Week-end sur la Côte d’Albâtre – Échappées belles

Week-end sur la Côte d’Albâtre – Échappées belles

[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Hello everyone. I'm so happy to be back with you for a weekend in Normandy on the Alabaster Coast. It's the longest coastline in Europe, stretching 130 km from Le Havre to Tresor. Historically, it's the cradle of Impressionist painting because the play of light there is exceptional. It's in this setting that I'll be meeting those who benefit from it and who preserve the treasures of this little corner of Normandy. I'm starting my weekend in the land of high cliffs, perched on the imposing cliff of Amon. You are all very welcome to join me for your own wonderful getaways. [Music] [Applause] It's a little corner of France unlike any other. [Music] All these colors are magnificent , it's original, it's atypical, with a turbulent history. When you come here, it's like Canada and then France, we have good connections. A corner of France that shines throughout the world. Coffee has certainly contributed to the port's wealth, a good tasting experience. Thank you. And you inevitably fall in love with it. It's magnificent. Very impressive. And I think it's around the age of 10 or 12 that you absorb it, that you fall in love with a place. A love that is passed down from generation to generation. It's not about looking, I don't know, going to the skate park, watching the bikes, well, for us it's about going to see the boats. Tiga just has to let himself be guided. I'm not very sure of myself. We're off. Go ahead, have fun. I can try to make one like that. It's great. [Music] Welcome to the Albat coast. [Music] This is Riac. Tiga, is that you? Hello. Hi. Hi. Welcome to being late. So happy to meet you. I'm here for the weekend and I saw you immediately got the best seats for the show. You, you, here. There we are, on the Aon cliff. Ah, it's beautiful! And we're admiring the downstream cliff with the needle, the arch, the cave, and the golf course on the plateau overlooking the entire cliff. For now, I have everything to learn, everything to discover, and apparently you're the best person. You're the one who opens my eyes and ears. I try to welcome travelers to show them, from a naturalist's perspective, the cliffs of Aon, a world-renowned site that also deserves to be known for its geology, its fauna, and its flora. We're in a landscape that's over 90 million years old. In any case, the rock that makes up these cliffs was formed in the time of the dinosaurs. I can't wait to discover all your secrets. Let's go. Here we go. Here we go. [Music] There, you see the local architecture, it's quite distinctive, isn't it? In terms of identity, it's mainly marked by the presence of these flint stones, cut into paving stones, which are used as building materials and also for embellishing, for enhancing the wall. Is that what we call English-style joints? Yes, that's it. It's an English-style joint, a joint molded with a fork, and the flint paving stone is a type of rock that we find in the cliff. All these houses were built during the 19th century. It's really the peak period of its urban expansion because before 1820, it was a fishing village, and by then it was too late. And then it became a seaside resort with the fashion for sea bathing. This is the main street. We're really on the main street, actually. You can feel it. There are lots of people. How beautiful! This is the Salamander Manor. Yeah, it's a building that was constructed sometime between 1912 and 1917. So it was really the period of economic expansion for tourism, which was developing in the seaside resort. [Music] So, look for the salamander. I'm looking for it. I know there must be one, but you can see a longitudinal line on its back that's depicted. There you go, with a kind of bat's head or something. Ah yes, it's quite a work, isn't it? And it's well preserved. [Music] And this is the first time we've gotten close to the beach. A pebble beach. Yes, [Music] [Applause] it's singing. Pebbles. Yes. When the wave comes onto the beach and then recedes, you can hear the crackling of the pebbles clattering together, which Guidem Passant, by the way, compared to the crackling of fireworks. You know, there's a great way to discover the Aval cliff. It's by paddleboard. Hi. Oh, it's Riac. How are you? Yeah, very well. And you? Yeah, I'm good. I'll introduce you to me this weekend. Ah, cool. I wanted to ask if you'd be willing to take Tiga back to the foot of the Aval cliff. Well, we were about to leave with the whole group. If she wants to join us, then we're off. I'll gladly come with you. If you're ready, I'll be ready in 5 minutes. I'll leave you to it. I'll be back in a bit. Okay, let's go. [Music] So, as soon as the nice weather arrives on the Normandy coast, you get out the paddleboards. Exactly. Paddleboarding has one advantage: it's a way to move around on the water standing up without it being too strenuous like surfing or windsurfing, especially in a place like Etrota. It allows you to escape the tourist-filled beaches and go to beaches where there 's nobody. The only thing is, you have to get through the gates. Okay. Is it difficult to get through the gates? There's a bit of a swell, but you'll see. Ah, so there's a chance I'll fall in. It's only 8 degrees. However, I'm heading straight for… No, no, keep paddling that way. Always this way. Always this way. No, no, I'm going to get… I'm going to get caught. Wait. Oh no, I'm not going the right way. It's okay, it's okay. Ah, luckily you're here. Thank you. That's good, kid. Okay, so you see, Tika? Yes. When you go under the arch for the first time, you have to make a wish. I'm going to share it with you. My wish is that this weekend will be magical. And I think it's almost come true already. Oh my goodness! Ah! Oh, kid or not, it doesn't matter. The Alabaster Coast is a balcony perched above the English Channel. [Music] [Applause] A 130 km long limestone wall that rises in places to over 100 m above the sea. A landscape found nowhere else in France and which has always attracted nature lovers. It's not nice with the sun. Look at that when it reflects over there. [Music] A long, narrow path runs along the coast from end to end. Until the end of winter, some sections were closed due to landslides. We recently learned that they 've reopened some parts. Here, we're really high above the cliffs and safe. So for the group, it's the best option. Nathanaë organized this outing. He really wanted to show these cliffs to his hiking club in Lille. There's this magnificent whiteness of the limestone that we can see, and it's truly superb in the sunlight. That's something you won't find anywhere else. This milky, whitish sea is also very unique. I imagine it's related to the limestone that gives this whitish color to the first few hundred meters from the sea. Here at the edge of the cliff, you see, there 's a crack breaking away. It's very, very rare; no one in the group strays from the path. Rockfalls are frequent. The cliff recedes several centimeters each year. So far, we're still all together; we haven't lost anyone. That's the main thing. This imposing and majestic cliff also fascinates Emmanuel. [Music] He comes to photograph it almost every day. [Music] I've photographed this cliff hundreds of times in all kinds of weather: in the sun, at sunset, all summer long, at high tide, at low tide, in calm conditions, in storms. Trot is very popular with photographers. Lots of early-morning photographers throughout the summer. Then, it's a matter of daring, you could say, that allows each of us to find our own little spots, and depending on each person's boldness, we manage to get some truly surprising photos. Emmanuel has a significant advantage. He lives close to the edge of his cliffs. But where we're going, there's nobody. A caretaker for a villa, he came to photography somewhat by chance five years ago, after a lot of walking. It's the cliff that made him a photographer. He explores every nook and cranny. Here, we're all alone. [Music] We're more focused on the lens. We almost forget the void; the important thing is not to get too close and to be very careful. What you have to be very careful about is the shoes you wear, especially when the grass is wet. [Music] The cliff changes. The cliff, even if you can't see it, is crumbling a little more every day. It's actually being smoothed by the wind, the rain, the elements. You never take the same photo twice. The cliffs of Normandy took millions of years to form. However, they aren't eternal and erode