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Holiday Walks in Normandy Normandy is the latest addition to the 'Holiday Walks' series from Sigma and the second French guide to be written by Judy Smith. 26 long and short walks are included to guide you round this bountiful land, from the landing beaches of the north to the vast southern forests. Includes accurate sketch maps and numerous photographs. |
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Contents | Location
| Normandy | Sample Walk | Normandy
Web Sites
But don’t take our word for it! Normandy, the ideal destination for an away-weekend or a complete walking holiday, is described in full detail in the form of 26 long and short walks plus suggestions for more than a hundred others! From the chalk cliffs of Étretat to the banks of the Seine, from the vast southern forests to the landing beaches of the north there is a lot to be discovered. In addition to route descriptions and sketch maps, there are historical details and geographical information, all dispensed with a smattering of local anecdotes and legends. Eating places and tourist information centres are detailed, and to help you on your way, there is a glossary of French words useful to walkers. Judy Smith has walked extensively on holidays in France for over 30 years. She is the author of several walking guides in Northamptonshire, and now takes the opportunity to share her enthusiasm for the footpaths of Normandy.
- A little history to set the scene
- Dictionary of Walking Words
- Offices de Tourisme
- Recommended Publications
- Normandy on the Internet
The Walks
Manche
- 1. Coastal paths around the Nez de Jobourg Distance: 5km (3 miles) to 10km (6¼ miles)
- 2. St. Vaast-la-Hougue and the Val de Saire Distance: 13km (8 miles)
- 3. The marshlands of Cotentin Distance: 10.5km (6½ miles)
- 4. Roches de Ham and the valley of the Vire Distance: 10km (6¼ miles)
- 5. The picturesque Îles Chausey Distance: 4km (2½ miles)
- 6. The waterfalls of Mortain Distance: 6km (3¾ miles)
- 7. The legendary site of the Fosse Arthour Distance:
7km (4½ miles)
Calvados
- 8. Views of Port Winston at Arromanches Distance: 6km (3¾ miles) or 15km (9½ miles)
- 9. Le Bény-Bocage and the valley of the Souleuvre Distance: 8km (5 miles)
- 10. The Auge – a land of plenty! Distance: 8km (5 miles) or 12km (7½ miles)
- 11. Beaumont-en-Auge, a town with a view Distance: 6km (3¾ miles)
- 12. The Suisse-Normande – climbing the Pain de Sucre
Distance: 7.5km (4¾ miles)
Orne - 13. Views from the Roche d’Oëtre Distance: 6km (3¾ miles)
- 14. A woodland stroll at Bagnoles de l’Orne Distance: 9km (5½ miles)
- 15. On the edge of the Forêt d’Écouves Distance: 10km (6¼ miles)
- 16. In the forest of Bellême Distance: 10.5km (6½ miles)
Eure
- 17. The Abbey of le Bec-Hellouin Distance: 22km (13¾ miles)
- 18. La Ferrière and the valley of the Risle Distance: 12km (7½ miles)
- 19. Les Andelys and the Château Gaillard Distance: 8km (5 miles)
- 20. In Monet’s footsteps at Giverny Distance: 5.5km (3½ miles) or 10km (6¼ miles)
- 21. Colourful Lyons-la-Forêt Distance: 11.5km (8¼ miles)
Seine-Maritime
- 22. Seascapes at Étretat Distance: 7km (4½ miles)
- 23. Mills in the valley of the Durdent Distance: 17km (10½ miles)
- 24. The Seine at Villequier Distance: 15km (9½ miles)
- 25. The Abbey of Jumièges Distance: 15km (9½ miles)
- 26. Chalk Cliffs at Criel Distance: 6km (3¾ miles) or 10km (6¼ miles)
Contents | Location | Normandy | Sample Walk | Normandy Web Sites
Contents | Location | Normandy | Sample Walk | Normandy Web Sites
The most exciting thing about walking in Normandy is the enormous contrast it offers. Geologically speaking, Normandy is divided into two parts – Haute-Normandie (Upper Normandy), the limestone area to the north and east, and Basse-Normandie (Lower Normandy) to the south and west, where the granite rock is an extension of the Armorican Massif of Brittany. This division immediately explains the differences in coastline. In the east, between Le Tréport and Le Havre, there are some remarkable white chalk cliffs towering high above beaches of rounded pebbles. A Grande Randonnée follows the coast all the way – 120km – but if that’s too far, there is a splendid walk at Criel along the highest cliffs in France, and the classic walk at Étretat takes you past the arches and needle on this most famous stretch of coastline. In total contrast are the sloping granite cliffs on the north of the Cotentin peninsula. This wild and lonely coast makes for superb walking – you can follow the narrow path along the gorse-clad cliffs at the Nez de Jobourg and look out across the remote bay of Ecalgrain to the distant Channel Islands. In between these two very different coastlines are shores of yet another kind. Here are the wide stretches of sand that were once the famous landing beaches of D-Day. Again, a coastal path will take you past all the well-known sites and memorials, and there are suggestions for a day’s expedition here. But the simple circular walk at Arromanches will give you the best views of the bay, still with the remains of its mulberry harbour. One coastal walk with a difference – and one that should not be missed - is that on the Îles Chaussey.This galaxy of tiny islands off the west coast is a miniature paradise, where palm trees overlook the turquoise waters and the rise of tide is higher than anywhere in Europe.
