Paralympics 2024 in Paris
Weren’t the Olympics and Paralympics wonderful this summer? Between July’s crazy rain-lashed Olympic opening ceremony and September’s closing event the world was treated to weeks of inspirational sport. And I was lucky enough to be there.
Not for all of it, just the final weekend of the Paralympics when family friend Jeannette Chippington – the Queen of Paracanoe – was competing in her eighth Games. At 54 she’s the longest-serving member of Team GB’s Paralympic squad and has bags of medals – 12 for swimming including two Golds in Atlanta 1996 and two for canoeing with a Gold in Rio 2016 and Bronze at Covid-delayed Tokyo. Frustratingly for Jeanette she missed out on Bronze by less than two seconds at Vaires-Sur-Marne, the waterways about 20 miles east of the Eiffel Tower where all the Paris 2024 rowing and canoe-kayak events took place.
But my husband and I really struck gold during our stay at Torcy, a small town within walking distance of the lakes and rivers at Vaires-sur-Marne.
We’d never even heard of it before booking our Paralympics tickets but soon discovered that Torcy is not only well-placed for a quick dip into Paris – just 30 minutes by train – but it’s also only 10 minutes by rail from Disneyland Paris.
What makes Torcy really special, though, is the nearby Vaires-Torcy water sports park, at a lake set in acres of grounds. There’s a sandy beach and bathing area on the lake, an Aquapark with water games, plus a golf course, mini-golf and horseriding. It’s the perfect place to stay if you want to see Paris but also unwind.
Our trip to the Marne Valley began with one of the most comfortable cross-Channel ferries I’ve ever been on, the MS James Joyce run by Irish Ferries. It has a great restaurant – although you can upgrade to the stylish Club Class lounge which offers free drinks and snacks and is totally stress-free. We decided to take the ferry because it’s much cheaper than than EuroStar or LeShuttle and, to be honest, we wanted to be able to take home lots of smelly French cheese and great-value wine. You can bring back 18 litres per person. Our route followed the A26 and A1 toll motorways and we broke the journey at Arras, which has a Flemish feel thanks to its complicated history as part of the Spanish Netherlands. Its two main squares have lovely bars and cafés among the Flemish baroque architecture and there’s an interesting cathedral – originally Gothic then rebuilt after the French Revolution in a Greek Classic style.
This and most of the rest of Arras was virtually destroyed during the First World War because it was so close to the Western Front and there are several war memorials and museums to visit in the area, such as The Carrière Wellington where tunnels dug by Allied soldiers can still be seen. Our top priority, though, was to find a good supermarket and Carrefour didn’t let us down. We called at its Carrefour St Mard hypermarket, about 40 minutes before we reached Torcy, and filled our trolley with red wine ranging from 1.99 to 3.35 euros (last of the big spenders), plus cheese, French hot chocolate, olive oil, Dijon mustard, Normandy cider vinegar, vegetables and our favourite French merguez sausages spiced with cumin and harissa. Fabulous!
Deborah Stone with husband Nick, daughter Georgia and Paralympic Team GB canoeist Jeanette Chippington
Not much more than an hour later we were sitting in the gorgeous garden of the marvellously quirky AirBnB we’d booked, drinking our 1.99-euro Bordeaux and cooking those sausages on an outdoor gas grill to eat with fried courgettes, boiled potatoes and frilly French lettuce doused in mustard and olive oil dressing. It was heaven.
There are plenty of B&B and AirBnB options around Torcy, plus a handful of small hotels, but our AirBnB – in the older part of Torcy with a boulangerie two minutes’ away and plenty of on-street parking – was perfect for us. Hidden behind a big metal gate, it had a colourful courtyard and collection of elegant old buildings including our self-contained single-storey cottage. Through an arch between the buildings was a small lawned garden with more lovely flowers and an old bench beside a sheltered barbecue area, where we cooked our sausages and ate them on the bench as twilight began to fall.
Our AirBnB host, Vincent, told us his father and uncle had spent years rescuing old buildings, fixtures and fittings then reassembling them on their large plot of land. His sister lives in one of them and our home for three nights was an eclectic mix of reclaimed interiors. It was like living inside a Parisian café but with your own kitchen area, bedroom and bathroom.
During our stay we spent two mornings watching the Paralympics then one afternoon exploring Torcy – which has a big shopping centre near the railway a half-hour walk from the old town – and another afternoon in Paris. If we had stayed longer we could have visited the Chateau de Champs sur Marne, an 18th century stately home, or walked along the River Marne to Neuilly-sur-Marne, or even taken ourselves off to Disneyland Paris.
It’s certainly a good call for a Christmas break. You can go shopping in Paris, visit Disneyland to see Mickey’s Dazzling Christmas Parade and then stock up on festive food and wine on the way back to the ferry. But if you wait until warmer weather next year, you’d be able swim, play golf, go horseriding or walk for miles in the countryside around Torcy, as well as enjoy Disneyland’s many attractions. And during the drive back to Calais to catch your ferry home, there’s plenty of time to call at another supermarket to make sure you’ve topped up your supplies.
Deborah Stone
Useful websites
• Irish Ferries: irishferries.com
• Paris Vallee de la Marne Tourisme: tourisme-pvm.fr
• Île de loisirs de Vaires-Torcy: visitparisregion.com
• Disneyland Paris: disneylandparis.co.uk
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