NORMANDY 80 6th - 8th June 2024
Early June, 2024, almost 80 years to the hour that the beaches of Normandy were stormed by allied troops at the beginning of Operation Overlord, our Brittany Ferry "Mont St Michelle" berthed at Ouistreham ("Caen") and we were on our way. 3 days on a bike, visiting some of the many memorials, war graves, sites and places of interest that made Normandy the place to visit for all free people at this time of year.
Below; Cyclists about to set off from the car park in Ouistreham; from the bottom centre and going anti clockwise - Chris, Paul, Tim, Stuart, Colin (who shared a cabin with us on the ferry then went his own way) Darren & Craig. Grateful thanks to Rob, our ride leader, organiser and support vehicle driver, who is not in the picture.
Day 1; 69 miles
Pegasus Bridge
Our first stop, Pegasus Bridge was 3.7 miles into the ride and the first target of 06/06/1944, with the sites of the final positions of the Horsa gliders marked for ever now in stone. The queue at Café Gondrée (on the other side of the river) was way out the door, and as this was our first day, we pressed on another half mile to Ranville CWGC; laid our wreath (made by the Marton and Nunnthorpe Knitters) after saluting the fallen there with The Exhortation, The Last Post - played on a bluetooth speaker - and our Branch Standard dipped in Act of Honour.
Our next stop was the CWGC at St Desir, 30 miles further east, where there is now a "Path of Peace" between the allied and axis war graves. The difference between them was quite striking, and we met some UK veterans there. Another brief ceremony at the flags between the two, videoed by a Dutch couple that had turned up.
After a stop for coffee at Val de Vie, a small bird flew across the road and crashed into the door. We wondered what to do for the poor thing, but in a few moments, and with a bit of encouragement, it flew off straight into a bush (thanks for the photo, Darren!)
Things were going too well, though. Check-in at our gite, La Ferme de Montigny was 17:00 hrs and we were ahead of ourselves, as the Memorial to the Polish at Mont Ormel was too crowded; Rob couldn't get anywhere near with the car so we skipped that one.
In want of liquid refreshment we chose to pass the access road leading to the gite and try our luck in the next town, Trun. 2.5 miles further on, we could see that Trun lay in a dip, and we'd only have to return the same way afterwards - back up the hill we were looking down - so returned and basked in the French sunshine.
Day 2; 82.9 miles
A late start - 09:20 hrs - and our longest day - was also the brightest. Passing through Trun, we found the primary schools were busy painting stars and stripes on the pavements - this picture shows just one of many places;
We stopped at Thury Harcourt at 32 miles for lunch, and considered the climb out of the town. This day had 5,104 ft of climbing according to my Strava, and we all felt every one.
47 miles found us at the Normandy Typhoon Memorial at Noyes, where we performed our usual ceremony - this time, with English & French versions of The Exhortation, as we were met there by 3 local cyclists who stayed with us for the rest of the afternoon.
5 miles further on, we were met by the Mairie of Hottot-les-Bagues at her town's CWGC. Here, I looked for and found the grave of Pvt Francis RW Arundell from Chorleywood, who has a memorial dedicated to him in our local NatWest Branch. He worked there before joining up in the Essex Regiment, and was killed aged just 19.
Craig found a gravestone here that showed an uncle, killed in WW1, was buried with his nephew, killed in WW2.
After our usual ceremony, the Mairie invited us to share some cidre with her at the town hall, which went down very well. By then, I had conceived the idea of playing "God Save The King" and "La Marsailleise" - for which I would need wifi to access the internet to play the latter from YouTube. But sadly, connection was unobtainable ("Phew!" said Chris).
About 2 miles south east of Caumont L'Êventé, we joined the Mairie de Cahagnes and other locals who gather every year at the grave of Lt J G Marshall-Cornwall, apparently, the smallest CWGC, having the one grave. The Mairie is the grandson of the farmer that dedicated the land for this.
The photo above, top has all the cyclists and the Mairie, while the lower, by Darren, has the veterans as well.
Our French cyclists then led us to the spot where Lt Marshall-Cornwall was killed, which is marked with an information plaque at ///nutmeg.sashimi.negotiators.
Day 2 ended after a further 15 miles at Saint-Lô, with a steak at the next door Buffalo Grill.