Contents | Location | Normandy | Sample Walk | Normandy Web Sites
The concrete blocks of the Mulberry harbour out to sea at Arromanches are a most tangible reminder of the D-Day landings. You can see them from near and far when you take this walk through the green valley behind the town.Grade: Easy
Distance: 15km (9½ miles). But it is possible to take just a short circuit of about 6km (3¾ miles)
Time: 4 hours for full walk, about 1¾ hours for short circuit.
Map: IGN Série Bleue 1512 O
Start and finish: Museum of the D-Day Landings (Musée du Débarquement) at Arromanches How to get there: Arromanches is on the coast north-west of Caen. The Musée du Débarquement is on the sea-front – and is well-signed all over the town. There is parking in front of the museum, but this can be very busy in season. Other car parks are signed at the west end of the town. All car parks may make a charge in season.
Refreshment: The narrow main street of Arromanches is crowded with restaurants and bars of all kinds. There is a pleasant little auberge in the village of Ryes, about half-way round the walk
Notes: This is a longish but not-too-demanding walk. Most of it is on field tracks and sunken lanes – by all means wear your trainers in summer, but at other times the long grass can be wet and the tracks muddy, so go for boots. There is little shade on the route so you may well need sun-screen on a hot day – and perhaps you should also carry fluid, although you should be able to get a drink (and food) at Ryes. And don’t forget binoculars for the views of Port Winston, and possibly a swimming costume for a dip at the end of the day.
If you opt for the short circuit, it might be worth climbing the hill past point 6 for some excellent views
Waymarking: This walk has sections on a Grande Randonnée (GR 223), waymarked in white on red, sections on a Grande Randonnée du Pays (Tour du Bessin), waymarked in yellow on red and other sections merely waymarked in yellow. The text will tell you what to look out for.
The troops arriving on the landing beaches on D-Day needed back-up – tanks and armoured vehicles, continuing food supplies and ammunition. It would be many days before they could even hope to capture a port. It was Churchill’s conception to take a port with them – a port that could be based off a sandy beach, a port whose landing stages could rise up and down with the tide. Arromanches-les-Bains was its chosen site.
More than a year before D-Day, divers off Arromanches undertook the necessary measurements. Hollow concrete blocks the size of five-storey buildings were to be constructed and then towed across the channel, filled with water and sunk.
Amazingly, German intelligence never picked up their building sites. On the chosen day, violent and unseasonal storms raged along the channel coast and the landings had to be postponed for 24 hours. D-Day was now the 6th June. The blocks were taken across a day later, still in high seas, and several were lost en route. Once in place, the rough waves damaged yet more. The companion American harbour on Omaha beach was completely destroyed by more storms two weeks later. But the port at Arromanches functioned, and soon 7,000 tonnes of supplies a day were landing that way. The port of Cherbourg did not become functional until August – and the rest, as they say, is history.
The blocks were not immediately removed at the end of the war. In time, several were taken for reconstructions in Paris and others were used to block a breach in the dykes of Holland. But the rest remained in the seas off Arromanches and you can see them today. The D-Day museum on the sea front is something of a pilgrimage site. Its windows look out across the sea with its memories while multilingual guides tell the story using working models. On the cliff above, a new Cinema 360° takes you to the heart of the battle.
In Arromanches you will no doubt want to visit these sites – and this walk passes the Cinema 360° as it leaves the town. From the cliff-top there is perhaps the best view over the bay, still ringed by the harbour remains. But the walk then takes you away from the crowds up a wide green valley between fields of corn. This was the land they fought over – the stark cemeteries lie in the villages around. The valley is long and when you arrive at the village of Ryes you can find refreshment at a little auberge. From there the route heads up the hill behind the church and from the grassy track at the top you again have superb views over the bay with its memorials – views that will stay with you all the way as you follow a succession of lanes back to Arromanches.
