Tag Archives: Granville

Photo Of The Day: Up The Stairs & Into The Fog

There are days in Normandy when the weather is less than sunny and bright and the fog rolls off the ocean into the seacoast towns.

Today’s picture of the day in black and white is a simple shot — up a set of stairs that are clad in the same cobblestone as the streets below and into the bright but strange light of the fog.

Enjoy!

Up the stairs in Granville, a historic seaside town in Normandy, and into the fog at the top of the stairs.

Up the stairs in Granville, a historic seaside town in Normandy, and into the fog beyond. B&W

The Gentle Beauty of Granville in Normandy, France

It was late in the afternoon and the appearing-then-disappearing sunlight streamed through each intersection in sporadic bursts. The two main streets of the Haute Ville section of Granville are lined with beautiful old stone houses, many dating back to a period between the 15th to 17th Centuries.

Stone buildings line the Haute Ville (high town) section of historic Granville in Normandy, France

The upper portion of the town is surrounded by an ancient fortified wall from the 15th Century and is perched high atop a hillside overlooking the latter portions of Granville built on reclaimed seafront.

The jumbled rooftops of the lower town section of Granville in Normandy, France

Coastal overlook with World War II bunkers visible in Granville, Normandy, France

This part of Normandy hugs the curving coastline and has some of the loveliest towns in all of northern France. Granville has much to recommend it both historically and visually and can easily be visited on a one-day outing.

Pastel colours of the seacoast on a sunny day at Granville in Normandy, France

Rainy Sunday At Brehal

Normandy beaches in winter may not always be as gray and rainy as our last week here has been in Brehal on the Atlantic coast of France, but it’s definitely the kind of weather that makes you want to stay dry, cook, and work on some sort of project.

This small video expresses those sentiments on this early December weekend. Just a tiny bit of warning, these videos sometimes take awhile to load if you have a slow connection, so be patient!

I’ve been craving something home baked for several weeks and these bananas needed to be rescued before they ‘expired’ altogether!

Overripe bananas about to be turned into banana nut bread

Feeling the need to actually get up and move around after sitting still all day with the computer in front of me, onto the internet I went to search for a recipe for banana nut bread.

The result? The gas mark on the oven was a bit off (I checked at a gas mark to fahrenheit conversion site and I had actually chosen the correct option with Gas Mark 5 = 375 degrees) and it got a bit too brown a bit too quickly. But yes, it tasted perfectly lovely. Yum!

Banana nut bread baked in our beach house in Brehal, Normandy, France

Beachy In Brehal

Winter has descended on Normandy and all of the wool clothing has been unpacked. We’re back at the seaside for a week or more of out-of-season stay in a marvelous 6 bedroom beach house named MAISON MIELLES in the lovely small seaside town of Brehal. Make sure you click on the link for Maison Mielles and have a look. If you are ever thinking of having a holiday in Normandy near the beach, this place is simply splendid!

What I didn’t know prior to our arrival in Brehal was that we would be within visual range of Granville — a place that I mentioned wanting to return to in a previous post. As we walk the two dogs that we are dog-sitting along the curve of the bay, we can quite literally see Granville in the distance.

Spot the springer spaniel in his basket at the beach house in Brehal, Normandy, France

Dougal the cocker spaniel asleep in his basket at the beach house in Brehal, Normandy, France

It’s too cold and gray today for me to be walking through the stone streets and alleyways for those picturesque views, but as soon as we have a sunny day — we’re off! As it is, I’ll be getting my fair share of brisk exercise on the second long walk of the day with the dogs. Mark does the early morning hour-plus with the sweet wee beasties and I join him in the afternoon so that they’re tired and they sleep well at night. Think along the lines of getting a toddler good and tired and you’ll understand!

Mark is quite happy to have some peaceful time for his cross-stitch and I have a backlog of writing and photo editing to do this week. So keep watching for more posts and photos of places that we have visited in Normandy in the last month or so.

Mark working on cross stitch at the beach house in Brehal, Normandy, France

Bye for now!

Spot dreaming in his basket at the beach house in Brehal, Normandy, France

Granville in Normandy: Seaside Views and Memories

There is simply no way to escape. The visible signs of the past are ever-present in this part of France and a simple trip to the seaside has turned once again into a history lesson.

After driving through the autumn coloured countryside of Normandy for an hour from our current location near Mortain, we passed through Avranches and drove on to Granville. Mark asked me, “Want to take a walk on the beach?” We parked the car and descended down the sharply angled street and I could immediately see that this was not the types of beach we were accustomed to.

Walking down the ramp to the beach at Granville on the Normandy coast of France

Gray stone, jagged boulders, and sand littered with shards and shells lay before us. What a contrast to our familiar Australian or American blonde-sand covered and fairly rock-free beaches.

Rock strewn beach at Granville on the Normandy coast of France

Back in the car, we passed the bustling port full of ships in all sizes, whisked quickly through the ‘new town’, and ascended the road toward the historic ‘old town’ Granville until we had reached the rocky peak. At the edge of the cliff, just outside the stone walls of the old town, we could see a lighthouse.

Lighthouse at Granville on the Normandy coast of France

The wind was so gusty that we had to plant each foot firmly as we walked. But the surprise that we encountered was that all around the lighthouse in an arc along the top of the ridge overlooking the sea were concrete bunkers left over from World War II. That dark bump on the left in the photo above turned out to be one of these relics of the past.

Coastal fortifications from WW II at Granville on the Normandy coast of France

During their active use, they each stored rather a lot of ammunition and had soldiers with a machine gun atop which had been mounted into the concrete. Today they provide an impromptu place to rest or an object for children to scramble over.

Gun emplacements from WW II at Granville on the Normandy coast of France

View from the 'old town' overlook toward the newer part of Granville on the Normandy coast of France

View of the port area and 'new town' Granville on the Normandy coast of France from high atop 'old town'

We plan to go back in a week or two and this time we will walk up and down those narrow streets in the ancient historic section. We were ‘stuck’ in the car on very thin one-way streets with no place to just get out for a few random minutes and take a photos. But there were far too many beautiful angles of light and shadow against stone walls within the old town for me not to visit on another sunny day.

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