The mielles of Créances

Park in the campsite car park on Boulevard de la Mer.

Yellow markings

(S/E) From the campsite car park, head towards the village of Créances.

(1) Take the first path on your left. Continue along the same path for 700 m, keeping in the same direction: you will pass several junctions.

(2) At the fork in the path, take the one on the right. Continue for 100 m, pass a path on your right and continue round a bend to the left. At the junction where several paths meet, take the one directly in front of you. Follow this path, which curves slightly to the right a few metres further on, pass the path on your left and continue until you reach a junction of three paths.

(3) Take the one furthest to the left. Continue to the fork 50 metres ahead, then follow the path on the right. Before you lies a sweeping panorama of the islands: Jersey, the largest of them all; Guernsey, Victor Hugo’s refuge in exile; Alderney, so close to La Hague; and Sark, still ruled by a Lord.

You’ll come to another fork 200 m further on. Take the path on the right again, then carry on to the next junction. Take the path furthest to the left, then follow it to a four-way crossroads.

(4) Turn left, then take the bend to the right. Continue along the path for 400 m, go straight ahead at the next junction and then continue for 100 m, passing two paths on your left. Continue straight on to the small gravel car park near Pointe du Becquet.

(5) Take the road running alongside the harbour at Saint-Germain-sur-Ay and continue to the junction with Rue du Haut Dy.

(6) Turn right and follow it for about 450 m. At the junction between two roads just past Petit Haut Dy, veer right, then leave the road by taking the first sandy track you come to on your right. Follow it for 250 m, then take two successive 90° left turns.

(7) Turn right, continue straight on for 100 m, then turn right at the fork. Then follow the path as it winds its way to the next junction. Stay on the path opposite and continue to the three-way junction where a wide track runs perpendicular to you and a narrow path is on your far left. Take the latter to join another path about 100 m further on.

(8) Continue to the left to enter an area of hedgerows. Carry on for 450 m, then stay on the path at the first junction. A little further on, at a four-way crossroads, take the right-hand path to reach the edge of a residential area.

(9) Turn right, then take the left at the three-way junction just ahead; you will arrive at the Créances cycle path. Turn right, then left to rejoin Boulevard de la Mer, which you should follow to the right towards the beach to reach the car park (S/E).

Havre de Saint-Germain-sur-Ay: a havre is an estuary where the fresh water of rivers meets the salt water of the sea. It is divided into two parts: the slikke, with its mudflats, regularly covered by the tides, and the schorre, a grassy area where salt marsh sheep graze.

(8) The mielles: dunes in Scandinavian, cleared to grow vegetables in the sand. In the 1930s, carrot cultivation really took off. After the war, ditches (known as caves) located behind the dune ridge were cultivated.