Opal Coast
In Belgium our coastline is mostly one long wall of apartment buildings but just across the French boarder we have the Opal coast. A piece of coastline with long stretched beaches, cliffs and dunes getting more and more touristy but not spoiled by concrete and mass tourism.
Wikipedia Opal Coast
The Hike
For hiking lovers I would strongly recommend the marked hike of Baie St Jean. It's a beautiful walk of 11 km along the coast and trough the protected dunes of 'Dunes de la slack'. One moment you have a beautiful sea view and the next your walking trough a landscape of dunes and forest.
When leaving the national park 'Dunes de la slack' we hit an almost deserted beach with an old ford/costal defense dominating the view.
Practical:
The hike leaves and ends in the small coastal village of Wimereux where you have plenty of possibilities to have an ice cream and drink to reward the effort. The entire hike is marked with yellow/white signs. Altough it's only 11 km, the hike takes about 3 hours because of the sandy environment and steep hill's
https://www.pas-de-calais-tourisme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Baie-St-Jean.pdf
