What is "valleuse"

In the Pays de Caux, Normandy, France a valleuse is a depression in the land surface of the plateau which permits access to the sea. On the rest of this coast, that access is prevented by the height of the chalk cliffs.

There are three sorts:

• living valleuse (valleuse vive): a natural depression as at Fécamp, Yport and Étretat.
• dead valleuse (valleuse morte): to obtain the final access to the beach it is necessary to set up a stairway.
• perched valleuse (valleuse perchée): a simple depression in the plateau surface which do not descend far enough to permit access to the beach. Elsewhere, it might be called a hanging valley though it is formed, not by a glacier but by maritime erosion.