The Courtgain
The sailors’ quarter, clinging to the dead cliff. Low houses in bright colours, terraced gardens, stairways climbing to the sailors’ chapel and its view over the whole bay.
Photo: François Laheyne · CC BY-SA 4.0
Saint-Valery-sur-Somme
and the bay
One of the most beautiful bays in the world, they say, and surely one of the most restless: twice a day the sea pulls back for miles, then races in again. The house is in Ribeauvillé, quiet, 2.5 km from the harbour and the centre of Saint-Valery; everything below is reachable on foot, by bike or within a fifteen-minute drive.
The salt meadows
At low tide, the bay can be walked. Sheep graze the sea purslane and samphire, which gives the salt-marsh lamb its iodine tang, found on menus all around. Guided walks are essential: quicksand and the incoming tide give no warning.
The little train
The Baie de Somme railway links Le Crotoy, Saint-Valery and Cayeux behind a steam engine. An hour of slow travel just above the marshes.
The seals at Le Hourdel
At the point of Le Hourdel, the largest seal colony in France rests on the sandbanks. You watch from a distance, with binoculars, never approaching.
The ramparts
A medieval upper town, fortified gates, cobbled lanes. William the Conqueror set sail from here for England in 1066; Joan of Arc passed through as a prisoner in 1430.
The market
Sunday morning on the Place des Pilotes: fish straight off the boats, samphire, cheeses, and the ficelle picarde still warm.
The bay in pictures
Photo: Marc Ryckaert · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: 0x010C · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Solenedentaire · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Pierre Poschadel · CC BY-SA 4.0
When to come
Spring for the migrating birds and the gardens in bloom. Summer for the long clear evenings and sea bathing at Cayeux. Autumn for the low light and the far-off rutting call in the Forêt de Crécy. Winter to have the bay almost to yourself, bundled up, flask in hand.
The big tides (coefficient over 100) are worth the trip: the bay empties as far as the eye can see. Tide table posted in the house.
Getting here
By car, about 2½ hours from Paris on the A16. By train, Noyelles-sur-Mer or Abbeville station, then a regional bus; in summer, a shuttle from Saint-Valery stops in front of the house.