Woke up a bit later than usual and was a tad bit laid back this morning. We had a bit of a jump over towards Bayeux today.
I went to have a shower and was a bit alarmed to find the showers and toilets were both unisex. Camping washrooms aren’t my favourite places at the best of times, so I recoiled slightly. It wasn’t busy so I had the room to myself which was a relief – the shower did finally warm up, though its jet was so strong, it flooded the cubicle and my Crocs!
Our first job of the day was to head back to a nearby caravan showroom before we continued our trip – we are in need of a folding step to get into bed easier, (it’s a big high up and not easy to launch into) a stiff brush to remove The Pup’s ginger fur off the carpet and a hose to fill our water tank. All these new niggly issues thrown up with a new camper, though you will be pleased to hear that we’ve finally stopped re-arranging and moving things, happy where everything is though we still have occasional moments of “where is the ……….” or “what box is the ………” followed by a bit of rummaging.
Anyway, the caravan place was shut on Mondays, so with a Gaelic shrug of the shoulders, we retraced our steps back towards the campsite so that satnav would pick the original plumbed in route and we wouldn’t fall foul of Rouen’s ZFE emissions zone. We finally decided not to go into the city centre -whatever plan we thought of was either too much hassle or just impossible with a large van, the ZFE and a pooch in the equation. (I won’t bore you with the finer details). So we headed west towards Bayeux, avoiding the motorways and taking the more scenic route.
We hadn’t gone far when we came across the banks of the River Seine with houses backing onto chalky cliffs. It was all very pretty with an early morning mist lingering. It was a typical September morning – hazy sunshine and the trees just starting to turn. We passed through Duclair village with the ferry chugging across the Seine connecting the village to the south bank – it was well used with cars, HGV’s and a tractor tugging a trailer piled high with potatoes coming off the ferry as we sat at the traffic lights watching!
We crossed the fabulous Bridge of Botonne a little further along, a magnificent structure that reminded us of the Dartford Crossing Bridge, but surrounded by autumnal fields and woods rather heavy industry. The rest of journey was through pretty countryside, woodlands and deep valleys, pulling out onto high plateaus of industrial sized fields. There were quite a few half timbered houses, some even thatched. A few had fallen into disrepair which was a shame – they were very pretty.
We went through a couple of busy towns that we were tempted to stop at, but wimped out of them both – the traffic was heavy and trying to find a car park that would accommodate our Beastie (we still a little nervous of getting ourselves stuck somewhere or hitting something). The second town was quite attractive and had a long busy high street which was very tempting to have a stroll along, but with every motorist on a mission to snaffle the merest hint of a gap on the roadside, caused our slow cruise through the town to be quite exciting and slightly nerve racking. Cars seemed to be coming at all angles, pulling out, reversing in sharply, stopping abruptly, parked at crazy angles and that wasn’t taking into account, the pedestrians and busy shoppers nipping in, out and between all of this mayhem. Just negotiating this single strip of tarmac gave us the jitters (and a headache) so we abandoned and continued back out into the safety of the countryside.
We hit the outskirts of Caen and seemed to have an extended tour of its industrial heartlands before we were suddenly burped out into countryside. Just up the road we came across the Pegasus Bridge, which the Allied Forces captured in June 1944. As we approached the bridge, we spotted a sign for parking on the right and quickly dived down it, as we fancied a wander. We quickly realised that they seemed to be rebuilding the museum there, with fenced off areas and had shut everything down for the time being. We did a U turn and went to look for a parking spot, but it was quite busy and the car parks that we saw were quite small. We managed to pull over into a roadside parking space (30 mins only) to figure out what to do, suddenly realising that we had conveniently parked just outside a sandwich shop. We suddenly realised we needed sustenance more than anything else at this point and quickly dashed inside.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus_Bridge
Our next mission was to find a place to eat the said goodies. We googled nearby Aires and picnic parks, but there didn’t seem to have parking so we headed out of town and onto a main road hoping to find a nice lay-by or picnic area. Instead we ended up in a grotty lay by on a dual carriageway as we were so hungry and gasping for a drink. It would do – we just needed to eat. We had a quick cuppa and ate our baguette sandwich and half a cake before carrying on. The weather was lovely – sunny and the Van claiming it was a pleasant 22 degrees outside. We dropped down into the little town of Arromanches where its beaches were part of the D-Day invasion. We drove around town looking for car parking, dismayed by height barriers until we spotted the roofs of many motorhomes and realised that the sign that we initially dismissed as we arrived – parking buses – meant us van owners. (Another lesson learnt). We found it easily, paid for a ticket and headed into town. The shops catered for the tourists wandering around, but we headed to the broad sandy beach, named Gold in 1944, and admired the beautiful coastline. Large concrete barriers sat in the sea, the legacy of the invasion and there was a museum on a wide courtyard with information boards placed on the promenade. It was all very lovely and well thought out. The Pup was itching to get on the beach, but there were signs saying no dogs – though several people had defied this signage, walking on the beach with their furry friend. We double checked with the museum people who confirmed “No Dogs”, so we wandered along the seafront instead with a very disappointed hound. With the absence of the usual seaside tat – amusement arcades, tacky gift shops and fast food vendors, Arromanches had an air of quiet respectability and serenity which was only right in such a place.
We spent a long time just standing at various points trying to imagine the scenario way back in 1944, landing on those beaches under heavy fire and see comrades fall. It was quite incredible that the Allies achieved the success that they did.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arromanches-les-Bains
We jumped back into the Van and headed off to Longues sur Mer next, just up the road and to the Batterie de Longues. We wheedled our way down a narrow residential road and came across a large car park overlooking the English Channel. A short walk took us a row of German artillery batteries complete with their guns pointing out to sea. Set well back from the edge of the cliffs and partially submerged, it was an eerie reminder of World War II warfare. These things could fire shells 17 kms out to sea. You could actually go inside the battery and walk around the gun and the rear of the concrete structure – again trying to imagine what life was like in such places.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longues-sur-Mer_battery
It was now getting late and we decided to call it a day. We waddled back and popped into the little sunken Brutalist building acting as the tourist information. We picked up some leaflets and a book about D-Day to learn the more intricate details of the mission. We jumped into the Van and headed to our next campsite, L’Hypo camping at Aure sur Mer, some 10km up the coast. We checked in and was able to chose our pitch – so we did a little tour and chose No.39. We then did a little bit of fluffing around trying to park in it, much to the amusement of the Danish couple next door. We set up shop and settled down to a pasta tea and a glass of good French wine. This will be our base for the next three nights – a chance to investigate the area more and to savour a little bit of downtime. We’ve stuffed a lot in in these last few days – we just can’t help ourselves sometimes…………
