Most riders know Calais as the place where the ferry or the tunnel train spits them out onto French tarmac, and they head south without a backward glance. Spare it an hour. The town hall is a surprise, a grand building in Flemish Renaissance style finished in the early twentieth century, and its belfry, one of the tallest in the region, rises well above the rooftops as a landmark you can see from the port. It forms part of the UNESCO list of belfries in Belgium and France, alongside towers that are centuries older.
In front of it stands one of the most famous sculptures in the world: Auguste Rodin's Burghers of Calais. It commemorates an episode from 1347, during the Hundred Years' War, when the English king Edward III besieged the town for nearly a year. Six leading citizens offered their lives in exchange for sparing the town, walking out with ropes around their necks. In the end they were spared, so the story goes, after the queen pleaded for mercy. Rodin portrayed them not as heroes but as frightened men, and the bronze figures stand at ground level so you look them in the eye.
Calais also has a long history of lace making, and the lace museum in an old factory tells that story well, along with the Channel crossings that have shaped the town for centuries.
The riding starts the moment you leave town. The coast road west towards Cap Blanc-Nez and Cap Gris-Nez climbs over chalk cliffs with the Channel on your right, and on a clear day the white cliffs of Dover are plainly visible across the water. The road dips through villages like Wissant, with dunes and wide sandy beaches, and the light can be wonderful in the evening. Wind is a constant companion, and in a westerly gale it can push a bike sideways, so keep a loose grip and a careful line.
Calais has fuel, supermarkets and everything a traveller needs, including plenty of shops geared to people stocking up before crossing. For lunch, the brasseries near the town hall do solid French food, and the fish restaurants near the port serve local catch with very little fuss. It is a decent place to begin or end a continental trip.