Tourlaville, Day 13: Baie d'Ecalgrain & Plage de l'Anse Saint Martin

Today, we drive to the absolute northwestern-most tip of Normanday - nay, the northwestern-most tip of France! It's so northwestern that, upon our approach to Baie d'Ecalgrain, we all receive a text from T-Mobile that reads, "Welcome to United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland! Your T-Mobile plan gives you unlimited data..."  I kid you not.

Baie d’Ecalgrain came up in Rowan’s search among the best beach destinations in Normandy; the images made it look like a sunny, sandy paradise. The bay we found was overcast and windswept; what sand there was must have been beneath the water which came right up to a beach laden with fist-sized rocks. Griffin, Bennett and Berit stopped mid-bay, while Rowan continued down the jagged rocks further on, and I followed her. 

We climbed over rock after rock, rising higher above the waves crashing below as we neared the far point of the bay. Once there, we climbed upwards to the point’s peak, took a couple photos before Rowan, who left her backpack behind us, climbed down the way we came, and I climbed up to the easy path above leading to the parking lot.

When we regrouped, it was beyond lunchtime. Everyone wanted to leave, and Griffin was vying for us to go home. I wanted to give the possibility of an epic beach experience one more shot, and we found Plage de l’Anse Saint Martin, a sunny, pebble beach ten minutes away with clear, calm waters.

We were finishing lunch when Rowan walked into the water. Here at the northwestern-most tip of France, the water is really, really cold, but Rowan determinedly stayed in, and soon we followed. Bennett got in quickly, having been knocked down and dragged in by a wave. Griffin ran down from the car and dove in, so I dove in after him. And Berit, once the rest of the family was in, followed.  It was cold, but adhering to Rowan’s “once your skin freezes, it’s not that cold” theory, we stayed in for a bit before climbing out to lie in the sun on the warm pebbles.

In the evening, we go to the beach restaurant near our house where the staff was super friendly, the croque monsieurs were delicious and the grand cafes and ice cream were a perfect end to an amazing day.