There’s a pedestrian route, designated GR223, running litorally all along the coast of the Cotentin peninsula between Isigny and Mont Saint-Michel (a total of 446 km). It’s called the sentier littoral or the chemin des douaniers.
There are similar coastal routes in other parts of France (over 4,600 km in total), thanks to a law which guarantees public access to a strip 3 metres wide along the entire coastline. It’s enforced pretty seriously – on one occasion the army was called in to blow up a private wall that was blocking access.
The result is some fantastically scenic walking routes, not only here in Normandy but in Brittany, the Basque country, the Mediterranean coast and elsewhere. You can dip in and out or walk all day.
Rugged coastal landscape at the Nez de Jobourg on the north-west corner of the Cotentin peninsula.
Slightly tamer scenery on the sheltered east coast of the peninsula.
The pathway is marked by these yellow bornes or milestones indicating the distance to the next destination.
Here Shiro is inspecting a German pillbox left over from World War II.
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