every year. All these little pebbles and then the sand… oh dear, it's damaged, it doesn't usually look like that. It's forming little balls, things. Paulette and Étienne have always lived here. Every day, they walk along this fragile beach that they try at all costs to protect. Today, apparently there are pebbles, but if you know the beach well, you know that the layer of pebbles is much thinner than it was several years ago. It's a fact, the pebbles are disappearing. The problem is, they're the cliffs' bodyguards. This pebble ridge acts as a buffer, protecting the base of the cliff from erosion as best it can. The sea is generally encroaching on all coastlines, but when pebbles are no longer a natural barrier, it relentlessly poundes the cliff face. Here, there were enormous layers of pebbles. These layers, combined with rainwater seeping in from above, eventually undermined the rock face, leading to the landslide on February 2nd, along with another major and constant threat. Some of the pebbles are carried away by sea currents, but others are taken by formidable predators who are particularly active during the warmer months: tourists. They have therefore formed the "Hands Off Monalet" collective to discourage visitors from leaving with a couple of small pieces of the landscape. The quantity of pebbles sometimes taken away is not simply a souvenir. It is intended for building low walls, pathways, and other structures. When you take bags of them, it's not a souvenir that will just sit on the living room furniture. And in the summer, there are undoubtedly 4 to 5 cubic meters that are taken away at least once a week. You mustn't take any pebbles, and wherever you are, it's the same everywhere. Much more responsible than a pebble, the best souvenir to bring back from these exceptional landscapes is an image etched deep in your memory. [Music] Seriac, I'm very happy to discover your passion, shore fishing, but I don't really see what we're looking for. What are we supposed to find? It's exploratory fishing. We're more into naturalist observation in an area called the tidal flat. The gradient of colors on the ground is very beautiful. So it's the intertidal zone, the boundary between low and high tide. It reveals a whole rocky area covered in seaweed. If we spent the day there cataloging the seaweed, we might find up to 70 different species. Wow! There, you have the seaweed, so it's dried with lava. Some people make chips out of it to serve as an appetizer, a smart appetizer, to repeat, friends. What does it taste like? Well, it's a little salty and it's protein. So, I'm not going to let you taste this one, I'm going to let you taste another seaweed, which is pepper seaweed. I don't know of any tastier. H, it reminds me of truffle. Yes, it has a mushroom flavor. That's true. It's It's incredible to have something like this available that we can put on our plates. It's a food treasure. We don't have a seaweed culture back home. But wait, we have enough for a meal here. Yeah, periwinkles, the little chip salad. Here, we can discover a whole array of fauna, it's very rich. We're perhaps in one of the richest areas, phonetically speaking, on the entire French coastline. Ah, man, I've got a crabbert. Let's see, let's see what all this is. These are eggs. It's a mother. So the female is protecting her eggs, she's protecting them here. Yes. Yes. Wow! I've never seen that before. The inside. There are a lot, a lot of… We put her back in the water. We put her back in the water. We're going to put her back under the rock there. You can put her back here. Yes, she was there. [Music] It's dizzying, isn't it? Yes, you're right. There's a real drop. How high is the downstream cliff? The highest point is 105 meters on the main road, and there on the downstream cliff, it reaches 90-95 meters. Oh! And then this view of the town of [Music] it's a village that fits perfectly into the hollow of the coastal valley. Exactly. The valley. The valley is the word we give to this kind of coastal valley that slopes down towards the sea through the cliffs. It's the specific term we use here. Absolutely. When someone mentions a valley in the future, you'll immediately think of your local dalbâtre. [Music] Oh dear, the tide's already high. It's rising. Yes, you see the place where we were earlier? Well, it's covered by the sea. But you can clearly see Marie Antoinette's famous oyster beds. Yes. They say this is where the oysters served at Versailles were stored. What are all these birds? We can spot the gulls because they have wings. This one is quite a large bird. It has broad wings. But there's one that comes along the cliff and then flies off again. Yes, that one is a northern fulmar. It's a cousin of the albatross. Actually, I was wondering, the Alabaster Coast, does it come from the name of this bird, the albatross, that you can find here? No, but if we had met Clone Monnaie on the walk, he would have told us that alabaster is a color. It's the color that seawater takes on when the streak dissolves. It gives it a white, pale color. It's the color of alabaster. The Alabaster Coast. What sparked your curiosity? What drew you so close to nature? This curiosity, it was my grandfather, with whom I spent my holidays on the farm 4 km from Tretard, who instilled in me this passion, this interest in nature. He was the one who showed me the bird's nest hidden in the hedge, taught me to recognize the water strider . And I think it's around the age of 10 or 12 that we absorb everything, that we're like sponges, that we fall in love with a place. I feel like I was a bit like the young Guin Mot Passant who, when his mother lived in Etas, let him come and catch crabs, sorting them among the rocks. If we see so much of him in his work, it's because he was in love with it. Little guy, we've arrived at where you'll be sleeping tonight, an unusual place to stay. I suggest you come and see it. That's it. That's it. Yes. Or yes. A boat perched high up. Yes, a "caloge," that's what we call it. That's the name of this boat. Okay, let's see. A cake tired from sailing, we transformed it into accommodation. Hi! Hello Marie, welcome. Thank you. Good evening, little guy. Yes, very happy. Yes, me too, very happy to welcome you. So, how's this place? This boat arrived in your garden? Well, when we bought the house in '95, it was already there, and we suspect it was brought here at the same time as the house was built, sometime between 1880 and 1900. My husband wanted to tackle it, so he spent about a year restoring it. He turned it into a little nest. So, a Little one. Can we discover… I'll show you this. Yeah. Come in. There you go. Watch the little step and watch your head. Yes, there you go. Welcome, little guy, to our little cabin. I'm going to be comfortable. We didn't ask you if you get seasick, did we? It's true that when I came in from outside, I thought, how am I going to be able to sleep on a boat like this? And it's really charming. You've furnished it very well. It's very much me. If you don't mind, I'm going to wish you an excellent weekend on the Alabaster Coast in the Pyrenees. Thank you. Goodbye. Thank you, I loved it. I'm going to wish you a very good night. There you go. Thank you very much. I 'll give you breakfast tomorrow. Kisses at breakfast. There you go. Hi Marie. Hi. Good night. In Merslebain, one can undoubtedly find one of the most beautiful treasures of the Alabaster Coast: its seaside architecture. [Music] The best way to discover it is to hop aboard the little train. Its route runs along the seafront and offers a first glimpse of these unique villas. The seafront is lined with villas characteristic of seaside architecture, with numerous English and Flemish influences. Chantal's passion is little trains. She's been driving a locomotive for 18 years. Tours, Amboise, d'Uville. She has always worked in exceptional locations, but she still remembers arriving in Mers- les-Bains five years ago. "The first time I saw this town, it was magnificent. I loved it. There you have it. So, on your left, the last villa was built by Gustave Eiffel. [Music] The best architects of the time competed to build them. Beautiful windows, woodwork, ceramics. A complete range of the architecture of the era." Here, tourists don't look at the sea, they admire the facades. The sun and the moon, and the god of the moon. Look at the swirling balconies. Oh yes, I hadn't noticed… Oh yes, it's when we're surrounded by taupe and gray everywhere, it's wonderful to have balconies in these colors and to dare to use bright colors. Claire de Lune, Sirano, Villa