Tuesday, April 16, 2024
End: Between Les Vaguans and Életot
Kilometers: 18.5
Total: 118.3
I was on the windy side of the tent, so I was being buffeted by the tent during the night. It wasn’t the most restful sleep I’ve ever had, listening to the tent creak and groan with the howling wind.
We had wanted to get up and going in the early morning in order to be away before anyone showed up. We weren’t that early to leave, but we were hiking by 8 AM.
The Mémoire d’Albâtre was an interesting site, but I had walked down to see it last night, and it was too windy for us to stay long in the morning. We took a few pictures then descended to Veulettes-Sur-Mer.
After traversing the windy boardwalk, we found the bakery was closed for renovations. What a disappointment. The kids played on a windswept playground for a few minutes before we left town.
The path to the next town led right by the base of three wind turbines, which we saw all stop turning at once, presumably controlled by someone. The wind was still going strong, but not quite as strong as the previous night.
We made it through the wind to Saint-Martin-aux-Buneaux. We got off the trail briefly to go to a local convenience store, where the friendly owner chatted with us about other hikers, and took a photo of us.
I also found a very clean public bathroom, which was the real highlight of the little town. Back on the trail, we soon descended to Les Petites Dalles, one of many ravine villages crammed with a few houses leading to the beach.
There wasn’t much at Les Petites Dalles besides yet another small playground, so we let Miriam and Daniel play for five minutes before we succumbed to the pressure of the cold wind and set off for the climb out of the little cluster of buildings.
My original plan had been to camp between Les Petites Dalles and Les Grandes Dalles, but as we moved between the two, we didn’t see many good options for a tent. Certainly nothing that could hide from the wind. Thankfully we had already agreed to hike on further in order to be closer to the city of Fécamp, our destination for the next day.
We sat on the benches next to the fountain in Les Grandes Dalles and ate some snacks. It may have been one of our only breaks of the day near the coast and not too cold and windy.
We set off from there with yet another small climb, heading for Saint-Pierre-en-Port. I really liked the entrance into this one. There were little grassy alleyways and it felt like we were taking some kind of secret passage as we descended down to the road.
I left the others to rest while I went to the pharmacy and convenience store. I got chapstick and cream from the pharmacy, but the convenience store was closed for another thirty minutes, so I delivered what I had to Alex and the kids, then returned and caught up on my journal while I waited.
It’s kind of fun buying stuff from these tiny stores. Just seeing what they have, and realizing that these two or three half-aisles are the only groceries in town, makes you think.
Leaving town with enough food to make it to Fécamp the next day, I had hoped to camp in the woods just West of town, but there was nowhere to put a tent. We continued on, finally finding a spot partially behind a few small bushes on the way to Életot.
I wasn’t fond of our spot, as it was not well hidden, and we could easily be seen by any residents that passed by. But we were tired and had done more than enough distance for the day. We napped, ate, and then eventually went to sleep after a brief rainshower.
