The coastal cycle route project presented in October 2012

In La Renaissance of October 23, 2012, General Councillor Jean-Pierre Richard and Jean-Frédéric Jolimaitre, Director of Environment and Biodiversity of the General Council, presented the coastal cycle route. The work was announced from November for completion in the summer of 2013.

The goal was a comfortable and secure cycling and pedestrian route for families, rather than a sports course. The departmental plan was to be part of the regional, national and European continuities of EuroVelo 4, in conjunction with neighboring departments.

On the cliffs of Bessin, the old trail had been closed by prefectural order due to the risk of landslide. The department wanted to redevelop it and also open it to bicycles. The route sometimes had to retreat inland for reasons of danger, technique or law. The managers explained that they had chosen the route with the Conservatoire du littoral, took into account natural sites and ecological issues and considered a quick connection to the route from Bayeux to Port-en-Bessin.

Section 6, under the American cemetery, remained blocked. A footbridge at the foot of the cliff was to protect the wetlands. According to Jean-Pierre Richard, the BMC had given a favorable opinion and the Americans did not oppose it, but the State refused passage to this classified site. Jean-Frédéric Jolimaitre said he did not have a precise explanation and estimated the discreet layout under the trees, respectful of this place of memory. A substitution itinerary was therefore planned, while hoping to resume discussions.

The announced route started from the Vierville campsite, passed behind the footbridges and then went down to the seafront on a shared road. At the Signal monument, he bypassed the parking lot and the D-Day restaurant before finding the sea at the rescue station. Roadway crossings had to be secured by raised plateaus and ground markings to slow down cars.

The route then went along the sea to the Costils, crossed the road and took a communal path behind the houses towards the Ruquet. Jean-Pierre Richard recalled that it was a question of rehabilitating an existing road, with a favorable deliberation of Saint-Laurent, and not of creating a new crossing of the dunes. On the contrary, a marked path had to limit their trampling.

Regarding the starry butor, an expertise of the Norman Ornithological Group had concluded, according to the article, that the new route did not present an environmental issue. Officials highlighted the demand for cycle paths and the tourist potential of a discovery of the top of the cliffs. They claimed to have prioritized safety and environmental precautions.

Reconstructed or uncertain passages:
- This notice describes the project and the positions expressed in October 2012; it does not certify the subsequent state of the work. The BMC acronym is the one printed in the denomination.

Archive image: https://vierville.cordelle.eu/PhDoc16/2012Oct-SentierLittoralLjpg.jpg