Author: jamesclay

In July I made a trip over to France and Germany. The first stage of the trip was a sea crossing from Newhaven to Dieppe and we arrived in Dieppe at 5am.

The last time I had been in Dieppe was in the 1980s on a family holiday. It was surprising how little had changed. Though the railway and harbour station had disappeared.

Combined rail and ferry services ended in 1994 after Stena Line, at that time operating as Stena Sealink on the Newhaven-Dieppe and Dover-Calais crossings, had transferred to a new terminal on the other side of the harbour. These changes coincided with the opening of the Channel Tunnel and the concomitant withdrawal of all SNCF Channel boat trains. The whole station was demolished in early 1995, and virtually no physical traces now remain.

The castle was still there at the top of the cliff.

Many of the restaurants and shops I had experienced in the 1980s were no longer there, which wasn’t a surprise, but the Monoprix department store was still there.

We had intended to have breakfast in the port, stay a a few hours and potentially even have lunch. However there wasn’t anything open (we could see) so headed off to Fecamp instead.