Hiking Along the Shoreline to Étretat, France - Beautiful Cliffs

in #travel6 years ago

Last Monday we went for a 10 km hike along the shoreline to the city of Étretat, which is famous for its chalk cliffs and arches in those cliffs. It was around 30 degrees Celsius (86°F) and the terrain was very mountainous, so it turned out to be a pretty tiring endeavour. Below you'll see a picture of one of the famous arches.


By @daan


Before we reached the shoreline, we had to walk around 2 km from our car to the coast, which was pretty easy and relaxed, since at that point everything was still pretty flat. We walked by a few farms and saw these typical French fields with hay rolled up into round bales.


By @daan


Then we finally reached the shore and saw remnants of an old bunker which was probably part of the Atlantic Wall, built by German forces during the Second World War. Also came across an old lighthouse which now served as a cell tower, got a really neat shot of that. I have to mention that this was the first time I've really tested out my new Canon EOS 200D, some pictures came out really nice, while others... not so much.


By @daan


Now the real struggle began, still around 8 more kilometres to go, over rough terrain in scorching heath. There were thistles everywhere, so we needed to be careful where we walked. Came across another small bunker, which I didn't enter since it looked like it was about to collapse.


By @daan


In the next couple of pictures you'll see a little path on the side of those hills, I think we went up and down at least 4 times in total (over different cliffs that looked pretty much the same). I was wearing the wrong shoes and my feet were full of blisters after this trip. Still worth it, because the scenery was just breathtaking and I got to practice taking pictures with different settings.

At a certain point we had to go through a barbed wired entrance, you'll see it in one of the photos. After which we went down the hill.


By @daan


Now we had reached an area that featured a long stairway going down to a little cove, surrounded by these massive cliffs. I was glad we had about 2 litres of water with us, because it was so hot down there.

Since the cliffs were all white, all the light and heath reflected onto us! I was wearing sunglasses, but my girlfriend wasn't, so she could barely see. I offered her mine, but she declined due to them being 'unfashionable'.

We had a little bit of rest, not too much because it was way too hot.


By @daan


Now we were finally getting close to the city of Étretat, I also took a few more shots of the path we had just walked on. The cliffs we saw from that point on all had arches carved out by the sea, this is why we made the trip in the first place.

When we finally saw the city in the distance, we let out a sigh of relief. Finally we could get some nice cold drinks, since the water we had with us was all gone.


By @daan


If you ever plan on visiting France, I can definitely recommend visiting this area, it's just stunning. Maybe you want to hike on a day that is less hot, because we kind of miscalculated that.

I hope you've enjoyed reading this post, looking forward to reading your comments!


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What a stunning scenery!
Nice to see a different perspective of France
Beautifuly captured!

One day I will visit France

Lovely photos. It seemed vaguely familiar, and when I looked up Etretat's place on the map, I realise I probably visited with my family at the age of 7 or 8, when we went camping near Le Harvre. That incredibly white sand!
The terrain is quite similar to parts of the south-eastern Scottish coast around the border with England. But the cliffs there are sort of ochre coloured, rather than white.

My daughter keeps hassling me to visit France, but it wont be this year.

We used to have some of those bunkers and air-raid shelters dotted around the UK, but many have been dismantled. A shame really, but there's some left in France it seems

Your wearing blues brothers shades, how can those be out of fashion?

This part of the coast doesn't have too many bunkers either, most of them seem to be around Utah and Omaha beach.

Out of fashion for women apparently, I don't keep up with fashion myself :P

wow, great pics and seemed like a great hike. do you know what your total distance was?

Wow I really like the chalky cliffs that alternate red and white, fascinating. Great shots there with the ocean too.

The cove looks like it would be a great place to chill also... Too bad it was just too hot!

Wow, that was on our places to visit, but it has now jumped up several places! Maybe next summer, this summer we have England on the cards.

Now, the real question! Have you found any good ciders yet?

Yeah I have found at least one really good one:

Interesting , I will have to find it next time I'm in the area.

Investing, I will
Have to find it next time I'm
In the area.

                 - bengy


I'm a bot. I detect haiku.

Those chalk cliffs look just like the ones in England. Lovely walk!

Very beautiful pic. i hope your traveling is good.

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