At the end of July 2023 our summer holiday took us by motorhome from Paris to Normandy. After a short stop we went on to the Alabaster Coast near Étretat, where we hiked on stormy days and I sent the drone up.
Cap Manvieux and the traces of the landings
We spent most of the time with friends in Houlgate. From there we drove to Cap Manvieux, a place marked by the Allied landings of the Second World War. Remains of the mobile harbours still lie in the water there today, and from above they stand out especially clearly.
Oyster farms to the rhythm of the tides
Along the coast lie oyster farms whose appearance changes constantly with the tides: sometimes the racks lie exposed, sometimes they disappear under water. From the air this creates ever new patterns.
The white coasts near Étretat:
Mottled turquoise over pale sand – the sea on the Alabaster Coast.A small boat alone on the open sea beneath clouds.A broad white band of foam in the turquoise shallows.White and red cliffs above the beach, a long panorama.A field above the red cliff edge, beach and surf below.Pale sandbanks as broad bands beneath the water.A white chalk wall, grass on top, scree below – near Étretat.Colourful fields on the cliff top and turquoise shallows in front.White cliffs beneath fields, a wide pale beach in front.A tall pale rock face on the bay.The line of surf along dark, weed-covered rock.
The first oyster farm:
A boat carves its curve off the beach and groynes.A small boat in the grey-green water.Colourful ponds in the marshland behind groynes and beach.Dark shadows in the turquoise water beside the beach.Oyster beds as a grid beneath the turquoise water.A boat draws its wake across the oyster beds.
Cap Manvieux and the wrecks of the mobile harbours:
Three remnants of a pier in a line – traces of the mobile harbours at Cap Manvieux.Two long pontoons in the clear water – a legacy of the Allied landings.
Oyster farm at high tide and then at low tide:
Oyster beds as pale grids in the haze.Many small oyster plots in rows in the hazy shallows.Oyster beds before the open water – almost gone at high tide.At low tide the dark rows of oysters lie exposed on the sand.Blue grids of oyster beds in the shallow water.A tidal channel beside the blocks of the oyster farm.Rows of oysters at the edge of the rippled sand.Two curving tidal channels between fine sand ripples.Oyster plots stretching to the distant water – a new pattern with every tide.Dense sand ripples and a tidal channel at the edge.Long rows of oysters where the sand meets the water.Four parallel trestles on pale sand.Dense oyster beds beneath pale, almost white water.Blocks of oyster beds beside a wide stretch of sand in the shallows.
