I only had four posters of vehicles on my wall as a kid: a Lamborghini Countach, a Vector W8, the SR-71 spy plane, and a hovercraft about to cross the English Channel. Of course I had a desire to ride all of them, but only for the hovercraft did this happen. In 1997, having just returned from French Guiana, I started working at the European Space Agency as a ‘Young Graduate Trainee’ and for the first time in my life I had a bit of money to go outside of mainland Europe. The plan: visit London. The REAL plan though: I don’t care where we go as long as we go with the hovercraft.
After a hellish ride from The Netherlands to France in a coach we arrived at Calais: the port closest to England. We waited at the dock and soon an incredibly noisy hovercraft arrived called the Princess Anne. It hovered over the Canal and then simply continued over the dock’s concrete until it switched off and collapsed on to the dock. During its arrival, I managed to make the exact same picture as my old poster on the wall (see middle picture).
The ride itself was…well…interesting. First of all I was surprised about small the cabin was inside. It was comparable to sitting inside a small plane flying to London. The ride was bumpy and the noise was simply crazy. The captain tried to speak some words but it was in vain: “This……….captain speaking…….welcome…..” and anything else he said just disappeared under the roar of the hovercraft’s propellers. We arrived very shortly after departure, showing the power of the hovercraft, and set foot on England.
My first visit to London was enjoyable, seeing the Rosetta stone, standing on the zero meridian, seeing the obvious sights and taking a nap in the park of a night out at Piccadilly circus.
The ride back was on a normal ferry unfortunately, and my first hovercraft ride was to be my last, as the service discontinued not long after my visit. The use of hovercrafts has been under question since their invention, and nowadays the only public service by hovercraft is between mainland England and the Isle of Wright. Still, several applications are found in military use and rescue services for example. Remembering the bumpy ride, I understand the questionable application for human transport. But when it comes to excitement, no ferry comes close to it.
Ciao!
Robin
Would you like to be informed about other stories? Follow me on Facebook!
Very fond memories of the Hovercraft from Dover to Calais as a child… I miss the drama of it dearly.