The Grand Site de France des Deux-Caps, Blanc-Nez, Gris-Nez is an emblematic site of the Pas-de-Calais department. Located in the north of France, between Boulogne-sur-Mer and Calais, it extends over eight communes and forms the coastal fringe of the Caps et Marais d'Opale Regional Nature Park. Its location at the gateway to the Straits of the Pas de Calais offers an exceptional view of England. Its 23 km of coastline and sublime, unspoilt landscapes, with 7,000 ha of classified and listed sites, its coastal villages and contrasting colour palettes attract more than 2 million visitors from all over Europe every year
A landscape... or rather landscapes!
The Gris-Nez and Blanc-Nez capes are 12 km apart, but in reality, they are more than 80 million years apart. The Gris-Nez was born 170 million years ago in the Jurassic. The White-Nose was formed in the Cretaceous period 90 million years ago. It is from these geological phenomena that the different landscapes that characterise the Deux-Caps Site are shaped: the clay cliffs of the Gris-Nez, the chalk cliffs of the Blanc-Nez, the sand of the Slack dunes or the Bay of Wissant, the sandstone of the Cran aux Œufs, the marls and limestone that sculpt these 23 km of coastline.
Contrast is also reflected in the colour palette of the Grand Site. Over the seasons, from Sangatte to Wimereux, from Escalles at the foot of the Blanc-Nez to Audinghen at the Gris-Nez, changing light with liquid transparencies, frank colours, cameos, reinvent landscapes through vigorous contrasts and unexpected oppositions.
These contrasts are also illustrated by the varied architecture, whose richness reflects the diversity of the environments and people who live on the site, from the seaside villas of Wimereux, Ambleteuse or Wissant to the fishermen's houses gathered in small communities such as Audresselles. The graceful or monumental headlines, built at the beginning of the 20th century, will be familiar with the sky to dominate the horizon and contemplate the sea. Bow-windows, turrets, carpentry... everything is allowed to them to show their importance. The others, low and elongated, seem to hug the ground. Their roofs go down very low to resist the wind. Their only coquetry: brightly coloured doors and shutters that stand out cheerfully against the whitewashed walls. In sandstone around the Gris-Nez, in flint decorated with chalk rubble around the Blanc-Nez, the farmhouses reveal their location to anyone who can recognize these two very hard stones, one from sand, the other from chalk.
Fauna and flora, a varied natural heritage
Here the coast remained wild! If the emblematic capes Blanc-Nez and Gris-Nez impress by their steep chalk, clay and sandstone cliffs, exploring the site also means discovering the dune. It's going to the Slack Dunes on the Saint John Bay Trail. It is also from Tardinghen or Wissant that the dunes of Wissant Bay are revealed. North of Wimereux, from Pointe aux Oies to the estuary of the coastal river, the Slack marks the entrance to the village of Ambleteuse. From the embryonic dune by the sea, to reach the wooded dune on the other side of the 940 departmental road, the walker crosses the white dune covered with oyats, the grey dune with its carpet of mosses and lichens and the scrub dune where sea buckthorn, elder privet and wild rose intermingle. But the aridity of the dunes is an appearance. To be convinced of this, you only have to listen to the singing of the batrachians who have come to breed in the spring: the tree frog, the toad (pelodyte, calamite or common toad), the red frog, but also four kinds of newts have taken up residence here.
In the dunes of Tardinghen and Wissant rises the Motte du Bourg at 38 m altitude. Its belvedere offers an immense view of the sea, of the lighthouse quarry at the bottom of which a vast body of water where waterfowl land. Observations on the Motte du Bourg and in the quarry of the lighthouse allow to observe many passerines but also more imposing birds such as the water rail or the star bittern.
But Epinal's image of the site is indeed the cliffs. At the Blanc-Nez, life manages to cling to this hostile, unstable, vertical environment, beaten by the wind and sea spray. It has become a major European nesting site for black-legged kittiwakes, herring gulls and northern fulmars. The Gris-Nez is the crossroads of migratory birds. Close to this promontory, passerines and ducks that follow the coastline cross paths. The marine migrants, for their part, remain offshore but remain visible where the Strait of the Pas de Calais is the narrowest. Diving ducks can be seen before spring, then from mid-April swallows, swifts, goldfinches but also waders, oystercatchers or sandpipers can be seen. After the passage of the terns in August, the beginning of autumn remains a great time for observation: gannets but also spoonbills, gravelbacks and various species of falcons. In November, crested grebes and eider ducks close the march.
Pointe aux Oies, north of Wimereux, is a cliff of hard rock, limestone and sandstone, which allows it to resist erosion. In the spring, it is covered with beds of Olympus grass, whose colours ranging from pure white to deep pink give the Deux-Caps Site one of its emblematic images. Further north, the Pointe de la Crèche, overlooking Boulogne-sur-Mer and Wimereux, offers an open book on the geology of the Grand Site and its different strata: sand, sandstone, clay, Portlandian and Kimmeridgian limestone.
Finally, the foreshore, a word of Dutch origin meaning shore, is the end of the world, both for those on land and those at sea. The fauna and flora that inhabit it are different depending on whether the coast is rocky or sandy. On the rocky coasts, at Cap Gris-Nez, Audresselles and the Pointe de la Crèche, following the rhythm of the tides, you can observe lichens such as pelvetia or rockweeds, gastropods such as the periwinkle, or even mussels, limpets, green crabs or Dungeness crabs hidden under the rocks. On sandy coasts, most organisms live buried in the sand. It's the only way to resist the coming and going of the sea. Behind the twists and turns of sand visible on the Gris-Nez beach hides the arena. Here the telline, the donax, the knife, but also fish from sandy bottoms such as sole or flounder, have taken up residence.
Because the animals are also at the service of the reasoned management of the site. Highland oxen, Dartmoor or Shetland ponies have become the pets of the Two-Caps. But for the past few years, it is the sheep breeders of Boulonnais who have been called upon to help bring about a return to pastoralism on the limestone slopes where two other sheep breeds are also present: the Texel, originating from the Netherlands, and the Western Red, coming from the Maine-Anjou region. To conclude this rich chapter devoted to the fauna and flora of the Site des Deux-Caps, how can we not mention seals? Today, there are nearly 700 of them, sea calves or grey calves, counted from the Belgian border to the Bay of the Somme
Discover the Deux-Caps website
Walking, cycling or horse riding, snow and wind sports, golf... The Deux-Caps website is alive and kicking! It offers exceptional scenery dotted with hiking trails, superb beaches and many 100% natural activities. For walkers, there are many marked trails along the coast. These long windy beaches are also an ideal spot for water sports, kitesurfing, surfing or sand yachting. We also see the development of stand up paddle, a technique of walking on the sea standing on a board. The smaller ones can learn how to fly a kite. The rib-eye is also one of the most successful activities. Finally, 8,000 trailers from all over France and Northern Europe will meet on the second weekend of September at the Trail national Côte d'Opale in Pas-de-Calais. One more opportunity to discover an unmissable site of French heritage.
Smart info
When? All year round. If the fine days are more pleasant, the vagaries of the weather offer breathtaking landscapes.
Getting there. By car or train (stop in Calais, Calais-Fréthun or Boulogne-sur-Mer).
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