Back at the coast

Tuesday 22 May 2018 - Day 79

Nido’s parked up in the aire in the village of Étretat, on the Normandy coast - we’re back at the seaside!  The aire’s about 5 minutes walk from the town, which is pleasant to walk through and quite touristy and the sea, which is another few minutes.

We enjoyed our week of house sitting - it was just the break we needed - and we were ready to hit the road for our last days of this tour.  We left the house at about 1630 last night and drove nearly 5 hours, stopping at the free aire in Chateaudun.  It was a very warm evening and, as we parked up by the chateau, we could hear the swifts and some sort of party going on inside - it sounded like fun.  We’d eaten at the house so it was a quick cup of tea and a leg stretch, before we both slept well.

Up early this morning, it was a 4 hour drive to this place, which I really just picked to have somewhere to aim for.  It’s a nice village, obviously well visited going by the number of cars and coaches parked up.  We got about the last pitch on the aire and walked to the coast for our first paddle in the Channel this trip. The water was cold but very clear, probably because of the pebbles on the beach and under the water.  There are steep cliffs with paths on both sides of the town, very similar to West Bay in Dorset.  We walked up and enjoyed the views, with Cathy getting much closer to the edge of the cliff than I would have wanted to!  Dinner was a simple chicken salad, made with the cooked chicken I bought in the Leclerc supermarket this morning.  

It’s good to be back on the coast and we’re looking forward to a slow transit up the coast towards Calais over the next week.

Chateaudun

Etratat beach