NORMANDY

The best way to see any land is by bicycle. Pedaling around Normandy is full of delightful surprises. In this peaceful little village in the Contentin Peninsula for example, you can find brioches the size of a small birthday cake.

Normandy is a very old and historic land. It is lush and green and in some areas surprisingly rural. The Norman Invasion of England, which was launched from here, changed western history. But a more recent invasion, in 1944, was certainly the pivotal point of the last century. A pivotal point of this event was this small harbour town, St. Vaast la Hougue.

The small port of St. Vaast l'Hougue was the first port in France to be liberated. Old photographs show small ships in port and huge heaps of materiels de guerre piled as high as the rooftops filling the quays. Now bags of mussels; moules are the most common cargo unloaded.
Not to be missed in St.Vaast are the restaurants lining the quays. The seafood leaps the twenty yards from the boats to the tables. Naturally they serve beer too.

In the early morning of June 6,1944 in the small town of Ste. M�re Eglise Private John Steele, a member of a parachute detachment dropping by mistake in the town square fouled his parachute on the church spire. He hung there in full view of the Germans for several hours while members of his unit were killed and captured. The allies eventually took the town. He survived to have a bar named after him. The town commemorates this event by hanging a parachute and a life-sized figure there.
Very often there is a veteran with a small van in the square before the church. He pretends to paint it, continually moving about rearranging the easle and paints etc. although he actually painted the picture many years ago. He will be glad to sell you a copy, which he just happens to have in the van.
Nearby in the town is a wonderful outdoor museum featuring an DC-3 aircraft, the "goony bird", as well as a walk-in glider. The gliders were not solid, just fabric stretched over struts. Even the floor was stretched fabric. You could not walk on it, especially while in the air. It must have felt like being in a flying tent.

The gliders landed inland but the bulk of the forces landed on the beaches. Waiting for the invaders were these huge, heavily armed and armoured bunkers high on the cliffs overlooking the beaches. Ugly but simply too massive to ever demolish.

Shortly after John Steele's ordeal began thousands of men started wading ashore here on Omaha Beach. Only after several hours of struggle were the troups able to escape this beach and the deadly fire directed at it from huge casemates like this one. Today it is overlooked by the American Cemetery, one of the most beautiful and serene places in the world.

My friend and colleague Gerry Brooks cycles along Omaha Beach on a grey day very much like June 6. 1944. Remnants of an artificial harbour can still be seen in the water. In the distance is the monument and beside it a restaurant with hot soup.

Trip's over
Gerry and Tod
load bikes.

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