Inhale… Exhale... Here is a place where there’s no motorway or high speed train. A haven for both dreamers and migrating birds, this lovely little corner of Normandy entreats visitors to live life to the rhythm of the tides and the ovens that caramelise the local apples.
1. Walk barefoot across the Bay of Mont Saint-Michel
Wet sand. Squidgy mud. Cool streams. Here is a place where the landscape can be soaked in from head to toe.
2. Sample a teurgoule 7 hours in the making
The deliciously creamy taste of France’s least photogenic dessert (a kind of rice pudding) takes you back to your childhood.
3. Go birdwatching at the Nez de Jobourg
Settle down atop the cliffs and wait for a glimpse of the European shag, common linnet, or the Eurasian rock pipit.
4. Fish for razor shell clams in Saint-Vaast La Hougue
With your jeans rolled up, wind in the hair, and seaweed between your toes, there’s nothing fishy going on.
5. Lunch on the beach at Blainville-sur-Mer
Leg of lamb or whelks, sea views or a cosy fireplace; La Cale restaurant is a place where time stopped many moons ago.
6. Watch high tide at La Hague
The sea reveals its wild side every equinox. Don’t miss the greatest show in the West (of France).
7. Picnic amongst the Hattainville sand dunes
An enjoyable walk-in makes that break between the golden dunes, sheltered from the wind, all the sweeter.
8. Await the green flash on Port-Bail beach
It is said that this flash of colour occurs in fine weather, at the exact moment the sun moves from one hemisphere to the next.
By Émilie Guilhen
Copywriter and copy editor in Paris.
