Balderdash Rally — Jersey to Paris 2014

Deauville to Avranches

Hello everyone (this is assuming anyone is actually still reading our drivel !! )

Welcome to Day 5. You will be pleased to hear this is the penultimate day of our extended trip, so you won't have to put up with our updates for much longer!

Today started much the same as any other day - except we weren't in a 5 star hotel, which to be fair, has been a bit of a come down.

Still, the view from the window was still pretty good...

After a leisurely breakfast 'Campanile style' we said goodbye to our over night accomodation..

...and hit the road.

Strangely the traffic was very light - practically not existent - but we didn't let that put us off.

Todays plan was to go and see some of the Overlord-L'Assaut sights along the Normandy landing beaches

First on our agenda was Ranville. And in a slight departure from usual, Mike will be narrating the following section.... (he being far more intelligent than I am!)

The Ranville War Cemetery is one of the largest of the 18 Commonwealth War Cemeteries in Normandy and here rest the remains of nearly 2300 servicemen, mainly from the 6th Airborne Division who were the first troops on the ground on the night of 5th / 6th June 1944.

We were lucky that we were the only people in the cemetery and spent a while soaking up the atmosphere whilst marvelling at the accuracy of the layout.

 

We eventually came across the grave of Lieutenant Den Brotheridge, who was the first allied serviceman killed by enemy action on D Day - shot whilst crossing Pegasus bridge.

We left in a pensive mood and headed the very short distance up the road to the bridges over the Orne river and Caen canal. Both of these bridges were the target of the first landings in Normandy. At 00:16 on the 6th June the first of 5 Horsa gliders of the 6th Airborne Division landed by the bridge. Each glider carried 30 men and had little in the way of steering and certainly no electronics of any kind. At 00:17 and 00:18 the next two landed. The Horsa glider was nicknamed "the flying coffin" by those using it and it is a testament to the skill of those pilots that they all landed within a couple of hundred meters of the bridge...the closest being a mere 45 meters away. So complete was the element of surprise that the bridge was captured within minutes.

The original bridge was replaced by a newer larger version in 1994, but the original was kept and lies only a short distance away in the grounds of the Pegasus museum.

The museum has many fascinating exhibits and a short film describing how the assault unfolded,

...along with models of the bridge attack....

...and outside a full size replica of a Horsa glider.....

...which when you look inside doesn't seem like the safest sort of place you want to be sitting when coming in to land at 150 Kmh

Once we had completed the tour we went and crossed the new bridge...

...and headed for the Pegasus Cafe Gondree....

this building was the first liberated by the allies on D Day and we decided we would stop for our lunch - a delicious omlette and salad.

Just as we finished lunch, the gates on the new bridge came down and it started to rise....

...and got higher and higher....

...and whilst Garry took the strain....

...a rather large ship passed through!

Returning to the Cafe for coffee we met and chatted to Madame Gondree. She was 4 years old and living in this very house when the troops landed. A fascinating lady.

Having said our goodbyes, we set off for the next part of our journey, passing many reminders of the past.

Eventually we came to Omaha Beach and headed to Colleville sur Mer, the site of the American War Cemetery.

We parked in the large car park and proceeded through the visitor center...

 

...and out onto the top of the cliffs looking down onto Omaha Beach itself.

Then we moved into the cemetery itself. You will no doubt recognise this place from the movie Saving Private Ryan, amongst others.

There are over 9000 American servicemen buried here and the place is quite simply overwhelming.

The graves seem to strech off in the distance.

As well as having the memorial gardens and statues.

 

We wanted to stay longer to explore, but we had only arrived at 4:40 pm, and at 5 pm the guards started shooing us out of the gates. So now back to Garry...

 

Thanks Mike.... I feel under pressure to keep up this new high standard of writing.... I can't see it lasting long though!!

So....after a very interesting, moving and educational day, we headed back to the car, and set course for Avranches.

For only the second time this trip, we had to stop for some of this

Shortly afterwards, we found ourselves passing the Rebel Alliance's new secret hideout... (subtlety is clearly not their strong point)

Some of Darth's fighters were just taking off as we passed, so an added bonus...

 

 

Safe from any attack, we continued along the road... (told you the high standard woulnd't last long......)

Enjoying the sun setting behind the clouds..

 

Passed Percy...

 

We were even in total agreement with the truck we were about to over take...

 

And before long arrived at a Hotel suitably priced to fit our budget...

Fortunately for us they even had a room available.

Well, they had "a" room in the technical use of the word. The room itself barely has space for us, but it will do for tonight - as we gradually eek ourselves back from the 5 star luxury we had started to become accustomed to..

Before we had time to get too claustrophobic, we wondered across the road to a nice looking restaurant...

And for the second evening meal in a row, I didnt have steak!

 

And then we retired to the room to do tonights update and uploaded it for your viewing pleasure once more!!

Here is the route we took today....

And all that now remains is to say goodnight, thanks for reading and add your comments as always to the guest book here: http://www.itsanevoadventure.org.je/Guestbook/gbook.php

Thanks to everyone who has commented so far - next year we will try and create a guest book where we can 'like' your comments and post responses to them. We could give it a fancy name too. Like EvoBook or something random.

Anyway....

 

Goodnight from us both until tomorrows final (and probably much shorter) update!

Garry and Mike