3. On reaching the cross roads with the main road (D 65)
For the Short Cut:
Turn right along this road for about 30 metres, and then turn left up the track beside the farm. Now see Point 6 – and consider walking up the hill a little for the view.
For the Main Walk:
Turn left, and at the cross-roads in about 100 metres, keep straight ahead. A little farther on, look for a wooden signpost directing you left beside a stone wall on a narrow path.
4. Coming shortly to a track T-junction, turn right on a broad cross-field path towards the village of Asnelles. In the middle, near a concrete telegraph pole, you will need to zig-zag to the left a little (i.e. turn left then immediately right). This path brings you in to a narrow road in the village. Now keep your eyes open for an alley between walls on the right, the Sentier au Bâtard – it is waymarked in yellow on red. The alley becomes a path, which continues between fields and over a stream before reaching a tarmacked road. Here turn right, then keep right at the fork (following a wooden signpost for the circuit of the Port d’Arromanches) and continue ahead to the main road.
5. Cross straight over this road to a rough track opposite, now waymarked in yellow. Now keep ahead on this track with the little River Gronde on your right for about 4km., ignoring all side tracks. On reaching a tarmacked road, turn right into the village of Ryes. (The yellow waymarking is a little confusing around here. You may have noticed a yellow-flashed track going off on the right before you reached the tarmacked road. Once at the road, the track opposite bears flashes of yellow. The reason for this is that this walk has been published – and waymarked – by two different authorities, and they use different routes to circumnavigate the village of Ryes. It seems preferable to choose neither. This route goes straight through the village – at least you can stop at the auberge for a drink!)
6. On reaching the main road (the D 205) in Ryes, cross straight over to a road opposite. Keeping to the left, in about 200 metres or so you will reach a road junction. The Auberge des Monts is now just behind you on the right. Continue ahead (ignore the road on the left) towards the church of Saint-Martin. Now take the track on the right that climbs uphill behind the church – it is waymarked in yellow on red. At the fork at the top of the hill, bear right and continue on a waymarked grassy track along the top of the hill. There are fine views of the bay as you begin to descend.
7. Heading downhill you reach a signpost at the junction of the Grande Randonnée 223 and the GRP 1 and 2 (Randonnées du Pays). Continue downhill, now following the white on red waymarks of GR 223. Coming down to the farm, turn left (the short cut joins here) and keep ahead on the broad track.
8. After about 1km on this track, you reach a junction where the GR turns right. You also turn right here, but in about 250 metres, at a second junction, you leave the GR (it turns right) and continue ahead on a path that leads down to the road. Cross the road directly to the yellow-waymarked track opposite. This runs alongside the Château du Petit-Fontaine and dips into a valley to cross a stream before climbing steeply uphill again.
9. Coming out to a farm road at the top, turn right and continue down to the water tower, where you turn left and then right to return to the sea front.
Arromanches is on the Côte de Nacre –the Mother of Pearl Coast – which stretches from the mouth of the Orne at Ouistreham to Isigny-sur-Mer. This is, of course, the scene of the D-Day landings and the beaches of Sword, Juno, Gold and Omaha succeed each other as you walk west. Only Utah is missing – it is just round the corner on the east coast of the Cotentin peninsula. This is in some ways a sad land with its many cemeteries and memorials but it is also a beautiful coastline and the GR 223 follows it closely from Arromanches to the west. Whether it is military history or just sea breezes that appeal to you, it will make an interesting walk. The route of the GR is indicated on the Série Bleue maps and, beside the one mentioned above, you will need one other – 1411 S. Grandes Randonnées are so well marked on the ground that, with the help of a map, you should have no trouble whatsoever in following this one. Heading west from Arromanches, you will pass the battery at Longues and some high cliffs before reaching the interesting fishing village of Port-en-Bessin (11km.) Another 7km or so along Omaha beach will bring you to Colleville-sur-Mer with its memorial and cemetery. A memorial and viewing table at St Laurent bring you on to Vierville and about 10km west of this is the Point du Hoc where bunkers and craters in the ground remind you of the terrible battle fought here. A little farther on is the fishing port of Grandchamp-Maisy. There are splendid views all the way. If you do not have access to two cars for this linear walk, the Tourist Information at Arromanches (across the car park from the museum) should be able to help you find a taxi.
The fertile plain behind these beaches is known as the Bessin – and it is an area well-endowed with waymarked circular routes. The Office de Tourisme at Arromanches can offer you two leaflets of these circuits – one covering the west of the region, the other the east (Arromanches is just in the east.) You should have no trouble following these routes – the minimal French text on the leaflets relates largely to churches, chateaux, etc. en route. For a dip into wartime history, take the Circuit de la Plage d’Omaha (15km.). For an interesting port, some high cliffs and a river curiously disappearing underground, try the Circuit de Port-en-Bessin (20km.)
