Journey to the Chateau

After breakfast we set off to Pont L'Évêque under dark clouds and brief showers. We stopped at a hypermarket to pick up supplies and had a light lunch in town in a small bistro including the classic croque monsieur. Then we got news that Fi was at the chateau and we could get in earlier than 5 pm. We drove down the long Allée du chateau towards the big house. Under the trees we found Fi and Joe and families already there and Fi gave us the tour of the enormous house and grounds. Ed and Nonie with kids arrived and Kim and Dave with Dean and Sara and Harvey and the new Rhodesian ridgeback puppy.

In the evening we had a wonderful dinner in the pool house prepared by Ed and Nonie. The children played outside till nightfall. We spent our first night in the chateau. I have pineapples on the end of my bed and a golden swan by my head.

Bayeaux

We saw a lot in this beautiful, historical city. We saw the Bayeaux Tapestry and followed the events it depicts. Then we learnt more about how it was made and how it survived in an interesting exhibition.

We had a coffee and went around the Cathédral Notre Dame with its Romanesque core and Gothic additions.

We then visited the Musée d'Art et d'Historie Baron Gérard in the former palace of the archbishops. It contains an exhibition of local history from prehistoric times to the Bayeaux porcelain as well as art works including Caillebotte.

Then we revived ourselves with wonderful galettes full of apple, pont l'elvêque cheese and black pudding. Then off to the Battle of Normandy museum which showed us how the invasion had fared after the landings. We then paid our respects at the British military cemetary.

In the evening we had another nice meal and a walk around the port as the sun set.

Arromanches and the D-day landings

In the small seaside village of Arromanches we could see the remains of the huge artificial Mulberry harbour that was constructed in Britain and dragged out to the French coast in sections for use during the landings. For 3 months after D-Day it was the biggest port in the world. It was an incredible feat of engineering. We visited the Musée du Débarquement and the 360° cinema on the hill, both very informative and interesting.

Dad dropped Mum and I off at the German pillboxes at Longues-sur-Mer and we walked back to Port en Bessin along the clifftops.

In the evening we had a nice dinner in the small restaurant Le Vauban. We liked it so much we booked a table for the following night too.

Setting off to Cherbourg

Mum, Dad and I set off on the 8.30 ferry from Poole to Cherbourg. We had a good breakfast, a bit of a snooze and a calm crossing. We visited le phare de Gatteville where we all climbed the 365 steps up the tower to the top of the lighthouse and a fantastic view. The beam at night reaches 50km and overlaps with the beam from the lighthouse  on the Isle of Wight.  We stopped at Barfleur where William the Conqueror set out to England in 1066 and where his grandson William Aetheling later drowned with 300 others after delaying his trip in order to spend the day drinking and carousing.

We arrived at our hotel on the quai of the fishing port of Port en Bessin. We had a meal in busy the restaurant on the seafront called the 47th after the Royal Marines who landed there.