Sangatte Beach, Nord pas de Calais |
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Sangatte is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the region of Nord pas de Calais (one of 26 French regions) on the northern coast of France on the English Channel. The town of Sangatte belongs to the canton of Calais-Nord-Ouest and the district of Calais. The name Sangatte is of Flemish (Dutch) origin (Zandgat) and means "gap in the sand". Sangatte was the site of the works for the Channel Tunnel and is the location for the tunnel's French cooling station. Its British counterpart is located at Samphire Hoe in Kent. Sangatte is also the French end-point for the HVDC Cross-Channel, which is the connection between the UK and French electricity grids. In 1908 the Daily Mail newspaper offered £1,000 for the first flight across the English Channel. Louis Blériot was the first person to achieve this and flew from the beach at Sangatte, to the cliffs at Dover on the July 25, 1909. The crossing took 37 minutes in his aero plane, Blériot XI, powered by a 3 cylinder 25 horsepower (19 kW) engine. The aero plane was built in collaboration with Raymond Saulnier. Blériot Plage at Sangatte is named to commemorate Bleriot’s flight. Sangatte also achieved notoriety as the location of a controversial refugee camp, colloquially dubbed Sans-gate, and meaning without gate. Nicolas Sarkozy, then Minister of the Interior, ordered its closure. The three presenters of the BBC Two show Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, crossed the Channel in an amphibious Toyota Hilux, Instead of finishing at Calais after leaving Dover, they ended up 8km along the coast in Sangatte. |
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