Day 3; 67 miles (for me, anyway)
22 miles on the D572 to Bayeux, using cycle lanes where they were available, and braving the briefest of showers put us at the CWGC at 11:00 for another ceremony. As we finished, a large group of SSAFA cyclists approached and, after a brief discussion, we agreed to provide music and Standard for their wreath laying ceremony. Afterwards, across the road, I took their offer to take their group shots up a few notches with a couple of "mousies" - and then asked them to gather round for one of these...
Tim found the grave of his neighbour's elder brother at Bayeux, and has sent me this text;
"The plaque I laid at the grave at Bayeux cemetery was on behalf of my neighbour John Tillyard for his brother Dennis. He had 3 other brothers with him being the youngest so too young to be called up. His other brothers saw action in the Far East, so come VE Day it couldn’t have been easy with one brother dead and 2 others far away with difficult communication. Luckily both brothers survived but only after VJ Day they found that out. John told me Dennis saw action in North Africa and Italy and on his last leave had a premonition that he wasn’t going to come through the next one. John says on hearing the news of his death his father went to the end of the garden and wept.
It was his name I also went to find at the Normandy memorial as John being over 90 now will never get to see it first hand."
I have added the photo Tim took at Bayeux (above) and at the British Normandy Memorial, below. Thanks for those words, Tim!
Pressing on to Port-En-Bessin, we had pizza for lunch and then went in search of the 47 Commando memorial on the front. From there, we kept along the coast until we started to find heavy traffic heading towards Arromanches - where an air display was scheduled for the afternoon. Finding myself at the front of our group, and confident in filtering through traffic, I was unaware that I had become separated from the rest by quite some way. When I arrived at the outskirts of Arromanche, I decided to take advantage of my position and press on into town to see what there was to see.
It was crowded like nothing I can remember seeing before - and finding a good spot to see the airshow seemed impossible. So I headed off, walking my bike, eventually finding my way back onto the main road with no clue whether the rest of our group were ahead of me or behind. It's pretty flat around there, and I missed the turning for the new British Normandy Memorial. I stopped at the Inns of Court Regiment Memorial, as although it was on the other side of the road, it was at a cross roads and the traffic had been stopped. As I dismounted, the band kicked off with "La Masaillaise" so I launched into it with all I the breath I had; then "God Save The King" followed. Looking around, I noticed what might be ablutions off up the path, and so had to slip away...
Coming to my senses at the road sign for Couseulles sur Mer, I called Rob, who informed me that I had passed the Normandy Memorial. I returned and found Rob, Tim, Chris and Craig already there, but no sign of Stuart or Darren. They had stopped at Arromanche to watch the air show.
We all then headed into the memorial site and did our stuff again; and I must say, the surrounding walls helped with the acoustics.
From Ver sur Mer, it wasn't far to the newly opened Canadian Juno Memorial (above) where Rob had obtained special permission to lay our last wreath, which was again made by the Marton & Nunnthorpe Knitters (below).
Retracing our route back to the main road and then along the coast to Ouistreham, the cycle path wound in and out so much that again, I became separated - and also unsure if I were ahead or behind them. So pressed on and found myself a few hundred yards of the memorial to the Piper Bill Millin. The inscription says;
On D-Day, 6th June 1944, on this sector of "Sword" beach, as the Scots have done for generations, the Brigadier Lord Lovat, Chief of the Special Service Brigade, also a Highland Chief, ordered his private piper, Bill Millin, to pipe his commandos ashore. Above the roar of battle came the skirl of liberation with the piper leading the way. They both entered into legend.
I was informed that, back in 1944, when asked why they had not shot the piper, the surrendered Germans said "We have a rule in warfare; "Do not shoot the crazy man".
Rob had gone ahead to Ouistreham and found that both restaurants he had suggested in his route planning were full. We enquired at the nearby restaurant - Ōyat - and they managed to squeeze us in, if they could have the table back at 9:00 pm. We just made it, and it was the best meal ever.
2 and a half miles further on and we had completed the ride.
Not on the ride was Neil, whose son Max was diagnosed with cancer a few days before we set off. In his reply to me about adding their news are these words;
"Last Thursday we met his surgeon at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital Birmingham and we are confident Max will overcome his cancer." That would have been our first day, 6th June, and great news to finish this report with.
