2025 Tour Day 16 - Arromanche

The Bayeax (Municipal).Campground had a covered eating area with picnic tables and a microwave oven. Woot woot. Breakfast for us today! And besides, you guessed it, it was raining. 

As we waited out the morning showers and enjoyed our hot drinks and oatmeal we made a new friend, a Scottish cyclist who lives in England now, Alastair. 

I know it looks bright behind us, but trust me, it was raining. 

Equipment note - it really poured last night and we had no water in the tent this morning. Good news we fixed the issues. However, 

We are down one tent stake. Not sure but we think it was run over by a lawn mower while we were at the museum yesterday. We brought 2 extra. Now we have one extra. 

The skies did indeed clear and we had the wind at our backs, and we set off for Arromanche. 

Arromanche is where the British built temporary harbours for D Day and beyond. An extraordinary effort and accomplishment under the visionary eye of Winston Churchill: 

Remnants can still be seen from the beaches of Arromanche.

And there is a hill top view to see the arc of caissons out at sea.

We cycled on past Gold Beach and onto Juno. 

I looked up the background to the names of the beaches. Of course they were all code names. Utah and Omaha are said to have been the places where two of the officers helping to plan the landing were from. Gold and Sword (where the British troops landed) were named after fish (goldfish and swordfish), but apparently Winston Churchill did not like "jelly / jellyfish" for the Canadian beach and thus is became Juno. 

Tomorrow we will explore the museum and do the bunker tour. Today we cycled the town and set up camp at Canadian Scotland Campground. 

Cheers!

2025 Tour Day 15 - Bayeax Tapestry

Cold wet morning. 

We said goodbye to the friends we made from Belgium who are hiking the coast, and we didn't even make breakfast or coffee, we just packed it all up and hit the road. 

Pretty enough, coming inland to Bayeax, but frustratingly cold and wet. 

We stopped at this massive chateau to take a photo and met a couple from Halifax doing the same thing - cycling in the rain.

One other quick stop for an "emergency" Cliff bar, but mostly the phone was sealed in a ziplock bag. 

We made it to Bayeax and to a very good Bakery Cafe, (just) before the lack of coffee and breakfast crankiness got too bad 😉

We are at the Municipal Campground in Bayeax, very nice and well kept, and the walk into town along the Aure is less than a kilometer. Nice to be walking.  We locked up the bikes and left all the clothes and gear in the tent and off we went. 

Bayeax was spared much of the destruction that other towns suffered during the wars, and it has a very lovely old town feel, with lots of cobblestones and old stone walls and bridges over the Aure. 

We are a little early for the (other) Tour de France, but apparently it will be here in July. So fun! 

The cathedral is impressive. Very old.  Details about it from their website:

The Notre Dame Cathedral of Bayeux, a masterpiece of Norman Romanesque and Gothic architecture, is at the heart  of the old town’s conservation area.  Its history is as grand as the two towers which flank its facade. The cathedral was consecrated on 14 July 1077, in the presence of William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy and King of England, and his wife Matilda.  

Bayeax is not only famous for the Cathedral and William the Conqueror, but also for the equally as old 70 meter long Tapestry, currently displayed in its own museum. (Photo below from Google, no photos allowed in the exhibit)

It is so well done as an exhibit / experience. Everyone who enters gets an audio guide telling the story that the tapestry tells - the story of William the Conqueror. Because everyone is listening to the story on their own device that starts as you enter, (and it does not stop or pause), and has cues for the numbered sections on the tapestry, the whole crowd moves slowly along the exhibit and you get to hear the whole story with the explanations exactly timed. Very well done. 

The story telling is clear through the scenes with energy and movement, colours and details that are quite spectacular in their detail of the time - uniforms and structures, tales of friendship and oath, and betrayal and battle.  Although perhaps told only through William's side - propaganda is not a modern idea. 

The origin of the creation is not known for sure, although it is widely believed that William's half brother had it made for William, and for the Cathedral here in Bayeax, as a means to capture the story and share it as learning. It is believed that it was created in England and brought here, based on the stitching. 

There are also other exhibits and a movie to learn more. A local artist Pixi, who specializes in miniatures (well known in Paris), has undertaken the recreation of each of the images on the tapestry, into 3D figures. 

https://www.pixietcie.com/fr/

It even features some nudes 😳

Our day finished with a stop at a cafe where we were served by a young lady from Barrie ... Ontario ... No kidding! Small world. 

And a walk back to our campsite along the river. 

We are enjoying some evening sun while our towels dry and we prepare to nestle in for another rainy night expected. Tomorrow Juno. 

2025 Tour Day 14 - Utah Beach to Omaha Beach

It is Memorial Day in the US and the French are also doing a lot of Memorializing.

Utah Beach 

After breakfast in sunshine, we left in rain, on and off all morning and a fierce wind. Welcome to Normandy. 

We cycled out to the coast to see Utah Beach. 

There was noticable concrete all along the sand dunes, the Germans poured so much concrete along these beaches. 

And then we went by the museum, and saw the flags of all the Allied countries. It is quite impressive, the celebration of all.

Also along the beach was an observation tower and a long path out to a protected beach where apparently sometimes there are seals. 

A view from the top of the tower, over the marshes.

 

We had to fight the wind coming inland to cross an inland waterway. It was tough against the wind and on rocky farm paths, but the road took us in to find an award winning bakery!

Boulangerie - Pâtisserie "Tout simplement"

Carentan-les-Marais

4.9 Google stars and awards on the windows for their croissant and sandwiches. 

Famous and delicious. 

The the main street of the town was decorated with flags to celebrate D Day. 

On the way out of town Marc definitely wanted to try to oysters from the vending machine 😳

Another beautiful church where we stopped for our picnic lunch. Other cyclists stopped there too, but they had a full on picnic with a table cloth and wine! Jealous. 

Grocery stop found us in Isigny-sur-Mer, with a beautiful City Hall (Hotel de Ville)

And very cute houses with their boats tied up outside, at low tide. 

More quiet country roads and beautiful churches. 

And a few more memorials - this to a member of the French Resistance.

We arrived at Omaha Beach Campgrounds and pitched our tent up against a hedge, but still the wind was so strong that we actually took a section out of the poles and made the tent about a foot shorter to be more sheltered. We were able to extend them again before bed, so I have some head room writing this 😉

At about 5 pm we suddenly heard a plane overhead and some sort of (older) military bomber flew by - wow, that was a little too real - gets the adrenaline going. It was a plane like this: (from Google)

We took shelter from the wind at the small outdoor cafe (not open until July) near the pool (too cold to think of swimming) to make our dinner - another great Marc Salad. 

And then we did the steep hike down to the beach. Very steep. 

The tide was coming in, and the beach was calm (looking south). 

Looking north you can see the cliff at Point de Hoc, where soldiers had to scale the cliffs on D Day. 

This memorial to the US National Guard is just off the beach.  The monument on the left of this photo is built on top of a concrete barrier that held a powerful machine gun that sadly took the lives of many American soldiers as they landed here. 

"Ever Forward" 

May we continue to move Ever Forward, indeed. 

Good night