Alabaster Coast: Dieppe to Le Havre

Route description

Dieppe has ferries from Newhaven and makes a natural start. Walk up to the castle museum on the western cliff for the view along the pebble beach, and visit the Saturday market if you can. Then follow the D75 and D68 west through Varengeville, where the painter Georges Braque is buried in the clifftop churchyard, towards Veules-les-Roses.

Veules-les-Roses sits in a short green valley with watercress beds and old watermills along what is said to be the smallest river in France. The coast road then passes Saint-Valery-en-Caux and dips down to small beaches at Veulettes and Les Petites-Dalles. Most descents to the shore are through narrow valleys, and seaside car parks often have height barriers.

Fécamp is a fishing port with a long abbey church, the Holy Trinity, and the Cap Fagnet cliffs above the harbour, where a chapel and old bunkers overlook the sea. Continue on the D940 to Étretat. Walk up to both cliff tops to see the arches and the Aiguille needle; the town car parks fill early, so use the park-and-ride in summer.

Finish in Le Havre, rebuilt after 1945 by Auguste Perret in concrete and listed by UNESCO. Saint Joseph’s Church, with its tall lantern tower of coloured glass, is the highlight. The seafront is long and flat, with space for motorhomes on the edges of town, and Honfleur is just across the Pont de Normandie if you want to continue.