A very grey day today but after some rain during the night it remained dry until the evening, which suits us just fine. We drove a short distance and found parking on the outskirts of Deauville taking a short walk down to the seafront our first beach (dog friendly) was Benerville sur Mer, a long section of shell strewn sand – a good place for a coffee and for a runabout for Tilly…
Walking eastwards towards the centre of Deauville lay a long stretch of sand with some pretty imposing properties overlooking the beach and some peculiar small sand hills down by the shoreline. On closer inspection these little sand hills are the result of the top layer of sand up by the centre of town being dragged down to the shoreline – I’m not exactly sure why but maybe to keep the sand up by the town fresh?
As expected the centre of town was busy as we wandered across the river into Trouville sur Mer and alongside it’s busy street market to the beach (not dog friendly) before making our way back to the van….
Another few miles up the road we made a quick stop in the small village of Villerville to catch the fast disappearing sandy beach of Plage des Bains….
Another brief stop to see the Plage de Vasouy, an out of town beach with just a beach cafe and some toilets but also not dog friendly? Town beaches having dog restrictions I get but this is a good few miles from anywhere – we didn’t linger.
Our next and final stop was the buzzing small coastal town of Honfleur. Here there were people of all nationalities meandering down the small cobbled streets lined with boutiques and bars. There was even a cruise ship in town!
After parking up in the motorhome aire which was huge having some 180 spaces, most of which were occupied – normally I would take one look and drive on but I wanted to visit the town so decided to brave it – in fact it was very peaceful and I felt very safe here so this will probably be the first of many. We wandered into town and across it to take a look at the beach>. The beach was again not dog friendly but full of dogs!! However we are walked out so just took a looksee before heading back to the aire….
Thoughts of the day:
- I wanted to visit Honfleur, Deauville and Trouville to see if I remembered them from visiting as a teenager (a few years ago mind!) and though I didn’t recollect anything specific there was a certain familiarity, so mission accomplished and now we shall head back to the otherside of Caen and start our journey along the coast, ultimately heading south, from there.
- Not many other Brits about, judging by all the vans in the Aire
Today’s stats:
- Miles driven – 14
- Miles walked – 11
- Beaches – 7
- Site – £13 with EHU
Freedombird.blog 
I’ve been meaning to say I really like that you’ve gone back to doing the ‘thought for the day’!
Today, I can completely understand how you felt being unable to communicate. We’ve just gone into Catalonia in northern Spain. I can’t understand a thing. The signs are bilingual, but in Catalonian and Spanish, and I speak neither. I learned French at school, so I’m a bit less like a fish out of water in France!
I have never been to Honffleur, but I believe it’s beautiful.
We’re 1000 m up in the Pyrenees, but it’s still 30 degrees. A bit too hot for the pups and me, but we managed to find a shady walk next to a river. I might prefer grey but dry!
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Thank you – I just can’t get Spanish out of my head so though I try and remember a few key words in French they are smattered with Spanish too so totally incomprehensible!! I find that I am translating what I want to say into Spanish and then trying turn that into French and it is failing miserably. Catalan is incomprehensible to all but those who live there – it is so fast. I am hoping to get down as far as the Alps/Pyrenees but it will depend on timing and the weather – my 90 days will be up on 9th December – where is your journey taking you this time? X
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We successfully applied for a French long stay visa, so we can stay in France for 6 months without it impacting our 90 days either side, which has been a game changer! We’ve rented a farmhouse near Carcassonne from October to December for a bit of down time from travelling. You’re welcome to visit if you’re passing and fancy a proper shower and some laundry!
In January, we’re then heading to Morocco and possibly Mauritania for a few months, if all goes well with the dogs. We are a little nervous about taking them there, but will just have to see how things go. We’ve been to countries with a lot of strays before, but the success or otherwise depends on how aggressive the strays are to other dogs. For example, Romania was no problem, but the strays in Bulgaria roamed in packs and were highly aggressive both to dogs and humans! We’re a little concerned about scorpions, but in winter they are less active.
The great thing about our lifestyle is that if we don’t like where we are for any reason, we can turn around and go elsewhere! The beauty of having the French visa is that we won’t be out of Schengen days when we are in Morocco, so we can come back to Europe if we want.
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Oh that is interesting – I’ll have to look into that – I’m guessing that it is too simple to get a visa for Europe as a whole! I’ll see how I get on this time but I have to be back for Christmas anyway – I may well give you a shout when I am on my way back up as I shall take a more direct route back to Caen and it would be lovely to meet up. I am not brave enough to head out of mainland Europe as a lone traveller and to be fair I think there is more than enough coastline within Europe to keep me busy for a good few years! Safe travels x
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Each country has its own visa policy, and many don’t offer visas for tourist purposes. France does, and is relatively straightforward and inexpensive to apply. I wrote a blog about our experience in case it might be useful to other travellers. https://worldwidewalkies.blog/2025/06/29/how-to-apply-for-a-long-stay-french-visa-vls-t-a-quick-guide-for-uk-travellers/
I think the dangers outside Europe are exaggerated – for example we were told not to go to Albania, but the Muslim people there have a long history of hospitality to visitors and I have never felt safer! We met many solo female travellers there, but it’s a matter of what you feel comfortable with, and you will certainly not run out of magnificent coastline in Western Europe.
I particularly love France – I always say that in France, even the boring bits in between the beautiful destinations are magnificent!
If you fancy a sojourn near Carcassonne – give us a shout 🙂
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