Normandy

After driving 15 miles from home....we arrived in France!! The weather was glorious for our first 5 hours and then it changed for the worse! We spent a lovely night at Mont Saint Michel.


A photo from a lovely exhibition in the Cathedral, sorry I didn't get his name though.


Our Airs book listed the Aire as €10, but the area has been redeveloped to allow water to flow around the Mont again to prevent the area silting up. The Aire is now €20 (but thankfully we are small enough to count as a car which was €12).
We did manage to contribute to the French motorways as we paid a toll for €51......by mistake....another reason I should try and improve my French!
We then went over to the D-Day landing beaches. What a nightmare it must have been for the men of all nations that battled it out on these beaches.


This bunker and restaurant are still here today.


Utah beach where the Americans landed and fought their way up to Cherbourg. The Battle of the Hedgerows took far longer than anticipated, at times loosing one man per meter advanced. The museum here is excellent and has many articles from the war....including tanks and planes.



The American cemetery at Omaha Beach has 9387 headstones. 45 sets of brothers were buried here and a visitors centre personalises their very sad stories. It's an incredible sight and a moving experience to visit here.


After a visit to Honfleur, we found a peaceful spot by the Seine for the night....luckily these massive cargo ships didn't make too much noise!
After a week in Normamdy where it had rained every day but one, we decided to curtail our trip and drive South to find some sun.


We ended up on Ile de Re. We love it here and always treat ourselves to a campsite with a pool for a few days. After a 26 mile cycle ride to see the lighthouse I deserved a relaxing swim.


The blue sky didn't last long and it has now rained every day except two....so tomorrow we head South again....at this rate we will end up on the Mediterranean though we never planned to go that far. My long walks in the Dordogne book won't be much use.


As usual, loving the French food and markets. I have spent my holiday money on ice cream from La Martiniere who is one of the top 5 ice cream producers in France.



I also bought this book and though I can't read much of it, it has some lovely water colour paintings.