France - Normandy

2 July – 8 July

Brothers in Arms

We were ready to leave Villandry mid-afternoon so decided to travel on a little further, have an overnight stop at Ecommoy, and then complete the journey to Normandy on Sunday.  The site we picked at Creully in Normandy is very rural and peaceful, but with plenty of amenities, which ticked all the boxes for a relaxing day and a half.  It is also just ten minutes’ walk from the town centre, where there is small but comprehensive supermarket, much more to my liking than the hypermarkets where you walk miles to find what you are looking for!  Relaxation time over, we decided to book a third night and did a day trip to Arromanches-les-Bains, to visit the D-Day Landings museum, but a very pretty town in its own right. Motorhomers please note: the museum does not have motorhome parking and Arromanches-les-Bains is not the most motorhome friendly place to drive around!  However, there is both an aire de campling car (for about 12 motorhomes, tucked in a quiet cul-de-sac) and a municipal camp site, which looked fine as we passed by, and which also offered parking for the day or half day.

In June 1944. Arromanches was the site of one of the Mulberry harbours, temporary ports created to help the massive flow of men and material following D-Day. The Landings Museum gives a detailed insight into the complexity of these structures; enormous hollow concrete blocks constructed in England, and slowly towed across the channel by tugs before positioning in a precise sequence and location. Remnants of the harbour are still visible on the beach.

Our second day of D-Day education was to the American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, with its 9387 white headstones (including, sadly, 41 pairs of brothers).  It’s an extremely peaceful and beautiful location overlooking Omaha Beach, scene of some of the worst fighting on D-Day, and needless to say, very moving.  The visitor centre provides a great deal of information via display boards, films and interactive media.

It was an “interesting” journey from Colleville-sur-Mer to our next overnight stop at Martragny, on the eastern side of Bayeux. The D82 junction on the N13 is, contrary to SatNav’s wishes, well and truly closed.  So we did a couple of laps of the N13 between that and the next junction in order to find our own way to our destination.  And well worth the effort it was too. The site we had picked out was good, if quirky, tucked away behind Le Manoir de l’Abbaye and even offered a selection of hot meals to take away at very reasonable prices.  Dinner sorted! We weren't sure if the stepladders left in the orchard were there to encourage you to "pick your own", but we didn't try our luck.

Our third D Day related visit was to Pegasus Bridge, scene of a remarkable British airborne assault just before 1.00am on the morning of 6 June 1944.  The museum was, once again, extremely well done, culminating with the now-relocated bridge and a full-size replica Horsa glider located at the rear of the site.  

The car park is not particularly large but we (and other motorhomes) parked there without a problem. It seemed odd to be picnicking on the grass a few yards from where Major John Howard and his troops drifted out of the night sky in their 3 gliders, landing (by a masterful piece of navigation) right next to the bridge and achieving total surprise.

We were now on the homeward run, with an overnight stop at Neufchatel-en-Bray.  We felt sure that the site we had picked was affiliated to the Motorhome and Caravan Club, with its neat grass, well-marked pitches and directions as to how to pitch!  There was time for a detour to Valerie-sur-Somme for lunch, but sadly not to ride on the steam train which runs between St Valerie and Le Crotoy on the other side of the bay.  

We then completed the journey to L’Escalles, which was where it all started just three weeks ago.