25 Nov 2008

21st November 1989

Last night there was the sound of sleet and hail beating on the roof and the wind trying to blow the camper over; thunder and lighting had caused the radio to crackle all evening. This morning there are just occasional rain drops and the sound of the sea pounding the beach. We had moved yesterday from sandy shores and dunes to chalk cliffs and steep pebble beaches at St Aubin­‑sur‑Mer.

The tide is fairly well in and the sea is quite rough even though the wind seems to have dropped. There is a selection of gulls inshore, including immature and adult plumaged little gulls and kittiwakes. In the distance gannets are plunge diving, and groups of velvet scoter and wigeon are moving through.

At Veules les Roses we buy groceries then go sea watching from the promenade. Great-crested grebes and black- and red-throated divers are added to the day's list, but I am cold and so go back to the shelter of the van. Jim stays out, getting very cold and buffeted by the wind, but returns eventually with news of a slavonian grebe and two juvenile sabine's gulls ‑ late migrants driven inshore by last night's gales

Continuing west along the coast, we cross the Seine via the massive toll bridge at Tancar­ville. One end is set into the chalk cliffs and the whole structure ‑ a suspension bridge ‑ is very high. It looks most impressive when we look back at it from the Seine valley. From the bridge itself the view down­stream towards the sea is spectacular in the evening sun but looking upstream the scene is dominated by smoky fac­t­ories.

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