When planning a walking tour, you pick some places that you definitely want to see, and then you have to carefully work out what distance you can walk each day. Then you look around there for accommodation and the possibility of getting something to eat. I go for a maximum of 25 kilometres from my starting point.
So when planning this holiday back in January I came up with Veulettes-Sur-Mer a place I’d never heard of. For some reason I kept thinking of Dad’s Army’s fictional home of Walmington on Sea and wondered if French TV ever went for a wartime sit com with plucky but inept locals, maybe Veulettes could be the place.
First though I have a confession. I was nursing a cold yesterday and then only slept fitfully during the night and the five hour walk to Veulettes-Sur-Mer seemed somewhat daunting. So I did some research and found that Nomad bus 513 could take me, even on a Bank Holidsy from Fécamp to my destination, or it could take me part of the way, leaving me a 2 hour stroll from, say, Saint Pierre en Port. I wrestled with this possibility but finally when I awoke still feeling groggy, I decided I’d go for it.
I walked nice and early to the station car park where I could pick up my bus. I was being sensible! I noticed a local bus waiting and approached the driver to check where mine would come in. ‘Not today mate’ he said. I pulled out my phone and showed him the timetable.
Look! Current dates, Sundays and Bank Holidays 10am ‘Robert est votre oncle!’ 10-0 Angleterre! He had a look and pointed out three little letters ETE. That bus only works in the summer holidays. So now it was after 9.30. I still felt unwell and had a five hour walk ahead of me.
Amazingly, and here I surprised myself, I knew it was going to be alright. I took a roads route for the first half and although there was no pavement it always seemed safe. Then half way I found the coastal walking route which was challenging and exhilarating, but I coped better than yesterday. The plan was to have a lunch en route as I hadn’t really eaten for 24 hours but nothing emerged, I just had a short stop for water, and amazingly arrived just 20 minutes before checking in time. A beer on an empty stomach wasn’t a great idea, but it was well deserved.
The first thing you notice as you drop down into this seaside town is…..a nuclear centre! I guess it’s like Hinckley. Captain Mainwaring would never have allowed it. Maybe I’ll avoid the local seafood but they tell me the mussels are impressive ! There is a pebbly beach and a plethora of restaurants and bars. Being a sunny Bank Holiday. (Ascension Thursday of course!) everywhere was busy. My hotel booking had an evening meal included, but I was tempted by an afternoon merguez and chips from a friendly hippy run café blaring out Bob Marley tunes.
A group of British, French, Canadian and American flags drew my attention. I thought it might have been a general war memorial but they commemorated a 1943 incident when an allied plane was shot down on this very beach and all of its crew died. As we approach the 80th anniversary of D Day France still remembers and, I suspect, could never contemplate a light hearted war time comedy like Dad’s Army. Occupation was too painful. Resistance and Collaboration too nuanced. I guess every nation has had to come to terms with WW2 in its own way. Each participant country developed its own story developed to help them cope during the after war years.
The road running along the sea wall in Veulettes is the Digue Jean Corruble. Jean was a local boy who left France in 1940 to join up with the Free French serving in the navy. He died in 1941 aged 17 in Portsmouth. I love the fact that here he and those who died in the plane crash above, are remembered as individuals.
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