Suzanne. Traditionally, there were no street numbers. Each villa had a name. All these colors are magnificent, original, atypical, there you go, we're discovering them. Many need renovation too, but it's true, they're magnificent. These 600 villas were built between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. While these centenarians proudly bear their age, the ravages of time are increasingly evident. Before the summer season, scaffolding springs up all over town , and craftsmen are busy giving the charming houses a well-deserved facelift. So here are some of the old ironworks, corroded by rust from the salty air. It's a common problem in Mers. It's a major ailment of steel. In two or three years, there would have been cracks, and then part of the facade would have collapsed. That's for sure. Owning a villa by the sea is a luxury that requires a lot of attention. Facade renovations every seven to ten years are necessary. There's much more maintenance on villas by the sea than on villas inland. When there's a storm, when it's windy, when it's… when all that… it only makes it worse. It's interesting because, ultimately, we're participating in the preservation of our heritage. Ultimately, we have our own little sense of pride, right? Within the walls of these villas, generations have succeeded one another. Jeanve has been coming to Merce since he was two years old. As a child, he spent all his holidays there. When I was 14 or 15, we had a nightclub in the cellar of that town. It's big. It's big. Yes. Yes, it's big. It was these grandparents of wealthy Parisians who bought a villa in Mers in 1918 to use as their second home. They lived near the Gare du Nord. It was very convenient with the train. In fact, it was much faster to get here in 1918 than it is today. There were porters at the station who brought luggage. It was all very organized. Mers and its villas developed during the era of sea bathing. As for the end of the 19th century, wealthy Parisians discovered the benefits of swimming. On sunny days, the Alabaster Coast became their holiday destination. [Music] Then there was an old photo of your great-grandmother, your grandfather's mother, you see, with her cousins ​​Jacqueline and Christiane. For decades, the bourgeoisie spent their summers in Mers. A small community developed. Children played together. Bonds were formed. Well, that's where my wife and I met, and quite a few of us in the family met our spouses in the area because , well, spending two months there every summer leads to a number of flings with tennis, dancing, the casino, and so on. So, some summer romances end up becoming something more. Some don't, but, well, some do. Seriously, no need to laugh. But in the second half of the 20th century, the love affair between wealthy families and Mers-les-Bains began to fade. Mers became much less fashionable because the automobile arrived, and people started driving. Well, there was that famous song by Charles Traîné, about the Route Nationale 7, and then artists in the 60s like Brigitte Bardot and others who went to the French Riviera, and people wanted to go there, those who could afford it, and Mers became a bit more popular at that time. In the 80s, the town realized that its salvation lay in preserving these exceptional villas. Since then, the area has been designated a protected site. Owners are encouraged to restore the homes, and this fresh coat of paint has revitalized the town. [Music] Hello, I'm just passing through Le Havre and I was drawn to the glass you've put up. Thank you, please come in. Entry is free, so don't hesitate. I'm cutting glass because I'm actually a glassmaker. I create and restore glass. Okay. There you go. And right now, I'm restoring a stained-glass window. May I watch you work? Please do, come closer. I'm cutting pieces of glass, as you can see. There! They'll go all around the missing piece. And these stained-glass windows, are they old? Were they meant for a church? Well, yes, they're old, dating from the 19th century, but no, they're not for a church. In fact, they're secular stained-glass windows, meant to decorate the interior windows of private homes. So, how does one become a glassmaker? For me, it's more about the light in Le Havre that made me want to work with the light and color in the glass. This, for example, is a project. Yes. So, we're working on a composition that follows the path of the stage. Okay. So, this is the scene in purple. There you go. And here, we're starting in Le Havre, going all the way to Paris, and vice versa, from Le Havre to Paris. If you like, you can try cutting some glass. Oh! Oh! I'm touched. Do you trust me? Yes. So, the cutting, actually, is done with this tool, which is a cutter, or a toilet cutter, because you really have to use your whole body to cut. It's a green cutter. Yes, it's a green cutter, which is actually made up of a head with a steel wheel. It's an extremely hard metal that allows you to scratch the glass. There you go. So, I'm just going to show you how it works. You always start from one end to the other. You hold your cutter a bit like a pen and you press lightly on the glass, just a little, but not too much, so you can scratch the glass. You take your piece of glass, you apply pressure to the end. Oh, but it's Effective. And can I try to make one like that? Yes, I can try a curve, but you'll need to press a little harder so we can really hear the sound. They say the glass sings when you cut it with the right pressure. Okay. Well, I'll try to make it sing. There. Now, you need to pick it up immediately. So, like I said, you put a hand on each side. Yes. Really, there you go, a thumb on each side, and there you go. Well done. That's great. If you'd like, we can go for a coffee and then explore the city. I'll follow you. [Music] It's very airy. Yes, all the architecture was designed with this airiness in mind. Le Havre has a rather unique history. The city was completely destroyed during the war and rebuilt. So, if I've recorded the sound correctly, it was Auguste Peré, the architect, who redesigned everything. Yes, exactly. He's the one who redesigned everything, he really started from scratch. My grandmother showed me photos of the destruction when I was little. It's very impressive; from the train station, which is just a few hundred meters away, you could see the beach. So, there was absolutely nothing there. There was nothing left at all. So Augustin Fé had free rein to build the city center. And I see that it's really very harmonious, that the houses are similar. They're concrete blocks. Yes. Yes. Concrete was the material of choice, it was the flagship material of the pre- and post-war period in terms of city planning, of the main thoroughfares that allowed for very easy movement within the city. And that 's really modern. It's New York. Yes, that's exactly it. He was inspired in particular by major American cities. So, in New York, you find this type of layout. Oh yeah. You must be happy here. Oh yeah, yes, really. I grew up here. Then I went to study in Paris, I decided to come back and here I am, completely smitten . I'm rediscovering my city since I came back and I really love it. It's a very beautiful city. Is that a boat you see over there? Yes. Yeah. Yes. Actually, there are cruise ships that stop here since the city was designated a Milalco heritage site. That's why I really had to come here. I thought to myself, " What's going on in Le Havre? We can't miss this destination, this city. [Music] It's hot in here. Yes, it smells really, really good. It's a smell you often get when there are several extraction towers. But I wanted to bring you here because the coffee they make is excellent. Ah, it's roasted right here. Yes. That very strong coffee aroma. And do you know where this coffee comes from? All over the world, 50% of French coffee consumption passes through the port of Le Havre. Le Havre and coffee are truly a port city; their history is intimately linked. The first coffee shops arrived in Le Havre more than 200 years ago. Can we say that the history of coffee, the arrival of coffee in Le Havre, contributed to its wealth? Coffee certainly contributed to the development of the port of Le Havre's wealth, and right after that… During the war, coffee was still highly regarded. Coffee was world-renowned in Le Havre. And a very long coffee. Thank you. Huh? Enjoy your coffee. Thank you. Have a good rest of the day. Goodbye. Enjoy. [Music] Is that Saint Joseph's Church? Yes, the one I've heard about many times, it's the centerpiece of Auguste Pet. Absolutely. It's magnificent. It's very impressive. So I can see little things that might resemble what you like . Perhaps small windows, small openings. But it's really different from a church we're used to seeing, a traditional church. [Music] Oh my, it's so beautiful! [Music] You see, from the outside, I had some doubts about the The light inside the church is bright, and yet it works. Oh yes, very well. The number of small openings is what gives it this light. And do you know how tall it is on the bell tower? Oh yes, 107 meters. 