June 5, 2018
Day 71: Carentan to Bernieres
I was listening to Youtube documentaries about the battles for St. Lo and for Caen, last night, when maybe I should have been asleep. I wanted to know more about St. Lo after yesterday's shocking visit to the town, and I wanted to learn more about the D-Day beach offensive since we would be riding through it today.
About the beaches, The U.S., Britain, and Canada plus soldiers from at least seven other countries launched an invasion across the Chanel and through Normandy on June 6, 1944 (74 years ago). The Allies chose the beaches from around Sainte-Mère-Église in the west to Ouistreham in the east, dividing the stretch into five sectors: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. The Americans came ashore at Utah and Omaha, and the British and Canadians came at the other three as shown:
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The assault actually had three components: Parachutists landed in the night of June 6, in the west and east, there was an air and naval bombardment in the early morning, and then the massive invasion force landed on the beaches.
The towns behind the beaches of course got blasted, but today they are famous, associated with the beach and the armies that landed at each particular spot. For example, Sainte-Mère-Église is linked to the Americans, and Courselles and Bernieres are associated with the Canadians.
From these basic starting facts, there is a huge and terribly detailed amount of history available about what happened next. Just what happened next on the beaches can be a big topic. What happened in the next year? - Huge topic! Of course, for a traveler and for a travel blog it's mainly just the outline that counts, but you also roll up to roadside displays that often contain a lot of detail that it seems only right to try to absorb.
Ten miles from Juno Beach you can see Caen on the above map. Caen was and is the major city in the area, and was a key objective for the British and Canadians. Caen was the subject of one of those videos form last night, so that's why I am jumping the gun and mentioning it now. Caen was supposed to be taken in the first day or two, and yes its buildings were quickly bombed into oblivion. But the town was not captured until July 9.
Behind the situation of Caen, and St Lo too, are some facts that seem important to have in mind as we cycle through this intensely historical area: The allies had complete air domination and had already heavily bombed the German heartland. The German leadership, except for Hitler, already knew the game was lost. But the Germans played the end game with a fierce determination. They were dramatically outnumbered, though they did have some advantages - like superior tanks and anti-tank guns, plus the entrenched defensive positions. The British and Canadians made slow but steady progress, and had some disastrous initiatives. The tide only really turned when (hate to admit it) the Americans broke through at Avranches.
So with that small bit of background, here we were, ready to ride off, first into the American sector, up the east side of the Vire river estuary, that separates Utah beach from Omaha beach. But hang on, a project like that would seem to call for a good breakfast. No such luck. Our chambre d'hote St Hilaire came up with the weakest French breakfast we have seen yet: Cold croissant (one each), one baguette cut up, two jams, and (unsalted) butter, plus orange juice. That falls below the standard weak breakfast by missing the yogurt and any fruit. We thought about asking for these items or generally saying something, but - what's the use? Besides, we can always whine about it here!
A good breakfast would have been extra helpful today, because the day also featured rain and high (head) winds. With the temperature around 12 degrees, it was potentially very chilling.
Our next challenge seemed to be at first with the "Tour de Manche" track we had put into the GPS. Or perhaps it was Eurovelo 4, which should be the same thing. We will need to check this out from the calm of home, but the track repeatedly took us to dead ends by the sea. Sometimes there might have been a walking track there, but mostly not even that. Puzzling.
Early in the ride, then, we left Isigny sur Mer, showing casual interest in sign panels explaining that this was once a big port, but that the rive mouth inexorably silted up. We rode along the river toward the sea, dutifully commenting on the silt, and expecting the path to turn east and glide us safely along. What happened was that the path turned to an increasingly unmanageable single track. The GPS insisted "no problem", but we could see the problem, right under our wheels. We spotted a side track that seemed to head for a road, so we took it. This was worse than the first. I went on ahead to break trail through the grass, and Dodie followed. This gave me the chance to shoot this unusual cycling portrait:
I was not the only one who thought this was a bit unusual. There were also these guys:
We made it out, arriving at Saint Clement's church in Osmanville. We were interested to find that the later to be William the Conqueror had also stopped here, on his way from Valognes (about 44 km west of here) to Ryes (44 km east). He rode this in about 7 hours, almost exactly equaling Grampies speed, on a horse.
