Normandy; June 2018
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D-Day and What Happened to Mont-Saint-Michel?
Brittany Ferries were doing a deal on Poole to Cherbourg crossings for a motorcycle and rider. I had it in mind to tour the Normandy D-Day sites so I booked the ferry for a crossing to France on Monday 11th June, returning Thrsday 14th June. I also booked the Ibis at Port en Bessin for Monday and Tuesday nights. The plan was to visit the Normandy D-Day sites on Monday and Tuseday and then do a bit of touring of Brittany Wednesday and Thursday. I would book a hotel somewhere in Brittany for Wednesday night.
Whilst we had been having pretty decent weather in the UK it turned out that France had been having pretty bad weather for a while including floods. Soon after I got to the Airborne Museum on Monday it started to rain heavily. With no sign of it abating I decided to abandon my D-Day touring for the day and headed straight for my hotel at Port en Bessin. I settled in at the hotel and, when the rain had relented, went for a walk around the town. I discovered that the town had been liberated by the 47th Royal Marine Commandos on D-Day. Quite a battle by all accounts as it didn't go to plan. Seems to be a little known battle for some reason? Tuesday, the next day, began with heavy mist but eventually it cleared up to be a decent day and I managed to complete my planned tour of the D-Day sites.
After Normandy I had planned to head out to Brest at the far west end of Brittany but with the weather being dodgy I decided not to go as far and booked another Ibis at Guingham which is roughly at the centre of Brittany. On the way on Wednesday I stopped at Mont St Michel which is no longer accessible by foot as it's not possible to ride up to it as it used to be. They've built a huge and bewildering car park complex where you have to park your vehicle and board a shuttle to get to Mont St Michel some several kilometres off. An incredible sight but boy is it commercialised these days! I skipped the shuttle and didn't stay long. After Mont St Michel I rode along the north Brittany coast stopping at a nice senavigation town called Saint Cast le Guildo to have lunch. I then rode on to Landmodez before turning south for my hotel.
On Thursday I left the hotel and headed for Cherbourg. Wednesday had been a decent day weatherwise but not Thursday. It was overscast and it soon started to rain. 30 miles south of Cherbourg I parked up at Saint Marie Eglise and had a nice lunch while I waited for the rain to stop. After lunch I had a bit of time on my hands before the ferry left so I rode the backs roads to the port of Barfleur to the north and east of Cherbourg. From Barfleur I rode the coast road to Cherbourg. By this time the weather had brightened and it made for a very pleasant ride. I enjoyed the ferry trip back to the UK as I spent it talking to a guy with a lot of motorcycling stories. He was in his late 70s and had just ridden a Yamaha 225 to the alps and back. Turned out that amongst other things he used to run the family motorcycle business at Frome and had raced motorcycles including at the Isle of Man TT. All-in-all, not a bad trip considering the weather.