Blog 4.7 - The North Coast/Normandy

Sunday 1st October 2023

A pleasantly warm morning after a rather restless night. I have no idea why. After the nearby party abruptly finished at 11.30 it was totally quiet, so the fact I didn't sleep well and was wide awake by five is rather a mystery. I did eventually drop off again, but then woke feeling proper grotty.

All that contributed to the decision to stay put for another night in Carolles/Edenville, or whatever it's called

Anyway, nothing doing, we just vegetated by the van all day in the sun (mainly shade in my case!).

We do need to move on tomorrow morning though. We could do with a supermarket run as certain items are running down, and we definitely need to refuel the van - for only the third time on the trip. There's a big E Leclerc on the outskirts of Granville just a few miles up the coast, so that'll do nicely.

Monday 2nd October 2023

Another pleasantly warm and sunny morning - getting to be a habit. However, it's noticeable that the condensation is now building on the inside of the windshield so it's obviously rather cooler overnight here.

We packed up relatively early, then went through the same rigmarole of phoning Camping-Car Park to let us out - they obviously haven't sorted the gate's terminal yet.

First stop was at the aforementioned Leclerc for the final diesel fill of the trip, and it was a reasonable one too as Leclerc have recently started selling at cost price. Can't imagine Morrison's or Asda doing that somehow.

The following visit to the adjoining supermarket wasn't quite so wallet-friendly though, with a saucepan finding its way into the trolley along with - hopefully - enough food to see us through to ferry time.

We made good time on the fairly short leg north by east-ish to the C-CP at the town of Carentan, which seems pleasant and busy enough to be worth at least one night's stay. (W3w///heightened.catalysis.intellect

It's on an inlet/canal which enters the sea at Utah Beach, and has what appears to be a fairly large yacht harbour, which we'll explore shortly, along with the town centre, some ten minutes walk away.

The town centre turned out to be very pleasant, with an abundance of good shops and bars etc. Well worth a look.

One of the port-side businesses

Handsome old Hotchkiss, also near the port.

Tuesday 3rd October 2023

We awoke, late, to rain.

We'd already decided to stay another night though, so pretty much repeated yesterday with another walk around town,

substituting the nearly cold coffee from the port-side brasserie for a better one from the Tabac, and finishing with a walk a short way along the canal before returning for the van.

It's been a much, much cooler day, and quite blustery, even though the rain abated, so it was no chore to return for a cuppa chai, and a read. Hopefully the weather will pick up mañana for our next move - to who knows where.

Wednesday 4th October 2023

Cool and dull.

We decided to move on to the city of Bayeux - famous for a certain tapestry of that name.

The aire is easy enough to find being right at the entrance to the battle museum, with its Churchill and Sherman-alike tanks standing guard, although we did drive straight past initially!

It's a town aire with no facilities and a small 5.5€ charge for overnight parking, but that's perfectly fine. We'd emptied all the waste and topped up with fresh this morning, and the battery was fully charged, so all is good.

We thought we were going to struggle to get in initially, as it appeared full (including a Brit in an absolutely huge motorhome parked across at least four spaces) but there was one slot tucked away in the far corner, so it was perfect as we could align the door to an open, pleasant green aspect.

By 6pm, mind you, we were down to just three* vans with at least ten - including the behemoth - having departed.

Much better!

*A fourth showed up much later on.

Bayeux Cathedral

We ambled into the city centre, which only took about 15 minutes, and were rewarded by the sight of the magnificent Cathedral on our approach. It truly is impressive.

After a good look around inside, including down in the crypt (no cat had crept in and left its mark as far as we could see...)

The Crypt

we carried on to the main street - which is rather long, and packed with pretty fancy shops; a fashion-victim's paradise in fact.

Eschewing these, we called in at the Carrefour for so-so sandwiches and naff beignets for lunch, which we followed up with a shared - delicious - pastry and coffees from a boulangerie, if only in protest against the previous 'cakes' (hah). We allow ourselves so few such treats nowadays it just seems a bit off when what you think is going to make a nice change, just isn't. If only we'd walked a few yards further and seen this other place first!

The 'High' Street

Authentically-named Irish Bar anyone?

Nice traditional signage

As we made our way back towards the van we swung towards the War Cemetery which we'd passed earlier on our way to the aire. It's mere metres away just past the museum entrances, so I couldn't pass up the chance to spend some quiet reflective time there - even though I knew exactly how it would make me feel.

The Commonwealth War Graves folks do a wonderful job of maintaining these sombre, yet very special, places. It was good to see how immaculate everywhere is kept, with gardeners busy weeding and tending to the beautiful planting around each stone.

It's also very poignant to observe the mingling of the final resting places of young comrades and former enemies now at eternal rest.

A few tears were shed, I don't mind admitting.

Just children. No life led. So sad

Bless them all.

Thursday 5th October 2023

Cool, but bright-ish in patches.

We're staying another night so we can take in the Tapestry Museum and the D-Day Museum.

The first is an obvious one; a pretty incredible tapestry telling the story of an invasion - which the English class as a pyrrhic victory by William the Bastard's sneaky Norman hordes, and the French probably consider the greatest military conquest ever.

The second commemorates what was also an invasion, but an altogether more deadly one, and arguably a more pivotal one in the course of human history.

With Bayeux being the home of the tapestry, and also the first French city to be liberated following D-Day it would be remiss of us to not go.

And, the Tapestry Museum is worth every cent of the 12€ entrance fee, in my opinion.

Just part of it

I didn't really know what to expect to be honest, except that there would be a tapestry (well, embroidery in fact) but I hadn't realised just how big it is - around 70 metres. The supplied hand-helds do a good job of describing it too - with the clear, measured voice of a British actor (I would assume) - step by step according to the numbers above the tapestry, so the story really comes to life, maybe, just maybe with a slightly French bias...

One in the eye for King Harold, there

If you visit Bayeux, or you're even just nearby, don't miss it. It's just a short walk from the cathedral so not hard to get to.

Overall, Bayeux gets our vote as one of the best French cities we've visited, It's compact, but full, with a really relaxed feel. To us, it ranks alongside the likes of Perigueux, Quimper, and Carcassonne. And that's some recommendation, especially as we visited just on a whim.

Lovely place.

Mileage so far: 1556