107 meters? [Music] Do you know how many panes of glass there are? No, I couldn't tell you exactly, but a lot. In any case, I can tell you who made these panes: it was Margore Turé, a glassmaker who worked on the church between 1950 and 1960, and it's exceptional because, in fact, there were very, very few women practicing this craft at the time. Oh yes, so it was truly exceptional. Today, there are many more of us. There are fewer openings on the lower part, and the higher you go, the more openings there are. It's meant to represent a soaring, in fact, and an accompaniment towards the heavens. Anyway, Ludvine, thank you for taking the time to show me your city. Well, you're welcome, it's a pleasure. I discovered that Le Havre has very understated architecture and that the inhabitants, while they all look alike, are very simple and kind people. Thank you. Are you listening? The port of Le Havre is a story of superlatives. The leading container port in France. 10,000 hectares in area. 40% of French oil passes through it. The nerve center of this world is the harbor master's office. It overlooks the port entrance. Behind those windows, a handful of men are responsible for organizing all this traffic. You'll have your pilot at 12:30, local time; he'll be dropped off by helicopter. Le Havre opens onto one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, the English Channel. The traffic there is intense. The port is a general-purpose port that welcomes merchant ships of all sizes. We've accommodated some of the world's largest container ships, 400 meters long and 60 meters wide. In the background, a beautiful container ship measuring 325 meters long and 40 meters wide. A small chemical tanker is entering a lock, and amidst all this, we also have to accommodate pleasure craft because we're also a marina and a small fishing port. So, one of the harbor master's responsibilities is to regulate all this traffic to ensure safety within the port. When Francis I officially founded the city of Le Havre 500 years ago, he simultaneously created the first national state port. Since then, the city and the port have continued to grow together. The port has had to adapt over the centuries. In the historic port, ships were a maximum of 30 meters long, making it quite enclosed inland . Over the centuries, ships grew larger, and the basins gradually expanded outwards towards the open sea, eventually reaching Port 2,000,000, which today allows access for the largest container ships with a 16-meter draft. Once the ships receive the green light to enter, other port crew members spring into action. These giants of the sea are no longer very comfortable in the narrow basins of the port. They need tugboats. Marc Biche pilots one of his small but sturdy boats, with a 4,000-horsepower engine. He takes charge of the ships as soon as they enter the channel. We have clients arriving in the port whose ships are in perfect condition; they aren't full of machinery or anything like that. They simply need a little help navigating the port's tight waters. So, in the case of our ship arriving here, it's an oil tanker. Therefore, it will need the tugboat to help it brake initially, and then to avoid being hit, meaning to turn on the spot and reverse back to its berth. Sir, 2:05 PM, the boarding is underway. We need to match the speed of the other ship and get as close as possible so the crew can connect the two vessels. [Music] This is almost a small ship. Some container ships sometimes need four tugboats to guide them. CL de Fer, the VB3 is heading behind. With its engine at full throttle, the tugboat is slowing the tanker's momentum. The captains of these fish The harbor pilots all have extensive experience at sea. It takes months to train a tugboat captain. You have to be very diligent in your training, know the harbor, know its ships. It's a job where you have to be calm, where you're always close to clients who are much bigger than us. So ultimately, it's quite dangerous. So you always have to be on your toes. Once the ships are docked, it's a race against time. Perched atop the cranes, the dockworkers have to unload the containers as quickly as possible. Johann is one of them. He works by sight, seated on a glass platform. Yeah, it works. At 40 meters above the ground, it's not easy to be precise. My eyes are also blurry because I can't see everything exactly due to the height. So my colleague is connected to me by radio, and he's the one who tells me if I'm in the right position, and that's it, it's really teamwork. Johann unloads between 23 and 30 containers per hour. Every day, 8,000 containers must be handled in Le Havre. In the world of maritime freight, where every second counts, being a crane operator is a key position. It takes about a year to get used to heights. Vertigo is part of the hiring tests. So, we first go up into the gantry cranes before touching the controls to see our reactions. Obviously, if we have vertigo, we're not suited for this job. The port of Le Havre practically never stops. The men work there 24/7, 362 days a year. [Music] Oh yeah! [Music] [Music] Hello, ma'am. Hello. I'd like a little something sweet, but I don't know what to get yet. Hello. Hello. Hello Vincent. Hi César. How are you? I'm fine, and you? How are you feeling? Yes, everything's fine. Nice tradition? Yeah, it's fine. The flour's working well. Did you prepare my order? I'd like a bag of whole wheat, and I have both traditional and bulk . Perfect. As usual. We've sorted things out. I was craving something sweet. I'm not sure what traditional flour to get yet. Thank you. At Maison Portier, everything is good. You can go ahead. Everything is good. Especially since, from what I understand, it's your flour. Well, yes, it's… it's all our flours for making all the breads. So you live in a mill? I don't live in the mill, but I do live… I live near a mill anyway . Ah, okay. What is it? Is it their mill? It's their mill. And a tall mill that was built in 1789 by the monks of the frequented Bilite. [Music] Can you recommend a local specialty? What's the local specialty? It's going to be flan. Flank? Yes, of course. Okay. Well, I 'll try that. I'll have one, please. Would you like one, Vincent? No, thank you. That's kind of you. So you're interested in the mill then? Yes. Would you like me to take you to visit it? With pleasure. You're sure you don't want flan, are you? It's not good for what I have. Have a good day, ma'am. Have a good day, ma'am. So, this mill? Oh, well, I'll take you. It's far. We're 40 km away. [Music] Well, I'm very curious to learn about your profession. Meier, it's not every day you meet a Meier. Oh no, that's for sure, Tig, you don't meet a Meier every day. How many Meiers are there in France today? Today there are fewer than 400. Yes. In 1900 there were over 5,000 of us. How did you get into it? I fell into it. I was born into it. Were you born into it? Born in the flour. I was born in the flour. My father is a miller, my grandfather was a miller, my great-grandfather was a miller, and that's how it's been. It's been like that for six generations. Do you supply many bakeries? I have about 150 customers in total at the mill. On the avenue, we have about twenty bakers. Yes, about twenty on the road as well. [Music] I'm eager to discover your mill. Well, here we are. We're going to enter Vite Fleurs. [Music] And here's what looks like a mill. Is that your mill? Yes. Your mill doesn't look like a mill at all. Neither does it. We're going to get closer to this monster. There we go. Welcome to Vitefleur's Mill. Okay. What were you expecting? A little thingamajig with a little millstone that turns and a little wheel on the side. Yes, a pretty little threshing floor, a little stone house, the little river next to it. We have the little river, we have the wheel. But those days are over, you're not going to feed the planet with a little millstone. So, this is a mill inspired by Auguste Perz. It's a Marchal reconstruction plan after the war. It's a 1990s mill. Well, do you want to take a look around? Yeah, I'm