Hitching France Pt. 8 – Etretat

The next day when I awoke fairly early and received news that Bastien had picked up the truck but there wasn’t an extra seat for me to get a ride heading south with him. No bother I thought, I said it would great if they could just take me in town so I could find my way but while they thought my hitchhiking was amusing, they didn’t want me to wander their own roads and couldn’t seem to let me hitch from Boulogne-sur-mer where I Guillaume had picked me up. They asked where I was heading next and I said Etretat which is a beautiful town on the coast in Normandy, only about two and a half hours south of their home. They thought for a bit and then said they would make the trip with me as they had never been! I was completely humbled by their generosity and the lengths they would go for me, not to mention their own willingness to explore as well. I packed up, they collected some snacks and Anne dumped bags of candy into a Ziploc bag which she insisted I take. Then we were off.

After about a two and a half hour drive heading south through the countryside we made it to the small town of Etretat. Lodging can be expensive in town since there aren’t really large budget hotels so my host family had a booked a small lot in a campground on the outskirts of the town for pocket change. Again, their generosity is something I haven’t been able to fully grasp but I have benefited greatly from. Once they checked me in we set up my tent and went into the heart of the small town. Since it was mid September the town seemed pretty vacant besides a handful of people here and there but we walked straight through the streets to the coast to admire the clean water and cliffs on either side of the town which hung over the deep blue sea. Etretat is definitely one of the more unique towns I’ve visited in France for sure. Once we soaked in the view, we found a nice restaurant for our last meal together. I had a delicious galette and with some beers we enjoyed the last bit of our time together before making our way back to the campground where we said our goodbyes and they took to the road.

It was early in the evening when they left, still light outside, and as they pulled away I thought about what I was going to do for the next few hours before going to bed. Reading, maybe, a walk through the town again, possibly, grab a few beers, hmm. I didn’t really know but that’s when I noticed the campsite just a few empty sites to the left of mine. There was one car, two tents and an awning set up between them with three guys sitting underneath. They looked to be having a good time and as I listened closely I definitely heard some English being spoken. What luck as my head was nearly aching from having to constantly interpret and decipher the French being thrown at me incessantly (sounds bad but as great as speaking another language is, it definitely can be overwhelming). I went in to my tent to get an extra layer as it was getting a bit chilly and then walked over to say hi. I was met by three young guys, two of them were a year younger than I and one was the same age. They were on a nice camping road trip down the French coast. They were from Belgium, the Dutch speaking side, but spoke English fluently. In fact, they even said that a lot of times they just spoke English amongst each other because they thought it was funny. Turned out I was in good company. They let me join in on their game of Liar’s Dice and gave me a few beers. We had an awesome time sharing stories and diving in to any topic that came up. They were good childhood friends and were characters together. The laughs went on till it was well dark out and began to feel quite sleepy. I bid them goodnight and we all got some sleep.

They were exploring the town the next day and heading to La Rochelle where I studied abroad a day or two later. But I had other places to visit even though the idea of a ride crept in my mind. In the morning after a hot shower and a quick pack up, I got their contact info, bid them farewell and made my way back in to town. I wanted to climb up the trail on the Southern cliff and see the view; a necessity I believe in Etretat, before putting my thumb out on the side of the road in the attempt to hail a ride. The climb up the steep cliff was pretty hard with my over-packed bag but the view was well worth it. The arches of rock going in to the sea, the town looking so small nestled in the hills, the view overlooking clear waters and the waves of green fields flowing through the hills make for an excellent atmosphere. Once I soaked it in and got my fill, I made the short, much easier, trek back down into town.

I made my way straight out on main road, back to the campground where I used a bit of the wifi and made my sign in case anyone leaving would take notice and make my hitching out of town much easier. It was to no avail but no matter. I learned those signs could be a unifying experience early on so I usually held them while entering a town and made them on the street while leaving. After I used the wifi more than I needed and had my sign, I started up the road a good ways before setting down my pack and gazing back into town. There were no cars on the road. It was completely dead. Every five or so minutes one would drive by but no luck whatsoever. Ideally, I wanted to pass through Rouen for the afternoon before trying for Caen but it became apparent that it wasn’t going to work from that main road. I took another look at my map and saw there was another road a bit farther north that wound a similar direction to Rouen so I decided to walk up a few hundred yards and take a back road up to that one. I underestimated how far away it was and ended up walking on a road through the woods for about a mile or so without a trace of anyone even before ending up back in the sticks with farms all around where I continued for another half mile or so before getting to where I wanted to be. There were more cars on that road than the other however most were going into town. I decided to still try my luck. I was out there for a good bit of time but no one seemed to stop. At one moment a large group of some 50 or 60 seniors walked by on some sort of walk and turned on the corner where I was standing, heading down the road I had just come from. Nearly all of them smiled at me and wished me luck, commenting on my sign and wishing me a good trip. For some reason it was a huge mood booster as I was tired and failing on my second road, but their smiles made me think it would all be alright. It was one of my first lessons of going with the flow and not trying to jam pack my days because I soon realized that it was no use trying to squeeze Rouen in to the day and I mind as well walk back in to town to hitch directly south to Caen. Admitting defeat, I began the two-mile trek back to town, fairly exhausted but moving. That road looped right back through the town center and continued on heading south where I needed to go. Before long, I found myself a great spot on the edge of an additional parking lot right off the road with plenty of traffic coming through as people were heading off after a day in town. It only took about 30 minutes before two girls a few years older than me stopped to pick me up and, lucky enough, they were heading right to Caen. Finally!