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Bayeux, France

We thought we could relax a little more this morning over breakfast but when we double checked what time our D-Day tour departed the receptionist said 8am – what? We thought it was 8:30 and now we only had 20 minutes to wolf down our food. I don’t like rushing and Vernon hates it even more, so much so it actually renders him incapable of speeding up. Up the stairs we went, made our coffee and hurriedly grabbed what we could. My strategy was to make some baguette cheese sandwiches and wrap them in a serviette, whilst Vern managed a small bowl of cereal.

We made it downstairs in time and as no one was there to pick us up the receptionist checked again and then found that she was looking at the wrong booking date – we did indeed have till 8:30 – grrrrr – all that rushing for nothing! She apologised profusely and we just laughed and went back up the stairs for take two; breakfast still fast but at least I got a second coffee in.

Our tour guide was a young girl of perhaps mixed Asian ethnicity and we had two Canadian girls as tour mates. Unfortunately our guide was about as enthusiastic as a cat on wet soil so we did not experience and learn as much as we may have with someone like Giselle from yesterday.

Sites on the agenda were – the Mulberry floating harbour at Golden Beach – Arromanches, the German Battery at Longues sur mer, Omaha beach, the American Cemetery, and Pointe du hoc.

The French still appear to appreciate the allied forces and its shown in the care they take of these historically significant areas. Of course it must bring huge amounts of tourist dollars, but there is a real acknowledgment of the allies where ever you look with flags, paintings, posters, and poems all posted visibly in various places. It is a living part of their history and they value their freedom and independence.

Along with the sites, the area around the coast of Normandy is very scenic like we saw in the area on the way to Mont Saint Michel yesterday. The weather here is a little foggy in the morning till about 11am and remains hazy all day on the horizon. Giselle said this is common when they have nice sunny days. I did find the haze a bit odd – not being able to see a clear horizon like at home. As well as many mixed grain fields we saw lots of small apple orchards (for all that nice cider and Calvados) and very postcard like stone villages with old fashioned roses clambering through hedges, over walls and gardens with geraniums and many other flowers providing a bright contrast.

At Golden Beach you see the remains of Mulberry Harbour with bits of the floating breakwater, pontoons, and pier in the bay like whales sunning themselves. In the photo you see a couple close up which in low tide are on the sand, and if you look carefully you can see more in the distance punctuating the horizon line. It is amazing to think how clever Churchill was in creating a plan to float this across from England and have a false army further up to be a red herring. It was a privilege to be able to see them as I guess in time they will corrode completely.

At the German battery it was such a pretty sight with flower fields as far as they eye could see in between the bunkers and the sea. The story behind the successful taking of these bunkers was air bombing the communication lines which were buried in the soil/sand between the observation point closest to the coast and the bunkers where the guns were. The guns could shoot 13 miles accurately so it was important to knock these out. One photo shows how strong the bunkers are after a direct blast where the gun is in pieces lying in the same spot it fell all that time ago. Not in the picture is the barrel of the gun a bit outside the bunker in two pieces half under the ground and partially sticking up!

There was not a lot to see at Omaha beach but it was interesting to see the cliff and defences that the Americans faced. In the first assault they lost 90% of the troops, and in consequent deployments they had major losses giving it the name of ‘bloody beach’. Its sad and difficult to imagine how frightened the men must have been, and to think that many were not even 20 with the youngest perishing aged 16.

Next was a visit to the American Cemetery where there are nearly 10,000 marked graves and a wall of rememberence of those still missing. The cemetry is actually American land – gifted by the French in appreciation. It is beautifully kept and there were a couple of low fly overs by air force transporters when we were there which added to the atmosphere.

Pointe du hoc was a strategic place as it was an observation point between two beaches. Its a steep cliff and it must have felt almost futile climbing up and getting mown down. There were only about 15 Germans defending the top, but they succeeded in killing hundreds before they were overcome by allied support coming from the rear. It was interesting to see the numerous craters from allied bombing around the bunkers and gun placements.

Despite the poor tour guide we enjoyed the experience of seeing the places we have heard about in history lessons and immortalised in movies, all from the comfort of peace time and a stunning summers day in Normandy

We got back to our hotel about 1pm and freshened up before heading out to enjoy more of the medieval festival. It was even busier than last night with more families getting into the festivities. We ate a tasty country lunch on a wooden bench served by a medieval maiden washed down with more cider. Wonderful! The rest of the day we wandered around and relaxed. We even found some glittering Amber half the price of Salzburg so Vernon got me my belated birthday present which will carry with it wonderful medieval French memories.

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