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La Roche Gélétan
La Roche Gélétan carries the traces of the oldest human settlement in the Hague. Indeed, this site was occupied by Neanderthals between 180-200,000 years ago. During this period, the shore of Cotentin was almost identical to that which we know today.
On the foreshore, opposite the Gelétan rock, different phases of Cadomian magmatism can be observed. The main rock is a rosy granite with variable minerals ranging from a few millimeters to a few centimeters. It is Auderville's granite (or Saint-Germain-des-Vaux). This granite also has the particularity of being rich in dark enclaves (Diorite).
A few meters from the geletan rock is what is called the big stone, a pink sandstone menhrir 2.25 meters high. This stone placed in the center of a field, associated with La Roche Géletan, illustrates the legend of the famous Gargantua, relayed under the pen of François Rabelais in the 16th century. This legend says that Gargantua liked to walk in the Cotentin, at the sandstone of his desires. One day when he passed through Saint-Germain-des-Vaux, he withdrew pebbles that bored him in his boot and left them on his way. One of these gravels would therefore be La Roche Gélétan.
This northern coast of the Hague is characterized today by the presence of stone, in particular low walls which delimit a mesh in strips, of narrow and long plots. The surface of the oldest of them corresponds to the work capacity, formerly, of a person or a horse in one day.
Go there
Customs trails
Saint-Germain-des-Vaux
50,440 La Hague