The beach at Dieppe stretches for about a mile along the seafront, backed by chalk cliffs and the esplanade. It is a pebble beach in the Norman tradition — no sand to speak of, but wide and clean, with the particular sound of surf rolling over stones that becomes the soundtrack of the town in summer. The water is the English Channel, which means it is cold even in August, but swimmers are out regardless.
The seafront promenade runs the length of the beach, lined with benches and the occasional kiosk. This is where Dieppe residents walk in the evenings and on weekends; it is also where the town remembers the Dieppe Raid of August 1942. A memorial marks the landing point where Allied troops — predominantly Canadian — came ashore under fire. The beach's dual identity, as a place of leisure and a site of one of the Second World War's most costly failures, gives the seafront an unusual gravity. The cliffs at both ends of the beach reward a walk: westward toward the château, eastward toward the harbour entrance.