Etretat.

Saturday 4 June.

 

After having breakfast we packed up and were ready to go at 9:00 am. Before leaving we emptied the waste water, cleaned the toilet cassette and filled with fresh water. It had been a nice aire, a little expensive but we did have WiFi of a sort.

 

We headed up to Pontorson where Moira picked up a baguette before taking the N175 for a short distance to get back onto the A84 motorway again, to Caen. It was a good fast run and I was able to average about 60 mph. We were heading for Etretat on the coast and took the shortest route after Caen which involved a toll road heading for Le Havre. There were three toll gates to go through in total and the stretch cost about €20. The trouble with toll roads in France is that there is no indication of the charge, you only find out what you owe when you arrive at the toll plaza. It was a beautiful run, especially the bridges, magnificent sweeping affairs, one over the estuary of La Seine and the second crossing high up over the Grand Canal. We came off the motorway before reaching Le Havre and took the D940 to Etretat. There was a shopping mall in the town of Criquetot about 9km before Etretat where I filled up with diesel and Moira got pork chops for dinner and some more strawberries.The aire where we were staying was about a kilometre before the town and was situated next to the municipal campsite. It was all right but no electrics and the services, water etc were extra. Luckily I had filled with water and cleaned the loo before leaving this morning and all it cost was the parking fee, €8, for the night.

 

It was lunchtime when we were settled then after we had eaten we prepared for a walk. It was a good kilometre into town through a housing suburb but soon we moved into hotels, restaurants and shops. There was a tourist information office in the square where we picked up a map and the woman showed us on it the way to the front and the walk up to the cliffs on either side of the bay. We headed down a pedestrian precinct with lots more restaurants and souvenir shops. There were cafes selling iced cream and the price was reasonable at €2 for a cone and fridge magnets were not bad at €3:50 each but I didn't buy one.

 

Once we reached the prom one direction led to a cliff with a rock formation at the point with an archway cut by the action of the waves on the base. On the cliffs at the other end was perched a church with a pointed steeple and at the base of the cliff another hollowed out hole in the tall pinnacle of rock. We went to the left first and along the esplanade there were plaques with paintings by Monet of the area and reminding us that he came from here. Soon we were climbing stairs and a steep pathway up to the top of the cliff. On the landward side was a golf course with the fairways an emerald green and the greens smoothly mown. To the sea we had outstanding views of the rocks, the top was called '.a chambre des desmoiselles' and the archway below, 'la porte d'Aval'. At the top the path level out and we continued to the next outcrop of rock, 'la Manne porte', another with a hole eroded in its base. At that spot we turned back and made our way all the way down again to the front. There were lots of people on the tops and even more strolling along the prom, it was a nice warm spring day and the tourists were enjoying it.

 

We stopped and bought an iced cream licked it as we now headed for the climb up the cliff at the other end. It was a winding stairway to the top and on the flat surface there was the delightful little church, la Chapelle, but it was closed and we couldn't see inside. We walked along the clifftop path for the view of the rocky promontory here, 'le Chaudron'. By this time we had been out for nearly 2 hours and getting tired with all the climbing so decided to call it a day and head back to the aire. At the church there was a large carpark and a road leading to town from there, we took that route rather than the stairs. From the town centre it was the kilometre, now feeling longer, back to the suburbs and the motorhome.

 

There wasn't any TV or radio tonight after dinner, dodgy running it from the battery as our leisure ones are still flat. I will have to replace them when we get back to Scotland and get the charging system form the solar panel checked. We spent the evening reading and I still had a 'Telegraph' crossword to be done. We got to bed at the usual time but we didn't sleep much, Moira was coughing most on the night, or so it seemed. I told her, as she tells me, to gargle with salt and water but she insisted that it was coming from her chest and not an irritation in her throat so the magic cure of salt and water wouldn't work.

 

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