France May 2014; Pt 4 Dieppe and Etretat

Monday

Bluebell the motorhome is parked up on the port side on the aire at Dieppe, along with around 20 or so other vans, all shapes and sizes, including a couple of other British vans. There are two aires here, both €7 for 24 hrs parking- one with services and one without. We naughtily filled and emptied at Dieppe 1, and on going to get our ticket saw Dieppe 2 across the other side of the port, so drove round and decided we preferred that location.

The Aire at Dieppe

a couple of choppers for company in the motorhome aire at Dieppe

The weathers been rubbish today, drizzling all day, but we still enjoyed our wander round Dieppe, taking in the history and the chocolate shops… ahem, along with the grand architecture. We both learnt about the first attempt of liberation of France by mainly Canadiens back in Sept 1942, and found the town a nice place to spend a rainy afternoon.

The castle at Dieppe

Dieppe town centre

The Port at Dieppe

Keefy getting our baguette from the bread van that visited the aire this morning

We had a good chat with another British couple on their way back from 6 wks in Portugal- lucky things, it’s always nice to swap stories with fellow motorhomer’s. Our spot on the port was brill- we watched the passenger ferry leave and also a beautiful wooden sailing boat, along with a large barge carrying what we think was wind turbine sails. a real mix of old and new.

Tuesday

Bluebell the motorhome is parked up on her 1st France Passion site of this tour- we’re on a dairy farm near Etretat, which specialises in butter and goats cheese. Nom nom. We arrived around lunchtime, went to say hello, check we could stay tonight and to find out what time the shop open/closes. The France Passion scheme works in the same way Brit Stops does- your host welcomes you to stay for free, but you’re expected to take an interest in their produce etc. There is never any obligation to buy, however we usually do as we’re local food and drink junkies!!

Parked up by the chickens on our France Passion site
After a hearty lunch (Camembert, saucisson, baguette of course!!) we unloaded the bikes with the intention of cycling to nearby Etretat- a town we’ve seen signed when on the payage, but never managed to get too. Etretat is on the map due to its amazing 3 sea arches, and what a sight they were! Even if by the time we’d got there we could barely stand due to picking a particularly hilly cycle route! Of course once there we couldn’t NOT take the cliff path to the view point at the top, so by the time we were back at our bikes we were cream crackered. Oh well, we’d cycled pretty much the whole 7 kilometres up hill there, so we were quietly confident that the laws of physics meant that we would return downhill. I’m not sure how, but it seems physics weren’t on our sides today as somehow, we managed to pick an equally up hill journey back!

The middle sea arch at Etretat

The arch on the left is the middle of the three and the small arch on the right is the baby arch

we enjoyed finally visiting Etretat having passed the signs for years!

the town of Etretat is very pretty

the larger of the three arches, that is only visible from sea or a hike up the side of a cliff!

Once back at Bluebell, we swiftly went up to the shop to have a chat with the owner of the farm (so impressed I managed a whole conversation in French!!) we’d discovered they made yogurts, butter and goats cheese, the butter is made on site but the goats cheese isn’t because she doesn’t keep goats, and that she thought we were crazy for cycling to Etretat. Oh how we laughed! We came away with some salted butter and goats cheese, both of which we’ve devoured as a pre dinner snack- well it’s been a tough day!! They were absolutely delicious!

another pic of us on the France Passion

We enjoyed visiting Etretat, the sea arches were better than I’d hoped and the town is also very pretty – there are some lovely wooden buildings to enjoy housing restaurants and creperies, lots of souvenir shops, a nice stretch of pebbly beach (no dogs though on the beach, although they are allowed on the promenade) and a really buzzing atmosphere. If you’re not a member of France Passion (you should be, it’s fab!) then there is a conveniently located motorhome aire just on the outskirts of Etretat that you can park at for €8, or day parking on the Le Havre road.

Until next time
Lx