Mid May – Fecamp, Le Havre and Honfleur

The trip to Fecamp (pronounced Feecom) from Dieppe was a foggy, zen-like trawl .  7 hours from 10:00 – 17:00 covering 32.7 miles.  Staring into fog, 20 to 100m visibility, for so many hours does something to the mind, but you have no option.  Full lookout at all times, with the occasional toot of the Fog Horn for punctuation. Fortunately we only passed 3 other boats.

The mist was lifting when we left Dieppe but soon descended again once we got to sea.

It was a relief to see the white cliffs (Les Falaises) of Fecamp.  We were only 2 to 3 miles off shore all the way and must have passed miles of beautiful cliffs.  I dropped a fender overboard as we were approaching, so this years man-overboard drill is done.

Fecamp has a small promenade which really comes alive at weekends, when all the families arrive and the restaurants and stalls get lively.  During the week it is a calm place to promenade and survey the sea.

There are some lovely old buildings but the town centre has been largely reconstructed.

This boardwalk takes you along the harbour wall.

14th May – Saturday

Benedictine Palace.  As a life long (drinking life) fan of Benedictine, thanks to Nellie who introduced us all to it as a right of passage, I was very much looking forward to visiting Le Palais Benedictine.

It is a stunning building which was rebuilt in 1902 after the previous distillery was burned down.  Alexander LeGrands family had been associated with the monastery for many centuries and they rediscovered the recipe in the mid 1800s.  Alexander made a Disney style palace in a gothic, arts and crafts style which is the star attraction of the town.

A tour of the palace and its treasures which are many, lead to a video and tour of the distillery.

Then the necessary quality control.  I got to try ‘1868’ and ‘Single Cask’ for a mere 2 euros extra as one taste is free.  I have tasted enough of the original to spot the difference in these variations.  They are double the price and very similar.  Sadly the shop was more expensive than buying from a normal shop and the chocolates were 16 euros a box.  So we left empty handed but glowing.

The building itself is worth the 7 euro entrance fee (with discount).

Fecamp Marina

30 Euros per night.  Ok facilities with plug sockets.  Excellent Baker and Butcher a short walk along the harbour-side.  Carrefour City supermarket on the harbour-side and a L’Eclerc 20 minutes walk out of town (the tourist office said ‘on the flat’, we did not go).  We did however use the tourist office wifi as the marina’s was hopeless.  The marina give you a stamped booklet ‘Carte D’Hote’ which explains all the places of interest with discount entries.  Beware a northerly wind can blow into the harbour and make for a rocky night.

16th May – Monday – To Le Havre

Having seen what Fecamp had to offer, we set sail for the 30 miles to Le Havre at 09:00 arriving 15:00.  On what we call a ‘delivery trip’.  6 hours of engine with a bitterly cold north-westerly on the nose.  Mostly unpleasant. 

Le Havre is the third largest port in Europe and you are greeted by tankers waiting to deposit their wares, ferries and cruise ships.  The entrance is large and forms an ‘s’ shaped channel into the marina.  ‘O’ pontoon referred to in the Pilot guide now has an additional ‘P’ pontoon for visiting yachts.

17th May – Tuesday

The cruise ship terminal has lead to the development of a large shopping centre in the old dock buildings ‘Docks Oceane’, which is finished to the highest standard and also houses a L’Eclerc supermarket.

Docks Oceane, with free wifi for the non-shoppers.

Now I must pay a backward compliment, Le Havre is not as ugly as it first appears, and is a world heritage site.  The architecture is brutalist concrete, on a grid structure, on the whole.

The blocks and blocks of flats make the grid with shops beneath.  They are interspersed with garden squares and wide boulevards with a modern tram system.  Some ancient buildings have been saved and pop up unexpectedly within the grid.

The most prominent building in town is the concrete monolith ‘Eglise Saint-Joseph’ built in the 1950’s.  Inside the high tower creates an ‘elevator to god’ and has a very calm feel.

Also worth noting are the hundreds of beach huts, each row currently displays the image of a movie legend and they go on and on, very small with little privacy from the neighbours, they are a curious site which come to life when the sun shines.

20th May – Friday – Honfleur by Bus

Honfleur has a chocolate box harbour-side ‘Vieux-Bassin’ lined with Cafes.

We took the 08:40 number 20 bus at stop ‘D’ for the 18km.  The town has an additional large marina holding many Hotel River Boats and Cruisers.  The picturesque streets wind into each other and lead you on a pleasant saunter around town.  Make a point to visit the wooden church, which is very much like an upturned wooden boat with its adjacent bell tower.

The old quarter has some exceptional examples of timber framed houses and businesses.

As we had walked Le Havre the previous day, lunch beckoned to save our legs.

The bus took us over the ‘Pont de Normandie’, the largest bridge of its type when built.

A really good day out.  It is possible to sail here but the tides were not with us.

21st May – Saturday

Firstly, thanks to a free magazine the ‘Le Havre Infos’ we embarked on another grand day out.  Le Havre’s celebration of Brittany was taking place.  The people of Brittany have a long proud tradition which they are fond of celebrating, even though we are in Normandy.

Stalls, performers, Celtic dancers, musicians, pipes and drums were all part of this vibrant event. 

Secondly, the annual ‘Visits noctunes dans les musees’ was also taking place today.  Free museums at night.

During the day we had visited the Natural History museum which was free to enter anyway, small and perfectly formed with a special Polynesian exhibition with masks, and objet we had never seen anything like before.

The musuem of modern art (MUMA) displays the work of local hero Eugene Boudin, an early representative of impressionism.  Along with several other significant impressionist pieces from Monet, Pissaro etc it provides a fascinating insight into their dedication.  They toured this area extensively and copies of their work pops up in the towns and on promenades.  As a real bonus a beautiful lady was singing Opera, accompanied by a pianist and alto saxophonist.  Quite dreamy.

We also went to the nearby Maison de l’Armateur, a shipping merchants house which gladly survived the 1944 bombardment.  It has a unique light well, like a reverse lighthouse, down the centre of the 5 floors, and curved rooms surrounding each floor.  The ‘Grand Design’ of its time.  The house also displays a collection of ballooning memorabilia which was comprehensive, the owner being a founder of the ballooning fraternity.

Lastly, when in France look out for the extra large spring onions, they are a bit stinky but yummy.

Le Havre Marina

30 Euros per night or 173 for a week.  The facilities are good if a little dated, but a shower costs 1.5 euro.  Although the water stays on for several minutes which is unusual.  The hairdryer user requires particular dedication,  if you can squeeze between the washing machine and the wall in the hallway and are in possession of an extension lead, a plug socket is available.  The wifi is poor and intermittent, especially at weekends.  There are 2 ‘Super U’ supermarkets close by, one on the Rue de Voltaire and the other near the tourist information centre.  The town has lots of shops and a shopping centre and the ‘Docks Oceane’ shopping centre is worth the walk.  The towns promenade stretches to St Adresse to the north and is also a lovely walk.

Next stop Cherbourg.