coming, Vincent. So, say, it's all noisy up here. Yes, that's why I gave some explanations here, because up there, we won't be able to hear each other. Okay. So, there are five production floors. On each floor, there are different machines. Okay. On the first floor, that's where we grind the wheat. Well, not on old-fashioned millstones like you thought, but on roller mills. Okay. So, there are two metal rollers that rotate. Okay. To grind the wheat, to mill it. Is it still artisanal flour? It's still artisanal flour. We have a small mill that doesn't heat the products, that doesn't heat the flour. It's not an industrial mill, it's not a 500-ton-a-day or a 300-ton-a-day mill, it's a very small mill. Okay, let's see this modern mill. [Music] [Music] [Music] What is this? It sifts. Okay. So no, they're friends. And now, I'm going to make you work a little. But there's no one in your factory. No, you're asleep. Come on, you're asleep. That's it, actually. The machines are working for you. Yes, call it on. Okay. Put down your shovel. OK. And now, you make the same movement as the plank operator like this. Come on, faster. Look behind you there, faster. Come on, come on. Ah, I'm really going at it, as you can see. We've separated the products. The flour is there. Okay. That's what I'm interested in. Ah, okay. That's not flour. No, that's going back to be processed on another machine downstairs. [Music] Hello Jean-Louis. Hello Vincent. How are you? I'm fine. Hello miss. Hello sir. Jean. Yes, I'd like to introduce you to this little guy who's spending the weekend on the Albat coast. Great. Yes, I picked him up this morning to show him my mill. Fantastic. So I'd like some flour, Vincent, in bags, one for me and one for Amélie at home, please. Can I help you? With pleasure. Come on. So that's it, Tigar, one bag is 25 kg. Whoa! That's about my weight, I think. Okay, what if it tips over there? Ah, it won't tip over. Ah, go ahead, I'll go first. Is that all right? Yeah. There you go. Ah, I wasn't expecting that. You're welcome. Thank you, Vincent. See you next time, Jean-Louis, see you soon. See you soon. Thank you. Are you going to carry them down by yourself? Yes, of course. I'm the same height as Vincent. See you soon. See you soon. Have a good day. Thank you. Goodbye. Hi, Jean-Louis. [Music] You see, kid, I couldn't let you leave without showing you the remains of the old mill. Oh my! There you go, pleasure. Well, indeed, it's quite damaged. We still have the wheel, oh my! Which is no longer in use. Indeed, it's too small to produce 60 tons of flour a day. Yes. Yes. But when I bought the mill, it was still working. And in the Durdent Valley, are there any mills left? Yes, there are still mills. There used to be 80. We're the last one still operating. You're the last miller in the valley. We're the last mill in the valley. Thank you for your kindness and for trusting me enough to come with you. It's only natural. I'm very touched. It makes me happy. And when you come back to the area for a weekend, you'll come and see. And every time I eat bread, I'll think of you. Oh, and artisan bread too. Oh yes, you can count on me. At the heart of this valley lies a unique, world-renowned craft. For centuries, exceptional craftsmanship has flourished in the Brêle Valley. An object found in every home, one that we almost forget is a small work of art. [Music] 70% of the perfume bottles from major brands sold worldwide come from this valley, which has been renamed Glacevallée, the Valley of Glass. [Music] The first master glassmaker settled here in 1429, and his location was no accident. The first essential element for making glass is energy. And what better source than a forest like the one we find here today to fuel the furnaces that would melt the glass? This is why, over the centuries, we see numerous glassmakers of all sizes flourish, thus meeting the growing demand for glass at the time. Today, the furnaces are no longer wood-fired, but the glassmakers have remained in the valley. Michel Carpentier works for one of the two largest glassworks in the region. 280 million bottles a year, 1,200 employees, a venerable company founded in 1623. And since then, the main ingredient has remained the same. Here in the building, we find the first essential building for the production of a perfume bottle: the blending building. The blending is the recipe, and the main ingredient for making glass is sand—but not just any sand. This sand, this silica, certainly doesn't come from the beach because the quality is nowhere near what we expect. It's sand from a quarry. In perfume making, we seek excellence, transparency, the crystalline appearance of the glass, and this quality of sand is the foundation for achieving this perfect perfume bottle. To the sand, glassmakers add soda ash, lime, and other, more confidential ingredients. The manufacture of luxury bottles is a closely guarded trade secret. [Music] All we know is that this mixture is heated to 1600°C, hotter than lava? [Music] [Applause] [Music] The resulting molten glass is then placed in molds, emerging as bottles. This is an industrial process. The glassblower we all picture is no longer used in this type of industry. So, we have automated machines that blow the glass automatically into these molds, some of which we see here, to produce a vast number of bottles, in quantities far exceeding what was possible just 100 or 200 years ago. [Music] La Verkerie has 3,000 different molds to satisfy all its customers every day. Between 7,500 and 1 million bottles leave the factory. The luxury bottle industry continues to be a boon for the Brê Valley. In recent decades, a number of small glassworks have closed, but at the same time, new companies have sprung up to meet the demands of perfumers. Bottle decoration, lacing, sandblasting. With 7,000 jobs, the bottle industry is by far the number one employer in the region. With glass, the Brê Valley continues to see life through rose-colored glasses. [Music] Tigo Daniel, I'm here. It's this way. You can come up. [Applause] Oh, I'm so happy to meet you. Me too, because in the summer, there are so many kisses, we're going to give each other lots of kisses. Is this your first time in Fandre? Yes. The reason I brought you here is that you have a magnificent view. Look at those cliffs. Do you recognize them at all? And Trota and Trot, well, there you have the Trota headland, which is right over there, the Ambas headland, and then when you go around it, well, the little village where you can see Hipport, that's where we often go with our caïque. Yes, it's the traditional boat, part of our heritage. We have the last caïque still afloat; we'll have the last one, the only one in the world. Will I be able to see it? You'll be able to see it. I'd love to take you. Sure, it will be a pleasure. Unlike with my own eyes, I want to see it. You will see it. You will see it. And then we arrive at Féan. And there you arrive at Fécan and then its port. You had a whole fishing industry there, which developed enormously with cod fishing, making us a very large cod-fishing port. But this capital of the Ternova, as we used to say, there's always this man of the sailors who is there. Ternova, that's the cod fishermen. There you go, the Ternevas, that was the fishermen of Terneuve. And the place where we arranged to meet was one of the high places, precisely for all this fervor of these landlubbers. So every time you left, well, everyone here put themselves under the protection of the Virgin and the boats always salute with the KX. We've kept this tradition of saluting her with three little blasts of the horns, you know. Okay. Tell me about this chapel, Our Lady of Salvation. Is it still very important in the lives of sailors here in Fécan? Well, for sailors, yes, it's very important because of the circumstances. The thing is, all the people who disappear at sea, well, you never find them again. You don't know where they are. Yes. So the only place where you can find them is here, to come and pray. It's here for prayer and reflection. [Music] The Virgin Mary carries a boat, carries her remains. There you go. So she watches over all those who have left her offerings, who have all this. That's right. The offerings are the exotaux. The exotaux are these. So the boats were here under the protection of the Virgin Mary, others were in memory of the lost. Here are the plaques. Well, you see, unfortunately, they're commemorative. There you see all that, and then, in things much closer to home, you'll find the last major disaster, the Snaker, its name is 86. It's