Thursday, July 16, 2009

Please don't ...

....Sit on the edge of the cliff.

Unfortunately, in some areas, they have to collect the dead bodies of tourists throughout the summer. Here we have soft yellow rock, like limestone. The waves scoop out a hollow at the bottom and eventually the top crumbles and falls down. It falls down a lot faster if there is the weight of someone on it. The cliffs aren’t high here, but if they collapse with you on them you will be injured enough to ruin your holiday.

We do have barriers but they are made of wood. As it is very damp in winter and hot in summer they don’t last long. A gap in the barrier doesn’t mean ‘you can sit here’.

Thank you

5 comments:

Voegtli said...

This is nice of you to "rendre attentif" to this problem. Though nothing could happen to me. I would not walk along a cliff, I am to scared of height/altitude.

Dru Marland said...

I have a picture in my head of French peasants with a tumbril, collecting mounds of mangled tourists.

I shall heed your warning. Katie running along a coast path has me sick with worry, though I happily do it myself. Funny, that.

Jo said...

I used to be OK about such things, but as I have got older I get bizarrely freaked out. I can't go near cliff edges...it's got something to do wth the insane urge to just fling myself off...that crazy, rule breaking, idiot voice thing.

And as for my kids...remember walking along in Paris with them a few years ago. Next to the Army Museum (we weren't going there, just walking by...somewhere near the Musee Rodin, where we had been, I recall). There was this big wall - quite wide, actually, maybe three feet across. On one side, the pavement, on the other a drop of perhaps 20 feet into this ditch/moat thing. Kids insisted on walking on it. I could barely cope with them doing that...my ex was going on at me for being so wet, children couldn't believe I was being so pathetic. Nor could I really.

cassie-b said...

If I'm ever lucky to get to your part of the world, I promise that I won't sit on the edge of any cliffs.

Cas

Anji said...

Peter: I stay well away too.

Dru: That is another post, about a local lady who....

Jo: Rob and the children would do something like that to wind me up. You can walk right round the port in La Rochelle and mothing to stop you falling; my legs feel like jelly just thinking about it.

Cas: thank you for being so well behaved!