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Bayeux, France

Another big travel day and we left Bruges with fond memories thinking we could have happily spent more time there.

We got a taxi to the train station in order to give us a little more time and as the cobbles here are pretty rugged on the bags for a 20 minute brisk walk. Our first leg on the intercity train was the 1 hour trip to Brussels where we transferred comfortably to the French high speed Train – Thalys. Just over 90 minutes later we arrived at Paris North station where we transferred to an underground to another French station where we were to catch an intercity train to Normandy.

Firstly the Paris rail is scary – its so huge! Different stations do different areas, rather than one central station feeding out to different parts. Our first transfer went ok – a bit of a walk but well sign posted. When we got to the second transfer we couldn’t see a regional platform so we asked the information man where it was. He said up the escalators, turn right then turn left. OK, so we went up and then we were at the street – right then left meant leaving the station which did not seem right. We looked around a bit and then Vernon asked a passerby where it was.

He confirmed to walk up the street and around the corner to a different station – same name though! Must say the French so far have been nothing but pleasant and helpful – hope it continues. So we wheeled up the street and around the corner and it was packed with people and a bit crazy and somewhat intimidating. I was kind of pleased to be heading out of town! We got to the platform and tried to find a seat on the train but it was packed. It seemed 95% of the population had reservations except us, the Belgium ticket man only issued us with open tickets. Anyway we ended up sitting on a luggage rack for 1 hour of the 2 hour journey, sore bum I can tell you.

After two hours we arrived at Caen where we had 5 minutes to transfer to another train to Bayeux a 15 minute trip up the line, fortunately it was the same platform so that was ok. We had spent so much time worrying and planning Paris we forgot to google where out hotel was – Ruh roo and of course we no longer have a SIM card in the IPAD. No worries we knew it was very close to the station and asked a shop owner who pointed us in the right direction.

I can’t say too much about the scenery as where I could I was typing on the IPAD or the fast train was rattling along so fast you couldn’t really see much! I did notice a lot of rivers this side of Paris and green mainly flat country side. A few towns that were not that flash looking, but as we got further away from the city there were more quaint farm houses and some half timbered style.

Bayeux is a small historic town with a population of around 14,000 people. It is closest to the D-Day beaches (10km from Gold Beach where the British landed) and the town where the British and Commonwealth cemetery is. It also has a lovely 1100’s cathedral and an ancient 70m long tapestry telling the story of William the Conqueror dating back to 1070. We chose to come here as a base to do a D-Day and Mont Saint Michel tour the later being about 2 hours drive away.

The weather in France is perfect and sunny at around 25 degrees which is very good for Normandy which can be a bit blustery and changeable with lots of rain around 140 days per year. Walking to our hotel which is on the edge of the older section was really scenic with rendered stone houses and lots of greenery. Many of the houses look a bit run down and dirty but it kind of adds to the medieval atmosphere in a crazy sort of way.

Our hotel is a glorified hostel in one of these types of houses but very clean inside and incredibly welcoming warm staff with good English. It is family run and our check in host is a son in law who is Italian and very charming. We were lucky to get into this place as its fully booked now and most importantly they have connections for the tours we want to do, and we were unsuccessful in securing a space with independant tour providers or their booking agents. Not sure why everything else was booked out, yet this hotel was able to provide both at a great price. Our package included tours and free breakfasts and one free dinner at a local restaurant.

After checking in we set off to have a quick look around and an early dinner. We headed for the cathedral which dominates the landscape and is only a 5 minute walk away. It is lovely and has such great character and free to go inside! The pictures I have loaded up are of parts that date back to1100 to the stained glass around 1400.

Our free three course dinner was at a charming little place right next to the cathedral. We enjoyed seafood salad and onion soup for starters, steak with camembert sauce and a chicken skewer (marinated and very good) for mains, and lemon meringue tart and apple tart for dessert. Portions were not large but the cheese mmmmmm very fragrant and the beef tender and tasty (a lot of white charolais in the region). The desserts were excellent and to wash it all down we sampled a bottle of local apple cider. It is quite yeasty tasting and an aquired taste, having said that we did knock off a big bottle no trouble.

The region is famous for crepes, apples, calvados, cider and camembert so there are a whole lot more regional delights to mark off our list.

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