Étretat: The Chalk Arches of the Côte d'Albâtre
Normandy, France
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Cliff Conqueror
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400
XP
+100 France
= 500 total
1 day
Étretat: The Chalk Arches of the Côte d'Albâtre
400 + 100 XP
Hike the cliff path at Étretat from the Falaise d'Aval to the Falaise d'Amont past all three of its chalk arches — the Manneporte, big enough that Maupassant said a ship could sail through it, the porte d'Aval with the 55 m Aiguille beyond it, and the small porte d'Amont — then climb to the chapel of Notre-Dame de la Garde and the monument to the aviators Nungesser and Coli, last seen from land over this cliff.
Required Activities
1
of 3
Walk the clifftop from the Falaise d'Aval to the Falaise d'Amont and keep looking back at the Aiguille: as you move towards Amont it slides across until it stands part-framed inside the arch of the porte d'Aval. Carry on 500 m south-west along the top first to see the Manneporte, the widest of the three
2
of 3
Climb the 263 steps behind the hôtel des Roches Blanches to the chapel of Notre-Dame de la Garde — a rebuild, the occupier having destroyed the 19th-century one — then find the broken remains of the first Nungesser and Coli monument, blown up by the Germans in 1942, lying beside Gaston Delaune's replacement, and look out on the bearing of 300 degrees the Oiseau Blanc took at 6.48 on the morning of 8 May 1927, the last time anyone on land saw it
3
of 3
At low tide, cross the shingle and go through the tunnel the mayor had cut in 1922 beneath the Trou à l'Homme to the Petit-Port beach on the far side, standing at the foot of the Aiguille between the two big arches; on the way back up, look in the Chambre des Demoiselles for the letters D and F that Maurice Leblanc had a mason cut into the rock in 1927
Walk the clifftop from the Falaise d'Aval to the Falaise d'Amont and keep looking back at the Aiguille: as you move towards Amont it slides across until it stands part-framed inside the arch of the porte d'Aval. Carry on 500 m south-west along the top first to see the Manneporte, the widest of the three
Climb the 263 steps behind the hôtel des Roches Blanches to the chapel of Notre-Dame de la Garde — a rebuild, the occupier having destroyed the 19th-century one — then find the broken remains of the first Nungesser and Coli monument, blown up by the Germans in 1942, lying beside Gaston Delaune's replacement, and look out on the bearing of 300 degrees the Oiseau Blanc took at 6.48 on the morning of 8 May 1927, the last time anyone on land saw it
At low tide, cross the shingle and go through the tunnel the mayor had cut in 1922 beneath the Trou à l'Homme to the Petit-Port beach on the far side, standing at the foot of the Aiguille between the two big arches; on the way back up, look in the Chambre des Demoiselles for the letters D and F that Maurice Leblanc had a mason cut into the rock in 1927
Before you go
The tunnel to the Petit-Port beach is only passable around low water — people are shut in there on every spring tide and either wait about six hours for the sea to drop or have to be got out by the fire brigade. Check the tide table before you go through, and never let a child go ahead of you. The Falaise d'Amont is 263 steps up from behind the hôtel des Roches Blanches; there is a road up as well if legs are a problem. Stay back from the cliff edge: this is soft chalk and it falls without warning.
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
400 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
500 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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