Be Careful Not to Fall off the Edge | Vauban's Cabins - Exploring France

This beautiful coastal route was the perfect place for an early morning walk.  About 4 miles round trip, we decided to, for the first time since living in France, check out this part of the coast. This place offers stunning views across Mont Saint Michel Bay and beyond if you're lucky enough to go on a clear day. If you did, you'd be able to see as far as the Channel Islands and Isle Chaussay, a collection of islands off the coast of Granville. 

One of the many tiny Cabins of Vauban

Our trip, although very sunny, was quite hazy with the spring morning dew still on the ground, we started our mini hike none the less, hoping the weather would clear up and we would get a view of Mont Saint Michel.  Our aim for this walk was to see Vaubins cabins, there were two on this route. In total there are around 70, although some sources claim there to be 40 and another only 4.  No one really knows, as over time, cliffs have slid and they have fallen into the ocean off the clifftops.  The two we did see were architecturally very simple. They all had the same plan, a stone building, with a stone floor, stone roof and chimney.  One room, around three metres by two metres, a couple of small windows and a fireplace and chimney. They were intriguing little buildings, walls around a metre thick to keep out the elements which would have been very much needed. 

Site of Vauban's UNESCO World Heritage Sites

These huts or cabins were designed by Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban.  A great military architect and considered to be the best of his time and one of the most important people in western military history. Vauban famously worked under King Louis XIV.  He has been so important to French military history and the defences of the country, he has his own series of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. There are 12 of them in total in France and these denote only a handful of his complete works.  We have already been to one in Saint-Vaast-la-Houque, where he built two towers as defensive buildings to ward off any attacks from foreign vessels.  His series of military buildings have done wonders for the country, and although these cabins we visited didn't stay in use for very long, they served an important purpose.  

Vauban

They were placed all along the coast, from Mont Saint Michel, all the way up to Cherbourg as a defence system in the early 18th century. They were built as a defence mechanism for the Cotentin Peninsula of Normandy. This was seen as an easy way in, especially for the English as this part of the French coast is so close to the Channel Islands.  There were only 13 captains manning these cabins that were built in the last few years of the 1600's, this would have been one of Vauban's last ventures, as he passed away in 1707.  The captains that stayed here would have had some magnificent views, but also being right on the coast, would have had to battle the elements of the ocean and winds, hence their sturdy building.  You can tell how great the architecture of these buildings are because they are still here 300 years later.

In 1738, less than 40 years after the cabins were completed, the captains were removed from the site as there was no longer a military threat.  However, that wasn't the end of the cabins uses, they were still used as lookouts for smugglers and one of them as a lifeboat house and they were completely decommissioned in 1815.  Since then, the uses of the cabins haven't been documented but I would have thought they are a great place for hikers walking along the full coast to stop and spend a night in them, theres no doors, no windows, just some gaps so it would be a bit draughty, but if needed they are there. Im not sure what the local laws are about wild camping there, but there are no signs to say you're not allowed to camp in the cabin itself. There has been a project to completely restore two of these cabins as some of them have become very overgrown and you can barely see.  This project has cost over €80,000 which might seem like a lot, but it is keeping a part of very important unknown history alive.

Beautiful views from the coast

It is an easy walk from the car park to the first cabin, through some woodland along a manmade path, but we wanted to take the coastal route and walk along to the second cabin which was about a mile away.  Shouldn't take us too long we thought.  Boy, were we wrong!  We passed a little sign, we thought it was telling us to keep to paths and to watch the edges as we were quite close to the cliff edge, but it was warning walkers that it was quite treacherous land and experienced walkers should take care, let along those that don't know what they're doing. Us. 

We persevered, walking along the pathway and through the trees and forests, clinging onto the clifftop.  It was quite overgrown, I (Jess) had to duck in a fair few places to avoid the trees and I am only 5 ft 3" on a good day. Matt is over 6ft tall so he felt like he was crawling through a lot of it.  We were thankful for the shade of the trees though, the walk was starting to get tougher and the sun was starting to burn of the morning haze.  

These cliffs look like they're made off slate but I am no expert, during the dryness of the spring time, the sand makes the paths very slippery on the rock faces.  We persevered, scrambling up a lot of the paths and carefully climbing back down backwards again. I was a little silly and decided to wear a jumper AND we forgot to bring any water so as we plodded on, we were hoping we would soon see the next cabin. The sea was a beautiful teal colour and we had to keep stopping to appreciate its beauty as there was no way we could walk and look at the same time. We would have ended up too close to the beautiful sea at the bottom of the rock face.  We did see some canoers enjoying their morning and it got us to thinking of our trip next year, sailing to the Mediterranean. This is somewhere we will be passing by, we won't be getting too close to Mont Saint Michel, but we can see ourselves cruising along the coast, but dont be fooled by the lovely looking water! Its probably about 5 degrees c.

The first cabin

It's quite a long, hard trek to the other cabin and after about an hour or so, we had made it! Unfortunately, we were passed by two hardy looking hikers (all kitted up with walking poles and hiking boots) along the coastal path, and they decided to set up camp in the doorway so we couldn't see in, but we presume it was the same as the other.  Inconsiderate aye! The view from the top of this cliff was so beautiful, it was still very treacherous underfoot but it was most defiantly worth it. Our original plan, was to walk back to the carpark the same way we came. We quickly dismissed this idea and got out trusted (online) maps out to have a look at an alternative route, and there was one (thank goodness). There is a little hamlet a few hundred yards from the second cabin, you could probably park there and walk to this second one if you didn't want to walk the coast, and the road of this hamlet led us straight back to the car. It was so nice to be walking on tarmac after an hour or so over jagged rocks and treacherous landscape. 

It's a lovely place, a fantastic walk if you've got some time to spend stopping and appreciating the beauty of the coast. We even got a glimpse of Mont Saint Michel which finished this hike off perfectly.  We are more than likely going to come back and walk along another part of this coast line, there are caves, a beach, more viewpoints and a rock called the devils chair! Watch this space.....

W3W
Parking ///unsuccessful.strongly.wrongly
Cabin 1 ///tactile.midnight.hooter
Cabin 2 ///biopsies.unsolvable.speedily

Social Media & Website
Buy us a coffee/beer - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/seastheday1
YouTube - youtube.com/channel/UCafklL7k4CrfWgiA9H3RawQ/featured
Website (Sailing) - seasthedaysailing.wixsite.com/home
Instagram - @seasthedayzelande
Facebook - @seasthedayalbatros 
Photography website - shamrockphotography0.wixsite.com/home
Photography Instagram - @shamrock___photography
Photography Facebook - @ShamrockPhotographyFR
Patreon - patreon.com/seastheday
Support us - gofund.me/addc179f