The Cliffs of Étretat

While on our little beach trip to the Normandy coast earlier this month we spent an afternoon at Étretat.  K.J. and I stopped here briefly on our first trip to France in 2013.  That little picture stop took place one extremely windy and cold May evening.  I was expecting for it to be similarly windy this time around, but there was not very much wind at all, and the kids even got a little sunburned.

When K.J. and I first visited in 2013 we drove the car up the road and parked, but parking wasn't allowed at the top on this visit.  We walked half a mile uphill to enjoy the stunning view.

I'm glad it wasn't a super-windy day, because Noreen told me before we left about people in the past who had been blown off the side of the cliffs.  😲 I gave J some serious commands to stay near me on the path and not to get anywhere near the edge.  There are lots of places where there aren't any barriers, so I would not recommend visiting with young kids.  It could be very dangerous.

We spotted a big carrier ship in the distance crossing the channel.

It was an absolutely perfect day for walking along the cliffs.  I was surprised to find cows, corn, and barley fields along the top.  I could re-write the lyrics of My Favorite Things with all there was to enjoy during this walk:  a perfectly clear blue sky, ripened barley fields with poppies growing in their midst, and coastline stretched out as far as the eye can see.  These are a few of my favorite things.

I watched two seagulls flying in tandem for a while.

Here's those poppies I was talking about.