Avandra Field Guide · Normandy, France
The Alabaster Coast and the Seine from Le Havre
5
nights
245
km driving
7
challenges
1,825
XP to earn
5
nights
245
km driving
7
challenges
1,825
XP to earn
Five nights in a loop from Le Havre and back. It begins on the Côte d'Albâtre with the cliff path at Étretat, the Bénédictine palace and Cap Fagnet at Fécamp, and Perret's UNESCO-listed rebuilding of Le Havre itself. Next comes the Seine: Rouen's cathedral, which Monet painted about thirty times, the square where Joan of Arc was burned, and the abbey ruins of Jumièges, with Gregorian chant at Saint-Wandrille and a free ferry over the river. The last two nights are at Honfleur, round the Vieux Bassin and the wooden church of Sainte-Catherine, and on the boards at Deauville.
Starts and finishes at the ferry in Le Havre
Best from April to October
245 km of driving in total, about 4 hours over 5 days
Fécamp: The Bénédictine Palace, the Relic of the Precious Blood and Cap Fagnet
Camping Valhalla entre le Havre et les falaises d'Etretat - Ouvert / Open 15/03/26
Edited by Avandra
Days 1–2 · 2 nights
Étretat and Fécamp
18 km · 22 min from Le Havre
Base camp · 2 nights
Camping Valhalla entre le Havre et les falaises d'Etretat - Ouvert / Open 15/03/26
4.2
911 Google reviews
Editor's note
Two nights by Étretat and Fécamp. Give a full day to the cliffs at Étretat: the path runs from the Falaise d'Aval to the Falaise d'Amont, past the arch and the Aiguille, up to the chapel of Notre-Dame de la Garde and the monument to the aviators Nungesser and Coli. The shingle beach lies between the two cliffs. At Fécamp, Alexandre Le Grand began a palace for his Bénédictine liqueur in 1882; tour the distillery and cellars, then the abbey church of the Trinity with its relic of the Precious Blood. In Le Havre, see the Impressionists at the MuMa by the harbour entrance and walk round Perret's town hall.
Étretat: The Chalk Arches of the Côte d'Albâtre
400 XPWalk 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
9.1 km from camp
About 6 h
Fécamp: The Bénédictine Palace, the Relic of the Precious Blood and Cap Fagnet
225 XPGo through the Palais Bénédictine knowing you are in the second building — the first, opened in 1888, burned on 12 January 1892 — and find in one circuit the thing it was built to put side by side: a copper still in the working distillery, and in the museum rooms above Alexandre Le Grand's own hoard of carved ivories, coins, old locks and religious paintings
20.8 km from camp
About 4 h
Le Havre: Perret's Concrete City, the Lantern of Saint-Joseph and the Impressionists of the MuMa
250 XPStand directly under the 107 m lantern at Saint-Joseph and follow Marguerite Huré's glass upward to see the colours change with height, then find the plaque put up on 6 September 2019 to the 3,000 people killed in the Allied bombing the church commemorates
16 km from camp
About 3 h
Walks from camp
Day 3 · 1 night
Rouen and Jumièges
128 km · 2 h 13 min from Étretat and Fécamp
Base camp · 1 night
Camping Forest
4.1
653 Google reviews
Editor's note
One night on the Seine at Rouen and Jumièges. Monet painted some thirty views of Rouen cathedral's façade in 1892–1894, and its cast-iron spire of 1876, 151m high, makes it the tallest cathedral in France. Walk under the Gros-Horloge and find its single hand, then the cross on the Place du Vieux-Marché where Joan of Arc was burned in 1431. The timber galleries of the Aître Saint-Maclou are carved with skulls and gravediggers' tools. At Jumièges, two 46m towers still stand over the abbey church consecrated in 1067. Hear the monks of Saint-Wandrille sing an office in Gregorian chant, and ride the free ferry across the Seine and back.
Rouen: Monet's Cathedral, the Gros-Horloge and the Square Where Joan of Arc Died
250 XPStand where Monet stood and work out what he was painting: a west front 61.60 m wide whose two towers do not match — the Tour Saint-Romain and the Tour de Beurre — which is why Rouen is called the most human of cathedrals. Then go inside and find the repaired south aisle and the flying buttresses of the Sainte-Catherine chapel, which held the nave up on their own after seven torpedoes hit the building on the night of 18 to 19 April 1944
19.2 km from camp
About 2.5 h
Jumièges and Saint-Wandrille: One of France's Most Admirable Ruins and the Monks of Fontenelle
250 XPStand in front of the west front of Notre-Dame at Jumièges and work out what a Westwerk is: a Carolingian arrangement kept on into Romanesque building, very rare in France and common in Germany, here framed by two towers 46 m high that go polygonal and step back at the top. Then find the western tribune behind it, above where the porch church stood
0.8 km from camp
About 3.5 h
Walks from camp
Days 4–5 · 2 nights
Honfleur and Deauville
70 km · 59 min from Rouen and Jumièges
Includes a car ferry (Bac de Jumièges à Heurteauville)
Base camp · 2 nights
Camping La Briquerie
4.2
1,302 Google reviews
Editor's note
Two nights at Honfleur and Deauville before the crossing home. Walk round the Vieux Bassin and learn the town's seafaring story at the Lieutenance. Go into Sainte-Catherine, the largest wooden church in France, then find its bell tower standing alone across the square. The Musée Eugène-Boudin, which Boudin helped found in 1868, holds the painters who came to the estuary. Walk or cycle across the Pont de Normandie over the mouth of the Seine. Walk Les Planches at Deauville, laid in 1924, where up to 20,000 people stroll on summer weekends, then cross the Touques to buy fish at Trouville's market.
Honfleur: The Vieux Bassin, Sainte-Catherine and Boudin's Harbour
225 XPWalk the quays right round the Vieux Bassin, then go into the Lieutenance — the 16th-century Caen gate with its two round towers, the only piece of Honfleur's walls still standing — and find the bust of Samuel de Champlain on its outer face, who sailed from this basin
3 km from camp
About 4 h
Deauville and Trouville: Les Planches, the Film Festival and the Fish Market Across the Touques
225 XPWalk the full 1,800 m of the promenade-dyke past the Bains Pompéiens and work out the beach's colour code as you go — the parasols are orange, red, blue or green by sector — and look for the nœud deauvillais, the local knot that holds each one against the wind
11 km from camp
About 3 h
Walks from camp
Finish the guide, earn 1,825 XP
7 challenges across 3 stops.
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