still relatively recent. Have you ever needed to make a votive offering to Mary here in the chapel? Once, just once, as a thank you. Yeah. On the side of the boat, we fished out a mine—well, an LMB, something with almost a ton of gunpowder charge left over from the Second World War—and I was with some students. We carried it around for hours next to the propeller. I didn't even know it was a mine at the time. Yeah. It didn't look like a mine, and the miners told us, " Well, I'm going to ask you a lot of little things, but we said we should have blown ourselves up when we re-wet it because there were some… it was intact, the hydrostatic systems were all working, and we didn't blow ourselves up. Sometimes, so you're lucky. When I come here, it means something to me too. Yeah, for me, these are memories. These were students I had at the high school. I have some of them, well, friends who are here, who were… but we have to keep it to ourselves, we have to keep a little bit of the joyful part, and it still makes us dream. It's still a space of freedom, and in all spaces of freedom, well, you know that your freedom is… but that's why we put ourselves under the protection of the Virgin. Yes, okay. [Music] [Applause] I have to introduce you to another essential figure of Fécon, Françoise And the Nounout, the fisherman's wife, who has a superb restaurant here, you'll see, she's got personality. I'm going to get you some children at the bar. Oh yes, no phones while eating. Afterwards, the food gets cold. Oh well, that's Nounout. No, there you go. Are you Nounout? Oh yes, that's me. Tell me, Nounout, I'm a sailor's wife, a fisherman's wife, what does that mean? A sailor's wife is the woman who takes care of the boat, the live bait, the shopping, making sure we're always there when the boat comes back. And I'm often on the go with my fishermen, with guys like them, I'm their mascot. And my grandson is going to naval apprentice school. We 'd like to put him in his hands with a boat in 2 or 3 years, when he's 18, like his Grandpa. Okay. And Nounout, so your parents were also a fishing family? No, my father was a bricklayer. Right. Nothing to do with it. My brothers were fishermen. And your brothers, they stayed in Féqu? Oh no, no, no. There are only two left. The others disappeared at sea. I have one. They were all fishermen. The Arctic snaker. Half my family disappeared at sea. The big boat that sank offshore. We saw it, we saw it at the chapel. Yes, Mr. Jan. Quite a character. H and all good fishermen. Yes, does it still affect you? Oh yes, yes. Oh yes, yes. We don't want to see February. We're leaving. When February comes, we're leaving. We're scattering. Could we have a drink to their health? Here. Yes. Go on. That's a… Don't you see, Nounout? One of my drops. I'm working. Yeah. Yes. Go on. The boss won't say anything. No. I've always been the boss. There you go. Nobody orders me around. So you have the right. Well, listen, to your health. Yes. And to all the projects we have. Life goes on. To the coast of Al, and it's beautiful. And to you both. And to all our young sailors from the naval academy. [Music] And there you go. [Music] Yes. Well, there you go, you see, we're approaching the Virgin of Lourdes, the quail's café. Exactly. Exactly. Hello sailors. Well, here you go, I present Luc, our president of the association. Hello. Hello. Introduce Jean-Pierre. Yeah, Jean-Pierre and Yannick and Yannick. Welcome aboard. The special thing about the caïque is that it's a beaching boat. Yes. That is to say, it doesn't have any differences; it rests on the pebbles to unload its fish. So that becomes the motto of the association. It's one of the only organizations where you're happy when you fail. And the more you fail during the year, the happier you are. [Music] [Music] pa [Music] [Music] Come on, everyone take off your hats. I'm taking off my cap. The women can keep their caps on. It's like in church. Okay. [Music] There's a grin coming up here. Yeah, we're going to be able to "cape" the smocks for ourselves because… What do you mean by "cape" the smocks? Normally, it's a term for handling sails. It's a specific sailing maneuver. Yes. But we've adapted it to dress you, you know. To cover, in exact terms, "cape" means put over. You cape a smock. I put on my jacket, pulled it over, and took it off. Okay. Well, we're not about to take off our smocks anytime soon. [Music] How do you explain this being the last caïque? It's a very beautiful boat, though. Well, this type of boat is very special; only the occasional trotter existed . So, there weren't many of them. The last ones built must have been in 1952. Right. They were only built to last about fifteen years, and so they all disappeared. That's why it's so rare. Well, if you like, the sea looks a little calmer. Yes. If you're interested, we'll ask Yannick, who'll show you how to steer. You come a little closer, step over the caïque a bit, and put your left hand on the tiller. Okay. Can we share the tiller? Of course, of course. So, you keep to your course. The goal is to pass between the two noises over there. Okay. There you go. [Music] So, what do you think? Do you like sailing like this? At the helm? I like being with you. Luckily the conditions aren't too bad because… Well, I think if the weather had been like that, we wouldn't have gone out. I'll let you go anyway because I'm afraid we'll run into each other. Yes, we shouldn't. I'll go ahead. I'll go with pleasure. Go see Daniel over there, he's waiting for you. Daniel, thanks a lot. Yeah, for this outing. No, no, I feel so good in this element. Even if there's wind, a bit of a squall, it's still beautiful. It's very beautiful. [Music]
[Music] The glory days of the port of Fécan are over. Once the leading cod fishing port at the beginning of the 20th century, it now only accommodates about twenty fishing boats. Yet, even among the younger generation, some still dream of going to sea. Today, 18-year-old Quentin is on the verge of realizing his dream. He has the right to maneuver his uncle's boat under his watchful eye. He's still a little unsure of his technique before heading out to sea. The young man will have to wait. The theory, however, holds no secrets for him. "We have 300s used to plot routes. Here we have the GPS radar, boss." The young man is like a fish in water here. Since he was 10, he's been roaming the docks. He knows everything there is to know about port life. He's going to spend a little over a week at sea. It's a passion. "There are some things I can watch, I don't know, going to the skate park, watching bikes." Well, for us it's about going to see the boats. Yeah. That's it. Some people like it, they like going to the dock, but for us it's about going out to sea. Well, we have that in our blood too, in a way. So it's been like that since we were little. That's it. Grandson and son of a sailor, it was his father who passed on the bug. I have a lot of memories of going to the unloading of the boats, coming back in and getting the equipment ready, going out to sea a little, doing some small-scale fishing. I preferred going to sea to going to school. Today, though, to go to sea, you have to go through school. Quentin is a student at the Anita Conti Maritime High School in Féan. There are 14 schools like this one spread all along the French coast. His morning begins with theory classes. 