Tag Archives: lighthouse

Normandy North and Cap de Hague

Rambling up to the northwest of Normandy a few days ago — another area with World War II bunkers still embedded into the hillsides — we drove to the historic Cap de Hague and could see some of the Channel Islands (British territory) off on the left through the haze. This particular part of Normandy has seen battles and shipwrecks over the centuries that included the 1689 Battle of Barfleur and the more recent Battle of Cherbourg during World War II.
 

Point of the Cap de Hague in far Northwest Normandy, France


 
Leaving the car with an apple in one one hand and two cameras slung over my shoulders, I walked out to the furthest point where a small lighthouse sat guard in the choppy waters beyond and a war memorial from World War I faced the sea with its inscription on the waterfront side.
 

 
But to see an equally beautiful view, I simply had to swing around and look behind me. The tiny-tiny town of Goury with its gray stone buildings and stone-bordered fields rose behind me.

We walked the short distance into the wee village and discovered a small and lovely harbour with bright coloured boats bobbing in the dark blue water.
 

Deep blue Goury harbour in far northwestern Normandy at the Cap de Hague


 
I simply had to include the photo below of the ‘Bored Parisienne’ because she made me laugh so much. They arrived in a black Audi that bore a tiny Paris dealer sticker and a license plate ending in 75 indicating that they had driven north from Paris and they parked a few spots away from us in the parking lot for ‘les visiteurs.’ As she swished out of the car with her coat swirling around her legs and flounced down to the water’s edge at the harbour, her husband darted about with his camera taking photo after photo of the pretty boats. The woman who had emerged from the black car was impatiently stomping back and forth in her leather pumps and could not have looked more bored if she had tried. She finally stood on the boat ramp with one hand on her hip, gazing back and forth, but her face was totally devoid of any signs of interest — a stark contrast to her eager-beaver photo-snapping husband.
 

The bored Parisienne woman on the launch ramp in Goury


 

Just love those little slices of life!
 

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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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