Metal Detecting French beaches

[kangarooster]

Hi, anyone know if detecting is permited on french beaches?

[bikerlen]

Most beaches on the uk side of france, are desinated war graves. the south of france is ok or was ok when i was last there 5 years ago. bikerlen. B-)

[kangarooster]

Thanks Bikerlen,
I hope to be doing a bit of a trip in September cutting across from Calais to the south of France and follow the coast to Italy. Not sure if I should take my detector or not. Do you know if a permit is required.
Thanks Tom

[bikerlen]

Im sorry cannot tell you if permit is needed now, it was not a requirement when i was last down south.. think i would be inclined to take your detector and if asked for permit. say sorry i did not realise you needed one here. bikerlen. B-)

[kangarooster]

Hi,Think detecting anywhere in the Somme-Calais is banned cos of war risks.
I ahve a French magazine in French called "Detection Passion("Spring 2010)that I dont want with a big article(several; pages) on French beach detecting.Amongst other things it reveals the underwater model The French Gendarmerie use and that the reason gold rings fall off in the sea is because cold fingers contract!
Its all in French.
If you want it I can sell you it for £2.00 post free.PM me...if youd like it.

Hi Thanks for the offer but unable to read French.
Tom

[Simmi]

Anyone got any stories to contribute about Detecting on the beaches in South France?

I checked all the literature I can find, it's ok for the beaches - still. Just wondering if anyone's done it yet?

[adamhunter6]

Most beaches on the uk side of france, are desinated war graves. the south of france is ok or was ok when i was last there 5 years ago. bikerlen. B-)

just got back from south of france roussilon Languedoc, no problems had 10 days there detecting, word of warning find the smaller beaches, the main beaches get riddled, and cleaned daily, but all little bays produce well, ended up with 11 gold, lots of silver and lots of euros hh

[Simmi]

Hey Adam

Yeah, I quite agree, its a bit of a bind that the beaches get machined, but you know, if you have a machine that can go deep enough then from experience other than those blasted bottle-tops you can still strike gold big-time.

Also, from knowing this location after 5 visits now, I know where exactly to go for sure and I know it's a hot location, I'm not talking about the weather either

I'm seriously looking at being there end Aug. Drool

Ta muchly, enyone else?

[Nap]

I lived in France for eight years and regardless of what you may read elsewhere, detecting on land or beach is completely legal. The land law says anyone searching a monument or historical site for metal items of interest to archaeology or history must have a licence but the French law is clear - leisure detecting, 100 metres or further away from listed sites is not affected by that law.

Except for the invasion and war beaches the rest of French beaches are ok, as long as they are not wildlife reserves or privately owned.
The law expects you to declare a valuable modern find, such as a watch or ring, to the nearest police station. They will take details of the find and your details. You then keep the item and if you have not heard from the police after a certain number of weeks then the item is yours. I never actually met a detectorist who had done this.

Most pleasure beaches have beach cleaning machines and these start very early in the morning, as you would expect. However, they only rake a few inches down so anything deeper will still be there.

Expect the beaches to be quiet as there is almost no metal litter in the sand. The French do not litter as people in the uk do, they take all their rubbish home with them.

I have found lots of great items on French beaches - oldest find was an 1813 silver 5 Franc Napoleon coin, washing around there for a couple of hundred years!

Have fun!!

[Francois]

I just read the explanation of french metal detecting federation and it's not so simple..

For everybeach, you can have a different rules, depending the season, the hours of the day or it's simply prohibited.

I think the best way it's to go to the "mairie" and ask for the rules.

Also, in the country, detecting (except on archeologycal place) seems to be autorized, but if you find something that can be interest the archeology, your are outlaw
Indeed, if you make a hole to find an artefact, this is considered as an archeological search, and it's not legal except with an autorization and it's only for archeologist


Lot of french metal detectorist aplly this rules: "not seen, not taken".
Of course you need to ask the land owner for permission

If you can read french, this is an good explanation
http://www.fnudem.net/Detecteur-de-Meta ... lages.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

François

[jcmaloney]

Agreed with all the above ! Which is good as we are on the Tunnel tommorrow for a two week road trip in France! Au revoir !! B-)

[Simmi]

Thanks Nap & Francois.

There's enough streetlamps on the beeches I want to work and so I'll go for end of day and overnight detecting.

Those machines miss quite a few bottletops and rings. They do catch chains, keys and bigger stuff for sure, but experience tells me I should not be worried. I've been over machined areas and still dug loads of stuff.

I'm just checking on the campsite today for end of season opening.

[Pav]

Can you explain what you mean by machined please.
I see some UK beaches raked smooth, but they do not look like they are able to collect the treasures? , or maybe that explains fewer finds on some beaches?

[Simmi]

Can you explain what you mean by machined please.
I see some UK beaches raked smooth, but they do not look like they are able to collect the treasures? , or maybe that explains fewer finds on some beaches?

Machined;
Well, a quick google will help you out, but try this : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_cleaning_machine" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

From what I see of their activities, they can be summarised as;
They don't cover all of the beach all of the time. They don't always clean every day. They only perform surface cleansing and finally they mostly don't do the areas where the tide reaches.
Less finds - yes, but hopefully you'll have a machine that can go deeper than 2 or 3 inches and for me the less clutter, the better. You loose some you win some.

A little secret : Any gold items that the cleaners recover, hardly ever or never gets reported.
Hmmm, maybe I'm doing the wrong job..