149 tons. You add 20 tons. How deep do they sink? Knowing that the 20 tons include all the masts. I don't really like it. It's not exactly the specialty. Yet, even math classes are never far removed from the world of fishing. This morning, for example, we're talking about load distribution. When you're fishing, yeah, it's stowed, it's stowed in the hold, and you can't just put it in any old way to avoid affecting the boat's stability. The high school is oriented towards the open sea, but it doesn't only train students for fishing. The 140 students are preparing for all kinds of maritime professions: pilot, rescuer, or mechanic. You see the two lights, you see the green light and the red light, that means it's coming straight at you. Okay. So that's not what you want. So the best thing is to try to steer a little towards the red lights. Okay. In this room, 16-year-old Hugo is practicing piloting a virtual container ship. He's preparing for a vocational baccalaureate in marine electromechanics. What I want to do is be a chief mechanic in the French Navy. So I'm doing what it takes to get in. In the early afternoon, Quentin changed his clothes. Safety shoes are mandatory, just like in real-life situations. Actually, the classroom looks more like a ship's deck than a classroom. I've got it here. So, what's my cut point then? So, what you'll need to do now is clear away everything that's in red. Everything that's red, we're checking that we're on the correct line, you know, to get to the line. Here we go for a two-hour mending lesson. Mending means plugging the holes in the trawl. So, if there's a hole, we use needles to plug it. If it's not in the water, it means we're not fishing. Well, if we don't fish, then it's no good. That's the main point of the training. For fishermen, knowing how to clean fishing lines is extremely important. Of course, it's a skill you can't learn in a day. You need roughly two to three years of training to really be an expert in repairing and assembling fishing gear. So I think it's a really important course for our fishermen. The more precisely it's repaired, the better the fishing gear will work. So I don't think so. Quentin, no worries about that. He'll do a great job. At the end of the day, when the first signs of sunshine appear, the students head to their favorite playground. [Music] Go on, jump, jump, jump, jump, jump. Jumping in the P. Yeah, it's refreshing after class. It's good. It's really good. Go on, we're waiting for you. We'll all be together if all else fails. 1 2 2 Despite the sun, the water is only 13°C, but it takes more than that to dampen the enthusiasm of the future fishermen. Compared to the sea, there's nothing around. It gives you a feeling of freedom and relaxation. It was impossible for Quentin and the other future sailors to resist the call of the sea. [Music] Summer is about to slip away, to fade beneath the clouds, let's give ourselves one last chance to go and bless ourselves. Let's dip our toes [Music] with a care. [Music] Hello, madam. Hello. I was told you're the one who can let me taste the Châtel knot. Yes, a small one like this. You also have Châtel knot cheese. And you have goat's milk cheese. Anyway, all the usual producers. After that, the Châtel knot is specific to our region. Okay. How is it made? Uh, it's a cheese made exclusively with Norman cow's milk. You don't have any mixtures of cow's milk for the Châtel knot. Otherwise, it loses the appellation. So this is fresh, it's mild. Do you like it? H, that's what I like. Indeed, it's sweet. I'll take some. Well, listen, I have €5, I'll take five. So please. Thank you very much. Thank you very much and enjoy. Thank you. Thank you. Goodbye. Goodbye . [Music] But I recognize that little van. Jean-Louis. Hello sweetheart. What are you doing here? Well, listen, I'm just taking a drive. Oh, that's wonderful. You have to… Well, yes, they want the roses. I think it's pretty much a given. And what are you doing here? Well, I've made different things with Vincent's good flour. Ah yes, the organic flour you came to get yesterday. There you go. And so, there are scones, crumbles, and savory tarts in different flavors. And what are your tarts like? So, there's a tart called Velaise that's made with crisson because we're lucky enough to have crisson farms here in Veu. Crisson is a kind of salad green that really grows in pure water. Would you like a piece, mate? Yes. With pleasure. Jean-Louis, are you from the village of V-les-Roses? Well, I'm not, I'm on the Criel-sur-Mer side, but my partner lives in V-Rose, so I split my time between the two places. There you go, Tig. Thank you very much. It's very good. Jean-Louis? Yes. Do you know which way I should go to get to Veu? It's not far from here. And I can come with you, T, if you like. That's even better. That'll be €2. Thank you. Have a good day. [Music] Wait, I'm going to introduce you to someone. Darling, come on. I'm going to introduce you to someone. Oh, this lover, Darling, let me introduce you to Tiga, who's coming to spend a weekend on the Alabaster Coast. Hello. Hello, Amélie is with me. Very happy, Amélie. So, the famous Amélie who convinced you to park your truck here in Veul-les-Roses. That's right. What were the arguments? Well, first of all, we have a pretty village, there are lots of people, Jean-Louis makes good products, we have people who are curious, who like good things, pretty things, so Veul was the perfect place. But in any case, what I've noticed is that Veul- les-Roses is a village that likes records. Smallest river in France. Yes, we were voted the 6th favorite village of the French a few years ago. We've just been awarded the "Most Beautiful Village of France" label, among others, of course. Maybe others, actually, I don't know. It's one of the oldest in the country. I didn't know that. I did a little reading before coming. I 'm going to take Tig the veul. Yeah, I'll be back in a bit. Okay. Let's go. Tiga, I love you. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Let's go. See you later. Come on, you two look so good. [Music] La la [Music] t. [Music] And so, here you have the Veul, which was recently canalized, but it flows into the English Channel at this point. So the Veul is the smallest river in France. How long is it? It's 1137 meters long , and so it runs the entire length of the village. How about we take it for a spin? Absolutely. I 'll take you there; there will be a little less wind because we're going to fly away here. [Music] Tell me, Jean-Louis, not counting the tourists and travelers, how many inhabitants are there in Veul des Roses? A little less than 600 inhabitants. Are there many mills? I think there are seven in 1 km. There you go, that's right. That's a record. Once again, I think we should try to see Sty. It's really pretty, all these tulips. And how many tulips? Just kidding. Parrot cooking, and then there are too many questions. So here we are arriving at two iconic spots in the Rose Garden. A thatched cottage with half-timbering and a thatched roof. Ah yes. And above the roof, you can see irises planted. Yes. That made the roof watertight. That was before we switched to slate roofs. We had thatched roofs. It was beautiful. Yes. Very pretty. Very beautiful. There's a watering hole a little further on, a place where there's very little water with a slope, and the animals used to come here to drink, and there are some trout in there too. There's a happy duck. There's a happy duck. Look, look, look. If there are trout, it means the water is pure. Absolutely. That's true. [Music] There we are, we've arrived at the source of the stream, which is just a little bit further on. And here you have the lime patches where the lime grows that I use to make my tarts. So, what does this lime look like up close? It looks like lamb's lettuce from a distance. I'm going to pick a little bit for you. Do you want me to follow you? Wait, I'm coming. Come on. Do n't be all alone, though. Thank you. Come on. We're going to gather a little bit of lime. Look. Oh, there, do you see? Look, a whole clump. A whole clump, did you see all those roots? Ah, it looks like us. You see, I thought of it as salad, like a lettuce, look, you see it barely stays afloat. Well, in the water. So, what are you cooking ? Are you cooking? I'm cooking this. Just the leaves, not the… No, no, not the… not the story. It's too big. Too, too big. It would be too hard to eat. You don't have any smell. You take a little bite. Ah, you eat it. Oh yes, and it's eaten in a salad. It looks like two Norman cows. We're going to ruminate. Ha, a little taste. It's a bit spicy. Yeah. Wait, but honestly, it's very tasty for a salad. That's a good idea. It's very, very good. Thank you so much. You're welcome, man. Thank you. At the foot of these cliffs, an episode of the Second World War, as heroic as it is forgotten, unfolded . Two years before the landings, the Allies attempted to gain a foothold on the French coast. On the morning of August 19, 1942, the sea and sky teemed with activity. The Allies launched their offensive. It's an armada of 252 ships that will set course for Diep Beach, supported by 72 squadrons of 12 aircraft each, 50 tanks, and of the 6,000 participants, 5,000 Canadians. [Applause] Operation Jubilee has begun. The Allies are attacking the coast at five points. The bulk of the troops are concentrated on Diep Beach. It's the heart of the battle. But the Germans are well entrenched behind their Atlantic Wall. They have riddled the coast with defenses. The operation resembles a suicide mission. [Music] This image is quite telling, isn't it? We have a beach, it's flat with a very long reach to hit houses on either side, both east and west, surrounded by cliffs, a trophy of cannons and machine guns. It was a heavy fire with the German defenses on either side of these cliffs, crossfire. On this On the beach, it was a horror. In a few hours, 3,000 soldiers were wounded or taken prisoner. 