CROSSING THE EURO TUNNEL (UNDER THE ENGLISH CHANNEL WATER)
Whilst my crossing through the Channel Tunnel is by car in Euro tunnel, one of the frist Indian lady, who is also my dear friend Mrs Bula Chaudhary swam the English Channel twice. It is certainly a matter of pride for Indian and personally myself as my friend Bula Chaudhary from West Bengal was the first Indian
female who swam the English Channel in 1989 and again in 1996. Bula Chowdhury started long-distance swimming in 1989 and crossed the English Channel that year. She won the 81-km (50-mile) Murshidabad Long Distance Swim in 1996, and in 1999 she crossed the English Channel again. Swam the Channel in 13 hours and 15 minutes. Joint 1,122nd fastest time out of 2,369 solo swims. In 2005 she became the first woman to have swum across sea channels off five continents—including the Strait of Gibraltar, the Tyrrhenian sea, Cook Strait, Toroneos Gulf (Gulf of Kassándra) in Greece, the Catalina Channel off the California coast, and from Three Anchor Bay to Robben Island near Cape Town (South Africa).
On 20thJanuary 2018 I and Bula received an award together by the President of India at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi as ‘first Ladies’ of Indian origin who set a bench mark as first in their field, amongst 112 Indian women who are the first in their fields. The government of India recognised and prepared a list as way of a book with profiles of 112 exceptional achievers “First Ladies” of Indian origin who are the first in their field and who set a bench mark. Bula received this award as the first woman to have swum across sea channels of five continents and I received this award as the first woman to drive solo through the Arctic Circle and 32 countries.
The English Channel is a major route for passenger and freight traffic. Crossings are provided by channel trains, ferry and air services. Hundreds of watercraft traverse the Strait of Dover daily; and this frequency, as well as the increase in ship size and speed, has led to the introduction of sophisticated navigational safeguard systems, including radar tracking of all ships in the strait. The Channel Tunnel linking Britain and France holds the record for the longest undersea tunnel in the world – 50km (31 miles) long. More than 20 years after its opening, it carries more than 10 million passengers a year and more than 1.6 million lorries – via its rail-based shuttle service.
One of the fastest and cheapest ways to cross the English Channel is via Eurotunnel. Whether you cross through Eurotunnel for a short excursion or as one leg of a European touring vacation and 35 minutes later you're in another country. Crossing the channel on the car transporter has to be the easiest, quickest and most comfortable way to do it ever. Boarding is a quick. The Eurotunnel Car Transporter, is a bit like driving into a garage. The inside is painted a sunny yellow and the lights stays brightly lit throughout the journey.
English Channel, also called The Channel, French La Manche, narrow arm of the Atlantic Ocean separating the southern coast of England from the northern coast of France and tapering eastward to its junction with the North Sea at the Strait of Dover (French: Pas de Calais).
From earliest times, depending on historical factors, the English Channel served as a route for, and a barrier to, invaders of Britain from the Continent. Early Stone Age people crossed the Strait of Dover; later invaders crossed the western end of the channel, trading the copper, tin, and lead they found in Devon and Cornwall, and successive Bronze and Iron Age invaders followed the same route. Julius Caesar’s invasion of 55 BC again favoured the Dover route in the east, while William the Conqueror in 1066 crossed from Normandy to Hastings. With Britain’s later loss of Normandy, the channel again became a defensive line. In the 20th century its strategic role was critical during the two world wars, particularly during the Allied invasion of France in 1944.
The idea of a channel tunnel was first conceived in 1802, and in the late 19th century such a tunnel was actually initiated and then abandoned. In 1957 the idea was revived, and in 1973 Britain and France decided to carry out the project (the “Chunnel”) jointly. Work was begun, only to be cancelled early in 1975, but in 1978 the matter of a channel crossing was again raised, this time by the British and French national railways and the European communities. Construction resumed in 1987 on twin single-track railway tunnels and a central service tunnel for ventilation, maintenance, and emergency evacuation; by 1990 the service tunnel had been completed. The Eurotunnel (as it came to be called) connects the road and rail networks of Britain and the Continent by carrying both rail freight and automobiles. The terminals are located at Folkestone in England and Calais in France.
Although the English Channel is a feature of notable scientific interest, especially in regard to tidal movements, its location has given it immense significance over the centuries, as both a route and a barrier during the peopling of Britain and the emergence of the nation-states of modern Europe. The current English name (in general use since the early 18th century) probably derives from the designation “canal” in Dutch sea atlases of the late 16th century. Earlier names had included Oceanus Britannicus and the British Sea, and the French have regularly used La Manche (in reference to the sleevelike coastal outline) since the early 17th century.