Crossing the Channel without a car

Why not drive to Lille and drop the car, then get the Eurostar to London?

Have a look at directferries.com. There's an option for crossing without a car from Calais.

Foot travel by ferry is theoretically possible but you may find when you go to book that you get a message that the ferry company is not “supporting” foot passengers.

We were walk-on passengers on a P and O ferry from Calais to Dover many years ago. At that time, they were the only ferry that accepted walk-ons. We checked in, then boarded a bus which drove all walk-ons onto the ferry. When we arrived in Dover, we took a cab to the train station where we caught the train to London.

We dropped off our rental car in Lille at the train station before departing for Belgium by train. You could drop off the car and then take Eurostar to London. One thing to keep in mind. If you are doing this on a Sunday, car rental offices at the Lille train station are only open for about 3 hours in the afternoon; so we had to really coordinate our travel schedule to make it all fall in line. Any other day of the week would be much easier.

P and O are the only company currently taking foot pax out of Calais. On!y on 4 sailings each day.

For a more seamless journey Flixbus run from Lille to London Victoria. They sometimes use P and O, sometimes DFDS and sometimes Irish Ferries.

Do you get seasick?

We do not get seasick

I saw your previous question and I think you made a good decision to cross without the car.

The easiest way is to catch (buy ahead or the price will be high) a Eurostar which crosses in the tunnel - the same tunnel you originally considered for the car. You can get that in Paris (Paris Nord station) if you go pretty much direct after Normandy, or in Lille if you drive the length of the coast east of Normandy. I will say that it is a fairly long drive to Calais and another hour or hour and a quarter to Lille, and the scenery's not much.

Can I ask why you want to cross from Calais? Is it because that's where the ferries are or do you have particular places you want to visit between Normandy and Calais?

Are you going to visit WW-I sites in the Somme?

A touch more context can help us give you a really custom answer.

There are several of us who know the northern French coast pretty well, as well as interior Normandy and the Loire to its south. There are also several of us familiar with the WW-I and WW-II sites.

I personally cross the Channel (boat and tunnel) several times a year.

about the seasick question - the ferries are big and very stable. I don't cross in really bad weather but it has been years since I've seen anybody on the Dover-Calais route green around the gills.