1,500 were killed. Militarily, the raid was a disaster. This offensive was primarily a diversion. To understand its origins, we must go back to the winter of 1941-42 when the Soviets in the east suffered major setbacks. Stalin went so far as to ask Churchill to open a front in the west in order to force the Germans to withdraw some divisions from the east. The Diep raid had virtually no chance of succeeding. These men were sacrificed. 75 years later, the town still bears the scars of this assault. In the town's former theater, where some soldiers had managed to take refuge, a group of enthusiasts tries to keep alive the memory of these Canadians who died far from home, like young Robert Boulanger. Dear Mom and Dad, I am continuing my letter aboard our assault craft, which will take us to our target. If I come back alive from this adventure and return home at the end of the war, I will do everything to dry your tears, Mother. I will do everything in my power to make you forget all the anguish I have caused you. Well, when he stepped off the landing craft onto the pebbles, he was shot right in the forehead. He was killed 18 years and 2 days later. More than a museum, the place is intended as a memorial. The exhibits were donated by Canadian veterans or their families. Real memories so that we never forget. We pay perpetual tribute to these young soldiers who, for a country that was not their own and completely unknown to them, decided to sacrifice their lives for our freedom. We cannot forget it. In France, Operation Jubilee is a little-known episode of the Second World War. The Acadians, the Acadian women. For Canadians, however, the name Dieppe resonates in their memories. In the Dieppe countryside, the Canadian cemetery of August 19th is a must-see for our American cousins. One peculiarity of this cemetery here, if you notice, is that the graves are back to back. The reason they're back to back is that the Canadians here were buried by German soldiers, and that was the traditional German burial method. [Music] We haven't forgotten. We're not about to forget. [Music] When you come here, it says a lot. Canada and then France, we have good ties. The young Canadians had little chance of getting out alive. Some historians, however, believe that their sacrifice wasn't completely in vain. The mistakes of Operation Jubilee helped to better prepare for another landing two years later, on June 6, 1944. [Music] This one's my favorite. Ah, they're beautiful, aren't they? It's beautiful. They were made with love. Yes, that's why. I still have two more in the car. You're generous. There you go. The romantic one. [Music] Oh yes, okay. Ah, there's no doubt about it, huh. Me, it's your servant I prefer. Is that true? Yeah. Yeah. Very elegant servant. A bird, a beautiful bird in fact. A beautiful bird. I have an appointment with Stéphane Dolet. You know him then? Oh yes, of course. Stéphane Dolet, he's one of our great cerolistes. La Dolle is his nickname, his first name. And so, there are a lot of people and I confess that I can't see him. He's right in front of me over there. They're dressed in black there. Dressed in black. That's it. Very good. Well then, I'm going to go see him. Thank you. Have a good day. Have a good one. Thank you. [Music] Oh there's no doubt about it, huh. He has a big physique. You guys have the most handsome groundsmen, huh? Hello. How are you, boys? Hello. How are you, Stéphane? I'm fine. I'm fine. I had a little trouble finding you, huh? There are a lot of you. Well, yes, we're part of God. So when it's the biggest festival in the world, actually. But today isn't the festival. Oh no, not today. It's in September every two years. But actually, there are a lot of groundsmen who meet up from spring until about October. It's beautiful what You two are doing a real dance there. It's a broom. That's it. What dexterity, boys! And those flying kites, did you make them? Yes, that's right. So this is my new model. It's the flamingo. That's pink flamingo in English. Yes, there you go. Because my name is Funny Bird and I only ever use bird names, but it's funny. Ah, okay. That flies or that doesn't. We call you Funny Bird. I was told your name is Dolle. That's my nickname. You're one of the last three manufacturers of flying kites in France. That's right. Congratulations. So I'm trying, I'm trying to follow your dance on the ground. Go go! Oh my! Go go go go. You wanted to see when a flying kite is made? Exactly. Well, I'm going to show you. Let's get started. Thank you very much. [Music] Here you are, Tig, let me show you my workshop. So, what do you need to make a kite? Well, we need fabric. So, it's the kind of fabric used for boat sails, surfboards, anything for board sports. Then, for the frame, it's carbon fiber, it's the kind used for archery arrows. Okay? You've gathered a little bit of everything. That's right. So, here, you take the soldering iron. Okay. So, you've positioned it. Yeah. So, you see? Yeah. You press without forcing it too much. Go ahead. Make a… How did you get started with kites? Well, actually, I saw a kite at the Dieppe festival quite a few years ago, more than 25 years ago. And actually , my grandfather bought me a kite. I tried it and well, there you go, I caught the bug. You're doing well. Very well. For a first time. [Music] And there you go. [Music] There you go. Lightness, fluidity, sensitivity. There, you're more crouched. Mag, are you ready? Let's go. Ah well, it's you. Wait, watch out, sir/madam. Watch out because here, you're a beginner. Beginner. Yeah, I'm a beginner. It's not… I'm not very sure of myself. We're off. Whenever you want, go ahead, have fun. Pull a little bit to the left. Just a tiny bit. And there you go. Pull a little bit to the right. And it flies all by itself in your hands. Yeah. Don't spread your hands. Yeah. There, you hold it a little bit to the right. Left, right, left, right, right, right. There you go. And you put it back like that. [Music] Isn't our baby beautiful? Oh well, a little. It flies, it's made with love. Oh yeah, you like it. It flies well. Yeah, it flies really well. I have a really good instructor. Look, it's going all the way up there. It's intoxicating. It's a real bug. So, as you've noticed earlier, it was n't me piloting, it was you. I'm right next to you. If I move away, you'll think I'm next to you. Okay. Right. And you do the same. Watch. Gently. I'm not keeping my hands on it. A little to the left. Right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right. Or I went up. No, I came back down. For a first time, that's good. Well done. Very happy. Okay, I'll give you back the controls. No problem. Do you want to try your new baby? Yeah, with pleasure. Did you like it? I love it. Did you catch the bug? Yeah. And I'll be back. Oh yes, with pleasure. Yeah! [Music] And so ends our weekend on the Alabaster Coast. I understand why the Pays de Caux coastline is such a popular tourist destination and holiday spot . First, for its surprising and ever-changing light, which tints the cliffs with cree and warms the pebble beaches. Second, for its maritime, rural, and urban history. It's a heritage that the locals preserve and share with great simplicity. Here, the air smells of the sea, Jean-Louis's pencil tart, and Bénédictine liqueur. To relive this wonderful weekend on the Alabaster Coast, check out the replay on France Télévisions. I'll also be waiting for you on all social media to continue the journey and plan others. See you very soon for more beautiful escapes and as we say here, hello [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]
[Applause] He he he he.

Encore plus de vidéo https://www.france.tv/france-5/echappees-belles/
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Week-end sur la Côte d’Albâtre – Échappées belles 26 mai 2018

Tirant son nom de la couleur dont les falaises de craie se parent au plus près de la mer, la Côte d’Albâtre, longue de 130 kilomètres, court du Havre au Tréport en passant par Dieppe et Fécamp. Elle est ainsi la plus grande côte de falaises européennes. Célèbre pour son aiguille d’Étretat, la région s’enorgueillit également de richesses agricoles – culture du cresson et du blé dans l’arrière-pays -, d’une histoire maritime unique en France, de chantiers navals et de loisirs insolites. Tiga, aux commandes de l’émission cette semaine, part à la rencontre de celles et ceux qui font vivre ce beau coin de Normandie.