his way to becoming the first man to fly across the English Channel in an aeroplane.
Flying at 76 metres above the water and without a compass, Blériot quickly passed his naval “escort”, reaching the English coast after a little over 30 minutes. The weather and wind hadn’t been entirely helpful and he reached the coast somewhat further east of where he intended, forcing him the follow the Dover cliffs to find his landing zone.
Fortunately, his colleague, Charles Fontaine, had travelled to England in advance to locate a suitable place for the aeroplane to land. He’d carried with him a large French Tricolour, which he waved as a signal as Blériot approached, allowing the pioneer to make a successful – if heavy – landing not far from Dover Castle after a total flight time of 36.5 minutes. Thus, Blériot became the first man to make a powered flight across the Channel, claiming a £1000 prize (over £130,000 today) in the process.
However, it might have been otherwise. Six day before Blériot, his fellow Frenchman, Hubert Latham set out from Cap Blanc-Nez not far from the sands of Sangatte. Unfortunately, just 13 km after taking off, Latham’s aeroplane suffered an engine failure, and he instead became celebrated as the first person to land an aeroplane on the sea.
So it is that today the sands from which Blériot took-off are called Blériot Plage (Blériot Beach). They also serve as the inspiration for another superb region setting by Jade Koltai. I’ve admired Jade’s work for years, covering many of her region designs in these pages, and her Blériot Plage continues this tradition.
A part of a chain of beaches running west from Calais, the modern Blériot Plage is backed by the town’s suburbs, and presents a popular destination for holiday makers. Little chalets line the beach in almost neat rows set back from the high tide mark. Grassy dunes separate the beach from the nearby houses and roads, but there is no mistaking the beach is not far from civilisation.
Jade’s Blériot Plage, takes the familiar elements of its namesake – notably the rows of chalets and wide sands – but presents them with a marvellous sense of the remote, a place of beauty clearly popular to those who know it, but isolated enough to feel far from anywhere – and all the more romantic for it. Neatly merging with the sandy dunes of a region surround on three sides, the north side of the region is open to the sea, the sands wide and soft, the Sun low on the horizon.
The Landing Point sits as a car park close to the mouth of a tunnel, giving the impression of having just arrived after a road trip. A short path through the nearest dunes leads to the beach proper with its rows of white-painted chalets remarkably similar to those found on the actual beach.
Signs warn about feeding the seagulls and cleaning up behind your dog while the self-same seagulls turn overhead or stand on vantage points looking for the opportunity to swoop and grab an easy snack. Across the sands are places to sit – deck chairs, ordinary chairs, blankets, family play areas – whilst off to one side the bulk of a much darker time in the history of France – of Europe as a whole – raises itself from behind the dunes and broods silently. As one stares out towards the lowering Sun, a coaster from some nearby port chugs it way past the beach, belching smoke but otherwise leaving the scene undisturbed.
In all, another outstanding setting from Jade, not to be missed.
SLurl Details
- Blériot Plage (Overland Hill, rated Moderate)
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 