We had felt that we would be riding today mostly on safe coastal pathways, guided by Eurovelo 4. But it had become clear that there really is no such thing. There are some pathways, even some bits of something called "Veloroute de la Littorale". But really - no. That put us on busy, sometimes narrow and twisting, sometimes drag strip straight D514. Always, no shoulder. Always, in the wind and rain. We kept checking for the mythical coastal paths, and usually had to pay for it by backtracking. When we did find something, we paid for it by being hit with the full force of the wind and rain, right by the surf. This all had a "dampening" effect on the fun today!
We got a good break at Grandcamp-Maisy when we came upon their small Tuesday market. This was a chance to get some fruits and vegetables, and also BBQ that could be for lunch. They had smoked pork tenderloin, in addition to chicken, and we had the man slice us several thick slabs. I also got one extra one and wolfed it down right there. It was just the ticket, I thought, to ward off the cold. Later, Dodie declared the whole thing too fatty, so I eventually ate a further four slabs, making me regret that first one!
Outside Grandcamp stood a rather remarkable statue, donated at the time of the 60th anniversary of D-Day. It is called The Victory of Peace.
About this time we really began to notice number of period Jeeps, trundling up and down the roads. People inside were often wearing period uniforms. The Jeeps we joined by period motorcycles, and period transport trucks, and ambulances. And again, at roadside stops, people in period uniforms.
We rather thought that all this must come from "Joe's Rent a Jeep", and that the people were merely taking an opportunity to play soldier.
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On the other hand, at one memorial a French man in period dress asked me to take his photo beside a gun emplacement. So I asked him about it. He allowed that many were playing soldier, but that for 20 years he had been a member of an organization dedicated to keeping the memory of what happened here alive, in order to teach about peace, which they do by going in to the schools. The man also told his own personal story of his grandfather, who had been captured, escaped, recaptured, and died in concentration camp. This gives him a reason to want to remember.
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We were still in the American sector, and every town had at least one war museum. Maybe in American style, some of these might have been gimmicky, though we did not take time to go in to any. Certainly this one did not make the best impression from outside:
One museum had two Sherman tanks outside. Not taking the time to get off my bike, I asked a man walking from that direction if they were truly Shermans. He replied yes, and knew something about them, having driven them during his service in the French army. I tried out my theory (learned last night in my sleep from Youtube) that they were poor tanks, vulnerable to the German Tigers. The man seemed to think they were ok. Tonight I looked into it a bit more. It's complicated. Tanks have different thicknesses of armor on different sides, and varying sizes of guns. It depends where you hit a tank with what, and from what distance. I had a look at tank losses by type, on both sides, and soon got hopelessly lost in the details. It was simpler on Youtube, where the Tigers were made out to be all but invincible. p.s. Only one Tiger tank remains in working order in the world today.
Arromanches is a fairly large town behind Gold Beach. It is in the bay here that the British successfully put up their artificial harbour, called the Mulberry harbour. These were steel roadways that spanned concrete pontoons. One installed at Omaha was destroyed before long in a storm, but at Arromanches it lasted longer. Remains can still be seen offshore. Arromanches also has a major D-day museum, and up on a hill nearby, a360 degree film experience. Today the town was just humming with D-Day tourists, period dressing soldiers, and many actual real soldiers no doubt on guard for terrorism. This is in the British section of the beaches, and chances are better than 50/50 that anyone you talk to will be speaking English.
We stopped in to Tourist Information and plugged in our batteries. Arromanches is down in a hole, and we doubted our bikes could help us climb out, continue fighting the wind, and make it 2o more kilometers to Bernieres. We took the opportunity to nip across the street for some crepes. We are no longer in Brittany, but these were still great. Having been introduced to Calvados cider, Dodie also ordered a glass of that. It is really good - even I think that!
In the TI one of the few remaining veterans was holding court. Here, he had almost rock star status. Everyone wanted to shake his hand. Dodie instead traded old jokes, ones she had learned from her father, with him.
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6 years ago
The rain had intensified and the camera hidden deeper in a protective pocket. Now we were just trying to make it to the shelter of the "Auberge" we had booked in Bernieres. The D514 was very unfriendly, but we just concentrated and carried on. After some difficulty finding a crossing of the Seulles river, we made for Bernieres. The GPS found the auberge, somewhere out in the boonies. But the welcome from Christophe was warm and the room good.
Tomorrow we will go back to Courselles, the heart of the Canadian section, and check out a ceremony happening at the Canadian museum. It's at 10:30, giving us theoretically a late start. Since it has taken me until 1 a.m. to write this, I think that will be good!
Today's ride: 95 km (59 miles)
Total: 4,680 km (2,906 miles)
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6 years ago
6 years ago