In addition to these leaflets, you will also find the Office de Tourisme stocked with folders of walks. The local folder is entitled Randonnées dans le Bessin – Canton de Ryes. Here you have 11 walks with excellent maps and French text. Some of them overlap the routes in the leaflet of the eastern region (hence the excess of yellow waymarks on the Arromanches route) and some are reproduced (at least approximately)in the Topoguide of the area, Le Calvados à pied. And to add to all that, there is another Topoguide devoted entirely to this region – Tour du Bessin (Ref. 141) – in which, in addition to circuits, you are offered a complete regional tour. As you can see, walking is given a high profile round here.
This whole area bears testimony to the historic events of the summer of 1944. In Arromanches, the Musée du Débarquement is a must, even though the summer crowds can be a bit daunting. A discussion of the construction of the harbour with working models is followed (or preceded) by a short film of the landings. A joint ticket will then take you into the Cinema 360° on the cliff above. Here the war footage is interspersed with shots of Normandy today, prosperous, green and fertile. Was it done to extend the time (the whole show only takes 18 minutes) or underline the contrast? Whatever, it makes a strangely moving combination.
Le Mémorial at Caen was opened in 1988 as a ‘Museum for Peace’. It takes things a bit farther by inviting you to reflect on all the conflicts of the 20th century – naturally with special reference to the local events of the last world war, which here are seen from both sides. Using advanced audio-visual techniques and archive film footage it makes an unforgettable impact.
With your ticket to Le Mémorial it is also possible to book a guided tour of the landing beaches. Of course you can visit the Pointe du Hoc, Omaha Beach, the Military Cemetery at Colleville and the Battery at Longues-sur-Mer under your own steam, but more can be learned from a guide and there are tours in English. If you are a fluent French speaker you can conduct yourself around the principal sites using a cassette and map bought from the Mémorial – but so far there is no English version.
It is possible to pursue the progress of the invasion throughout Normandy by following the eight themed itineraries devised to commemorate its 50th anniversary. You have no doubt seen the sea-gull logo posts, each one describing local events – ask at the Office du Tourisme for more details.
And thinking of a different invasion, Arromanches is only 10km from Bayeux, home of the tapestry commemorating the events of 1066. This is not just some piece of medieval needlework, but a complete history lesson set in a cartoon strip of 11th-century life. The film preceding the actual viewing is helpful – you are taken right through the story and so, among the hundreds of characters portrayed on 70 metres of tapestry, you know just where to find Halley’s comet and Mont St. Michel, Odo the Bishop and Harold with an arrow in his eye.
Contents | Location | Normandy | Sample Walk | Normandy Web Sites
There are plenty of websites relating to Normandy. Here are just a few you might find useful. www.ffrp.asso.frThis is the website of the French rambling association, the Fédération Française de la Randonnée Pédestre (FFRP). Along with other information (in French), the site lists and describes the major Topoguides and gives information on ordering direct – a cheaper option than buying in England.
www.brittany-ferries.com
The website of Brittany Ferries, giving sailing schedules, prices, online reservations and details of holiday properties all over Normandy (and elsewhere).
www.poef.com/poef
The website of P and O European Ferries, with sailings from Portsmouth to Cherbourg and Le Havre. Gives schedules, prices and opportunity for reservations.
www.posl.com
The website of P and O Stena Line – an independent company offering half-hourly super-ferries between Dover and Calais. Prices and reservations.
www.eurotunnel.co.uk
Eurotunnel is probably the preferred mode of travel if you are taking your pets with you (they might enjoy a walking holiday!) This site gives schedules, prices and online booking. There are also details about the Pets Travel Scheme, telling you exactly what you need and what will happen on the day – and spelling out the price of Rover’s ticket.
Several other companies are operating cross-channel ferries – check with any Travel Agent.
www.normandy-tourism.org
This is the official tourist site, and it offers you just about anything you want to know – main attractions, photographs, history, accommodation, maps, D-Day sites, sport, churches and plenty more.
http://gofrance.miningco.com/travel/gofrance/library/weekly/aa020899.htm
This site is entitled The D-Day Links and gives ‘a relatively complete collection of what can currently be found on the Net pertaining to D-Day and the Battle of Normandy’.
Contents | Location | Normandy | Sample Walk | Normandy Web Sites
| Publication Date | ISBN | Pages | Price |
| May 2001 | 1 85058 736 1 | 180pp | £9.95 |
Sigma Press, 5 Alton Road, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5DY
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