We were both glad to get to bed last night, we’re definitely feeling the effects of jet lag. The shutters in our apartment here are a little basic and don’t block the light so it felt a little odd going to sleep with the sky still a little light! We also woke quite early , but that was a good thing as it gave us time to cook a leisurely breakfast of eggs, ham and tomatoes and to sort out a few techie things before we left for our days activities.
We followed a WWII era military staff car out of the car park, one of so many more military vehicles that we’d pass and follow for the rest of the day!
We had planned to spend today in the “British Sector” , concentrating on the sights around Gold, Juno and Sword Beaches. First stop was Arromanches, the town made famous for Winston’s Churchills first “Mulberry Harbour”. Considered to be one of the great engineering feats of World War II, Mulberry harbours were temporary mobile harbours developed for unloading troops, vehicles and supplies during the Allied invasion of Normandy. Previously constructed in secret at various sites across the UK, the harbours were taken in parts across the English Channel and reassembled off the beach at Arromanches
We parked in the car park up the top of the hill that overlooks the town, there’s an “observation table” there, with a fabulous view out across the town and the water, where you can see what remains of the harbour structures. From here we also had a good view of the army of campervans that had parked overnight . There are dozens of campgrounds in the area and they are all booked out, the number of campervans competes with the jeeps as the most common vehicle on the roads!
There are a couple of memorials up on the hill, including a beautiful “garden” of statues of soldiers in the act of landing – the statues constructed from highly polished spots of steel, that fade behind each figure. They almost look like a “memory” of a man. Across from them is an ageing veteran carved from rock, looking over the memory men. It was very striking.
we walked down the hill into the town to visit the excellent Musee d’Arromanches . It had some excellent displays describing the D Day landings but concentrating on the development of the Mulberry harbour.
After the museum it was nice to stroll a little way down the Main Street of Arromanches, to see the flags and bunting and signs that decorated the town for the celebration of the 80th.
Back up the hill we noted the car park was now full and congratulated ourselves on our early arrival, then we set off to see the British Normandy Memorial at Ver Sur Mer, which is set high on a hill overlooking Sword beach and commemorates the soldiers under British Commands who died in the Normandy landings. The site is hosting a huge installation called “Standing with Giants” with 1475 life size silhouettes representing the number of D Day casualties. It was spread right across the full width of the hillside.
After that we set out for the Pegasus Bridge Memorial at Ranville. Pegasus bridge was captured early on the morning of D Day by Royal Engineers and Airborne soldiers after they flew in on gliders. It was a key event in the D Day story. We had visited the memorial in 2011 but Neil thought he’d like to visit again. However, the 80th anniversary traffic was against us. As we approached Ranville the traffic ground to a complete stop! I could see on Google Maps that the traffic near the memorial was backed up for a loooong way, so Neil decided we’d just give it a miss this time.
instead we headed for the Radar Station 44 Museum, located in an authentic German radar station built between 1942 and 1944, which was one of the most important air defence stations of the Atlantic Wall with its five radars that could detect targets 400 km away.
This had the best preserved and largest bunker I’d ever seen (and as Neil’s traveling companion I can tell you I have seen quite a few bunkers! )
Final stop for the day was in the town nearest to us, Port-En-Bessin-Huppain. It’s a busy little fishing port and has a reasonable large harbour, we wandered along the harbourside and saw the boats sitting drunkenly on the sandy bottom of the harbour, the tide was right out! We tried to find a cafe for a late lunch but they were all packed. As well as the many re enactors in their military gear there was a large contingent of genuine French military occupying many of the restaurants. Finally we managed to find a table at the Boulangerie and made do with a chicken burger.
Back at the apartments we relaxed for a while and did some blogging before enjoying our nibbles and Pizza on our terrace. A busy day!