Normandy is known for being pretty flat. Lower Normandy is known for this in particular. There are of course hills and miles of fields, but the general topography is pretty flat. Why am I telling you this? It happens that I live near two of the only waterfalls in Normandy! These two waterfalls are aptly named Little and Big Waterfalls. La Petite Cascade, et la Grande cascade. They are only a few hundred metres apart. Today’s snapshot is bringing you a little hike to the smaller of the two waterfalls hiking through the forest surrounding the small town of Mortain.
la Petite Cascade
The path to the cascade is tucked away at the bottom of the town, next to a large car park, the old notaries office, and a camping ground. To get to the cascade is around a 20-25 minute walk from here, that’s if you are a serious no stops walker.
After you follow the path for a few hundred meters, it turns around a huge rock face. It changes from grey bricks on the town to thick trees and outcrops of rock.
Depending on the time of year, the cascades can become inaccessible due to the volume of water. For instance, Normandy has two seasons, summer and rainy seasons. During the rainy season, the path becomes the river making it very hard to traverse.
If you do get the chance to visit in late spring or summer. The scenery is breathtaking and something out of an Arthurian legend.
Being smaller than the grand cascade, the petite cascade has its own character with varying levels of fall. Compared to the grand cascade that seems to be a giant water chute, falling around 40ft.
Photography Settings
For the waterfall photos, I used a Hoya variable ND filter. This is on a 24-105mm L series canon lens (body Canon 6D). To get the Long Exposure photo, I used a tripod and the following settings:
1″
F/5.6
ISO 400
The little waterfall walk has a few little chutes of water too. The above photo is an example, making it a perfect fairy pool.
This looks like such a pretty place. You’ve taken some amazing photos.
Thank you 💜