The Normandy Tour 2011 .
Another Triumph for Phil & Sue.
Last years tour to the Opal Coast was fantastic, glorious weather, great hotel, fabulous driving, interesting places to visit in company of good friends. Phil and Sue Parkinson were going to have their work cut out to beat that this year. We need not have worried. Phil had worked his magic on the route book and Sue (aka "The Sundance Kid") worked her magic on the weather. This year's tour of the Normandy Coast was equally successful in all respects.

On a Bright but partially cloudy morning, 12 cars met at the Portsmouth Ferry Terminal to catch the 9:00 a.m. Fast Cat Sailing to Cherbourg. The crossing time of 3 hours passed quickly if not as smoothly as some would have liked. We docked in bright warm sunshine. Driving French roads is always pleasure and our journey from Cherbourg to St Mér Église proved to be the same. Here we visited the Airborne Museum dedicated to the USA 82 & 101st Airborne Divisions and their role in the D Day landings. Featured in the movie "The Longest Day" one of their number, Private John Steele, Caught his parachute on the church spire and hung there for several hours before being captured by the Germans. Today a parachute and a dummy paratrooper hang from the church spire in commemoration of him, John Steele died in 1969.

Following a coffee break in the cafe next to the museum we set off to the cheers and plaudits of local students, such is the interest our cars attract wherever we go. We headed along the coast via Omaha Beach and Arromanche to our hotel, Ferme de la Raconniere at Crépon.

We finished the day as we did every day of the tour with drinks in the warm evening sunshine followed by pleasant if somewhat noisy dinner (Typical of Area 1 on tour).



We awoke to another day of bright sunshine and set off on a pretty cross country drive to Bayeux. By kind permission of the Mayor of Bayeux we were allocated parking space in the coach parking area. Here the assembled throng of Jaguars created much interest from coach passengers. Our reason for being here was a journey back in time, to almost the origin of our country and certainly a significant part of our history. The famous Bayeux tapestry (actually it is an embroidery, but we will overlook that) tells the history of, and depicts the Battle of Hastings 1066. Housed in a 70 metre long "U" shaped illuminated cabinet, the audio guide focuses your attention on the detail as you progress down the room. Starting from the history and diplomatic events leading up to the battle culminating the death of King Harold and triumph of William the Conqueror. In its day, an extraordinary detailed piece of reporting, worthy of comparison with any modern day news programme. How long did it take? This is the subject of debate but it as probably completed within 10 years of the battle. If you care to compare the Battle of Hastings as depicted in the tapestry with Azincourt, we visited last year, you could say match drawn at 1 All.

Bayeux Cathedral
Just a short distance from the museum is Bayeux Cathedral. This beautiful church dating from 1077, was extensively modified in the 13th Century to the impressive gothic building we visited. As beautiful on the inside as it is outside it surprisingly houses a large picture depicting the death to St Thomas á Becket in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170. After an interesting morning, we dispersed to places of interest expertly guided by Phil's tour book. Chateaux, Gardens, Museums, Beaches and Battlefields or just a pleasant drive were all there for our entertainment
No visit to Normandy is complete without a visit to Pegasus Bridge and Airborne Museum. We met at the new Museum, architecturally sculpted to reflect the wings of the badge of the Airborne troops. Greeted by a charming French guide, who who explained to us the significance of the bridge and the importance of capturing it early in the D Day Landings. She explained the wider context of not only Pegasus Bridge the other airborne landings and the extraordinary feats of airmanship and bravery in the area. Pegasus Bridge has been replaced to cope with modern day traffic and passage of larger ships, the original stands in the grounds of the museum still exhibiting the scars of the 6th June 1944. The Airborne landing has a significant link with Newbury with Horsa Gliders being manufactured in the town, Greenham Common and Welford being used as bases from which the Airborne Troops departed.

For the afternoon some of us returned to the hotel to meet up with the French Car Club, whilst others headed for the Chateaux and Gardens once more. One of the prettiest and picturesque harbours along the coast is Honfleur. Such is the charm and beauty of Honfleur that it has been painted many times by such artists as Gustave Courbet, Eugene Boudain, Claude Monet, and Johan Jongkind. The port has a fascinating history of wars through the ages, of booming trade in the 17th century, decline brought about in part by the French Revolution and partial recovery in the 19th Century, yet it still functions today

Sunday we were free to choose wherever we wished. Phil had provided us with a tempting selection of drives. We were quite spoiled for choice. Continuing on from Bayeux leads you to the "Suisse Normande" the bocage area we headed for Falaise. This is the birth place of William the Conqueror. Falaise is a fine old French town dominated by Chateau Guillaume Le Conquérant. However it is somewhat incongruous to find the castle being rebuilt with modern sandstone, well done, and with great expertise but it doesn't look right. In the UK English Heritage would have a heart attack. Inside the tableaux are very interesting with audio commentary but it lacks atmosphere. It could have been done much better but it was still worth a visit.

Doesn't time fly...... It's time to make our way back to Cherbourg but we have most of the day to do it. Leaving the hotel for the last time we head for Batterie Maisy. On the way some of us decided to visit the American Cemetery. This immaculately kept cemetery and memorial of 172 acres, overlooking Omaha Beach, contains the remains of 9,375 Americans killed in WWII 2,500 of whom were killed in the invasion of Normandy. No visit to Normandy is complete without a visit here or to one of the other allied military cemeteries in the area

Time to move on to Batterie Maisy. This site similar to Merville in function and design but is unique that it is an Archeological dig. Batterie Maisy was a Top Secret location which after the war was covered over with 3ft of top soil and farmed. The site was left left largely undisturbed until discovered by Brutish Military enthusiast Gary Sterne.

Leaving Batterie Maisy we headed north and westwards stopping for Lunch at St Vaast la Hogue. A welcome break from driving on this hot and sunny day, we found plenty restaurants overlooking to harbour from which to enjoy our meal.

The Journey to Cherbourg was pleasant via "D" roads parallel with the Route Nationale. It must be said that Cherbourg Ferry Terminal is no where as busy as Calais and thus is much easier to get in and out of. At last the powers of the "Sundance Kid" were waining. It was hard to tell if it was raining or sea spray as we crossed the channel. Thankfully the rain had stopped by the time we docked at Portsmouth. Our farewells said we headed our separate ways home.

The Harbour at St Vaast la Hogue
Our thanks to Phil & Sue Parkinson for great, memorable and thoroughly enjoyable tour. Their had work, on our behalf, is greatly appreciated.

The Normandy Tourers were

Phil & Sue Parkinson (XK140 )
Mick & Jean Resteghini (E- type)
Alan & Carole Matthews (XK8)
Brian & Marion Hall (XK8)
Colin & Shirley McLaren (Shsssh! BMW)
Don & Beryl Bray (S-type)

 

Tony & Sue Eades (E-type)
Derek Clark and Roger Gourd (E-type)
Ray & Carol Taylor (XJS)
David & Mary East (XK120)
Mike & Margaret Byng (E-type)
Nimal Jayaratne (E-type)

DE May 2011
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