Normandy, the cliff dear to Monet like the Scala dei Turchi. “Too many tourists, we must close it”

Etretat like the Scala dei Turchi . The spectacular cliff of the Seine Maritime, a setting dear to Claude Monet , who portrayed it several times over the years, is suffering greatly due to erosion and overcrowding .

The start of the warm season on what is one of Normandy ’s most celebrated landscape icons – second perhaps only to Mont-Saint-Michel , the unrivalled amphitheatre where thousands of people admired the total solar eclipse in 1999 – has coincided with the imposition of several no-entry restrictions on cliffs, caves and key points. “It was inevitable that this would happen sooner or later,” Etienne Lommier, a 68-year-old tourist, told the Agence France Presse when asked about the walkway leading to the Chambre des Demoiselles, a small cave nestled in a cliff, access to which is now blocked by a thin red and white ribbon.

The changes of the last half century

He says that over the decades he has walked along the cliff path, he has seen "tourists' habits change", "the coast narrow", "entire sections of rock collapse onto the beaches".

Along with the retired businessman, on a mid-spring day, dozens of tourists, wearing raincoats and with cameras in hand, crowded along the narrow paths that climb towards the hills that border the small coastal town on the Normandy coast, visited each year by around 1.5 million visitors.

Since April 28, a municipal ordinance has prohibited access to some sites frequented by hikers, such as cliff paths and beaches threatened by landslides. Among them is the famous “Trou a l'homme” tunnel that crosses the cliff, where the unwary often get trapped when the tide rises.

"Righteous bans". But then he jumps the barrier for a selfie

A few meters away, Christoph and Lukas, young German tourists, approve of the initiative. "It's a bit frustrating, but we understand why," said one of the two young men. This observation, however, does not dissuade him from jumping over a collapsed barrier to take a photo on a promontory, a meter above the void.

By threatening offenders with a fine of 135 euros, in addition to the reimbursement of rescue costs, the municipality hopes to preserve the coast and also the safety of people: every year fatal falls occur on the site. "A recurring problem", laments Bernard Le Damany, deputy mayor of the city, "so much so that in recent weeks we have had to intervene to save two groups two days apart".

"In some places, 50 centimetres or 1 metre, there is vegetation, but underneath it is hollow, because the wall has collapsed and people don't notice," explains Le Damany. Although erosion affects the entire Normandy coast, the cliff area is particularly exposed due to the influx of tourists, which increases the pressure on the site. The increase in surveillance due to the new municipal decree represents an additional pressure on the already limited municipal staff. But the real additional cost falls mainly on the emergency services: "A firefighter intervention costs around 900-1,000 euros per hour, while a helicopter intervention costs around 2,500-3,000 euros per hour," emphasizes the deputy mayor.

The costs of rescue

To the point that – as the management of the rescue service itself explained to AFP, they are considering increasing the fees charged to offenders for rescue operations. The municipality has stressed that it intends to maintain the decree, although the aim is to focus on "education" to preserve the site. "Repression is positive, but the most important thing is that people become aware of the risks," concludes Le Damany, who then explains that he wants to focus on "humor".

"I wouldn't tell the tourist that if he gets stuck in the 'Trou à l'homme' he risks dying, but I would point out that the 7-8 hours of waiting for the tide to go down seems extremely long."