A much better day today, not quite full sunshine but a definite brightness and sunny afternoon. A full on beach day for us today so we set off bright and early and travelled the short distance to our first stop at Coudeville just a mile south….

The tide is still quite high and as our next beach is only a mile or so further south we didn’t linger – we got a little caught up with some road closures and so it actually took us a bit longer to get to our next stop – Bréville-sur-Mer…

Rather than negotiate our way around the town of Granville we have decided to walk along the beach from here passing Plage Donville-les-Bains with its lone water walker and moody skies….

At the end of Donville beach is Plage de la Pointe de Lude best viewed from above as we clamber up the steep hill to Granville…

From here also we get a view across to the port of Granville which sits on a rocky peninsula…

Two more beaches are waiting for us in Granville – either side of the peninsula, to the east is Plage de Plat Gousset and after meandering through the narrow and busy streets we found Plage du Heral on the west side…

Time for us to return to the can and head a little further south to St Pair-sur-Mer….

And our final stop for the day at the Camping Car Park Aire in Carolles. As the sun has come out properly we took a short break and headed down to the sea again (only a few hundred yards) walking along Plage de Carolles north as far as Plage de Jullouville before calling it a day…

Note the rather genteel houses overlooking the beach – we haven’t seen them for a while…

Thoughts of the day:

• A lovely mostly beach walking day is so good for my soul
• Driving through the countryside today and the local farmers are lifting leeks – the smell of onions always reminds me of driving around the Wash area of Lincolnshire
• These small Aires are not the most attractive sites but they do seem to be in fab locations, generally only a few hundred metres from the beach and at about £13 per night inc electric- I’m sure I shall be very glad of them when the winter sets in

Today’s stats:

• Miles driven – 25
• Miles walked – 10
• Beaches – 10
• Aire – £13.85

A bit gloomy out there today and the odd spit spot of rain but nothing too concerning. For a bit of a change our first port of call was the ‘city’ of Coutances to take a look at the Cathedral as recommended by our guide book by Robbie Roams. Had it been a nicer day we probably wouldn’t have bothered but….

Now to be fair it was a beautiful cathedral – was it worth the hassle of finding somewhere to park? In my opinion – no. Still we went, we saw, we left and drove the short distance to Hauteville-sur-Mer. Firstly we took a walk along Plage de Montmartin-sur-Mer to satisfy our souls….

And then along the Plage de Hauteville-sur-Mer, completely mesmerised by the power walking in the sea going on – is that a thing? Clearly it is here – they were fair striding along the beach in the water to above waist height and I guess the resistance would make it quite a workout….

We carried on beyond our water walkers to the deserted Plage de la Cale Sud at the end of the village before turning back and leaving the water babes still hard at it, and moving on to our final destination for today, St Martin de Brehal where we found the village motorhome Aire and settled ourselves in as it started to drizzle.

A little later as the drizzle had passed we wandered down to the seafront and walked along Plage de St Martin de Brehal and beyond onto Plage de la Vanlee enjoying the early evening glow and watching the distant activities on the now submerging under the incoming tide, mussel or oyster (or both) fields, before calling it a day and wandering back through the mainly shuttered up village.

Thoughts of the day:

• This mornings foray into Coutances was a subtle reminder of why I prefer to stick to the coast!
• The sleepy hollow village has come to life – there must be a hundred cars now jammed into the main carpark next to the Aire – a quick look on Apple Maps shows a music hall just a bit further down from the Aire – shall I regret this seemingly out of the way park up? No regrets they all left in an orderly fashion with the minimum of fuss just after 11.

Today’s stats:

• Miles driven – 33
• Miles walked – 6.5
• Beaches – 5
• Aire – should have been about £6 but nobody came round to collect!

No more rain overnight and this morning it is cloudy and breezy but with plenty of sunshine around as we head off to our first beach – Plage de Creances…

The parking situation here was a bit unclear – appearing to ban all motorhome parking night and day, though the village itself looked pretty shuttered up and with very few signs of life but we didn’t want to push our luck and stay too long. Our next stop was a little further south at Plage d’Anneville-sur-Mer where a memorial to the Resistance provided ample parking for us to take a wander along the beach…

The beach at Gouville-sur-Mer with the tide having receded quite a bit gave us a lovely long stretch of firm sand to walk along and a suitable turning point as we arrived at Gonneville Beach to the south….

Our last stop of the day was the large village of Avon-Coutainville, still a lot of second homes particularly along the beautiful, wide promenade but at least signs of life and a busy village square providing a central hub for shops and bars (mostly open) with plenty of people enjoying the late afternoon sunshine here and strolling along the promenade…

We too enjoyed a stroll along the promenade to the end at the Plage de la Pointe de Agon where we sat awhile watching a group of children having a blast Kite-carting on the beach….

Thoughts of the day:

• Plenty of evidence of an active passion for water sports here in France
• It seems that some communities embrace Campervans whilst a few seem to do their utmost to avoid them – makes me feel a bit like Marmite!
• Not sure how much longer I can continue in sandals and shorts – the breeze is definitely getting chillier

Today’s stats:

• Miles driven – 22
• Miles walked – 8.5
• Beaches – 6
• Aire – £9.28

A bit of a showery day today so we have decided to stay put, catch up on some domestic chores and generally just take a break – sometimes you just need a day to soak up what you are experiencing and today is one on those. We did venture out between showers in the afternoon to take a walk along Plage de St Germain-sur-Ay away from the dark clouds….

We walked as far as Plage de Denneville…

Before heading back at a fair old pace as those clouds don’t look like they are going to take any prisoners. We took a short cut through the village which mostly appears to be shuttered up second homes with very little sign of life but look at that sky….

It did spit spot but that rain must have fallen elsewhere.

Thoughts of the day:

• A lot of these small coastal villages appear to be quite new and largely made up of smallish functional type houses (second homes) not like those beautiful intricate mansions typical of the villages further east.
• The skies here are quite amazing and somehow very big?

Today’s stats:

• Miles driven – 0
• Miles walked – 4
• Beaches – 2
• Aire – £12.55

Today was a much sunnier and less windy day and a great day for beach walking – starting first thing with a walk to look at the tide covered glorious sandy beaches we walked along yesterday afternoon on our way along to find Plage du Plate still in the shade from the morning sun…

After packing up and heading on our way south our first stop was the glorious Plage de Sciotot where we enjoyed a lovely walk along the deserted golden sands…

Next up the equally delightful Plage de Surtainville…

Followed by two more beauties – Plage de Carteret and Plage de Potiere…

We only managed a distant glimpse of Plage de Barneville-Carteret as I missed the turning and ended up at Plage de Port Bail instead…

Enough for one day but after parking up for the night at a Camping Car Park Aire we had enough energy to wander down through the village to take a quick run (Tilly not me!) on Plage de St Germain-sur-Ay before calling it a night – what an amazing day…

Thoughts of the day:

• Not much I’m too exhausted but
• There seems to be a coastal route a bit like the NC500 – the first section was Tour de les Caps and this current bit seems to be Tour de les Havres – I need to do some searching to see if this is a reliable route to follow.
• Even though some of the roads through the villages are a bit tricky (narrow with sharp turns) – non of them have landed me in any difficulty….so far

Today’s stats:

• Miles driven – 37
• Miles walked – 10
• Beaches – 9
• Food – £27.42
• Aire – £12.53