For asylum seekers, reaching the UK puts them in a ferocious political storm.
Just before sunrise, about 50 people, including young children, hurry along a boardwalk towards the beach. People smugglers have arranged an inflatable dinghy that's moored about 20 metres offshore.
These refugees are trying to reach it before police spot them. Most in this group have made a long and dangerous journey from the African nations of South Sudan and Eritrea to France's northern coast.
The looming 30-kilometre water crossing to the United Kingdom they're trying to make is the final leg, but it's also the trickiest.