0305 In Normandy wiith the boys and girls

14^th – 16^th July 2015

After missing my ferry from Portsmouth, I eventually arrived in the camp site outside Caen at about 7 am, and Damien was waiting for me outside on the road to let me through the boom gates.  Once again, no customs inspection entering France – This is so easy compared to South America !

Obviously everyone else was asleep when I arrived, so I set up camp as quietly as possible, and slowly the others appeared.  We ended up having bacon and eggs for breakfast, and then once we were all showered, we headed off in the boys cars for the day.  I was in with Damien, Hannah, and Poppie, while Nick and Tanja had a hire car and led the way.  The plan, devised by Tanja, was to drive first to the Bayeux Tapestry, then on to the Normandy D Day Landing beaches.

The Bayeux Tapestry was fascinating, and we all wandered round it listening to our little commentary radios that were supplied.  By the time we had got right round it, we were ready for some sustenance, so we stopped at a little ice cream / creperie, and refreshed ourselves.  As we entered the square we were stunned as the Bayeux Cathedral appeared before us – A beautiful old church with some great stain glass windows. The history of the Tapestry, and how it survived fires in the cathedral over the years, is quite amazing – That we are able to view it some 1000 years later is simply incredible.

From Bayeux, we headed further west to  Omaha Beach where the American War D Day Memorial is located. Very formal and immaculately laid out, it is a very sobering memorial, and the vast numbers of graves starts to bring home the extent of the sacrifice

made by so many so that we could remain free.  The memorial is up above the beach and it is a long hike down to the beach, so we didn’t go down to the beach there.  But we moved on around the coast to the site of the British Landings, and on the beach found the extensive remains of the barges and pontoons that had been used in the bay to enable ships to unload their cargo of machines and men.  That there is so much of it left both out to sea and on the beach some 75 years later gives testament to the vast size of the operation.

We then stopped for some more refreshments in a little café on the beach before heading back to our campsite for a supper of Spag Bol for which I had brought the fixings with me.  Poppie had christened my truck as “Grandad’s Castle” since it had a roof that extended up, and the plan was for her to sleep “up in the castle”.  She was all keen until the last minute, partly because she had had quite a long sleep in the car and wasn’t really tired, so after a short while she ended up back in her tent with her Mum and Dad – And was a bit restless all night !  Meanwhile, I slept like a log.

The next day, Wednesday, we set off reasonably early for the longish drive to Chateau Gaillard, not far SE of Rouen, at Les Anderleys.  By doing the long drive first, then breaking the journey a couple of time more on the way home, we hoped it would be easier.  Chateau Gaillard was built by Richard the 1^st, the Lionheart, when he was King of England and Duke of Normandy, in an attempt to keep the French at bay.  It is a great ruin in the middle of the delightful French countryside, with the Seine River passing beneath the hill, leading to Paris.  We spent some time wandering around the castle, enjoying the scene and the history.

From the chateau we dropped down into a nearby village and stopped for some quick refreshements before heading on into Rouen.  I was with Nick and Tanja for this section, and unfortunately we got separated from D, Hannah and Poppie as we entered Rouen, and while we found a parking spot quite quickly, they had a real problem, and eventually decided to carry on to Honfleur, or next target, on the coast just south of Le Havre.  Meanwhile, Nick Tanja and I wandered into to the centre of Rouen, stopping for a coffee near the Horlorge before continuing to the Cathedral.  The old

centre of Rouen is delightful, and we wandered through the narrow streets into the square in front of the cathedral. The detail of the façade is just mindblowing, and the detail of the towers is just more so, while the immensity of the inside leaves you slack jawed.  Some photos of the damage done to the building during the war makes it even more amazing that it is still standing – They extend to which they sandbagged much of the architecture in order to preserve it was surprising – The entire front of the cathedral was covered in sandbags several layers thick.  It obviously did the trick because it escaped with relatively minor damage.

From the cathedral we moved back to the Horlorge and we went up through the tower to look over the roof tops of Rouen towards the cathedral and other historical buildings in the centre of town.  As we walked back to the car, we passed through the square where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in 1431.

From there we headed off to Honfleur to meet the others, and as evening fell we found a beautiful little town surrounding a harbor full of yachts and other local boats.  A speciality of the area are slate sided houses, and there were many of these in the old centre of town.  We found a creperie up a little alley way and had our supper in there before strolling around the old harbour, past all the many restaurants.  There was a clown making balloon figures, and as we sat and watched he made Poppie a flower to take with her, which put a big smile on her tired face at the end of a long day. 

From Honfleur we drove back to the camp site, falling in to bed exhausted at about 10.30 pm, a long, but most enjoyable and very interesting day !

On Thursday morning we were up quite early because Damien, Hannah and Poppie had to leave by 8 am to catch their ferry back to the UK – Damien has to return to work in Australia at the weekend.  So we all got up and helped them pack up, and they got away on time.  Nick and Tanja and I then packed up in a more leisurely fashion before heading off SW to Le Mont Saint Michel.  Nick and Tanja were going to head on south from there, but as I had never seen the Mount, I decided to go that far with them.  We drove down in convoy, and after a cold and misty morning while we were packing

up, the sun finally broke through and it got steadily hotter.  We parked not far from the end of the crossing to the Mount, but as it was hot, and also because Nick and Tanja still had a long way to go that afternoon, we caught the shuttle bus out across the causeway, and were very glad we did so – It is a long way ! Once on the island, we joined the throngs heading across the old draw bridge and up through the narrow streets, with every shop either selling touristy knickknacks or food !  When we got up to the entrance of the Abbey itself the queue to get in was long, and we were told it was at

least a half hour wait just to get in, plus it would then have taken another hour to walk around in there.  So we decided to see what we could, and wound our way up and down through the streets.  What a great little place – And obviously the best way to see it is to stay nearby, be there when it opens at 8 am, and beat not only the crowds but also the heat, so by now it was getting very hot in the sun.  So we ended up in a little café for a cold pression before we headed down to ground level to catch the shuttle bus back to the car park.  Tanja decided she had to see what the “sand” beside the river was like – And found it was deep sticky mud !  She lots he flip flops, dropped her water bottle in it, and came out covered in mud !  Much laughter !!

Back at the car park, Tanja ran to the ticket booth to pay for the parking ticket before the 2 hour reduced rate expired, while Nick and I walked.  Result ? Tanja paid 6 euros for their car, but when I put my ticket in not 30 seconds later, the 2 hours had clicked over and I paid 12 euros !!    Grrrrrrr !

From there we drove just up the road and had a picnic with some cheese and tomatoes on a fresh baguette, and then I said farewell to Nick and Tanja and they headed south towards La Rochelle while I decided to spend a little time wandering round Brittany.  I have until the 26^th July to be in Copenhagen to meet Janet, so I have a few days up my sleeve.

By now the temperatures were up around 34 deg C, so I needed to find somewhere cool to stop for the night.  After doing a shop in a little village not far from Mont St Michel, I decided to keep off the main roads and had a delightful afternoon wandering the back roads until I saw a sign for some camping to the west of Plerin, on the Baie de St Brieuc. Perfect little spot not far from the sea, and the temperatures dropped quite quickly as the evening wore on, so had a very restful night.  Not sure what tomorrow will bring, but will decide what to do once I wake up. 

Rest of the pics are here - Remember you have to copy and past the link as it doesn;t seem to link directly.  Sorry !

 https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/0305InNormandyWithTheBoys?authkey=Gv1sRgCNOL87rEtNfM4AE