Wandering In England & France Part 18 (Caen to Portsmouth)

 

We were up very early to get the express Twisto bus to Ouistreham Gare Maritime where the Brittany ferry, Mont St Michel, was scheduled to leave at 0930. It was a beautifully smooth crossing with mostly sunny skies as we crossed the Channel in just over 5 hours. We both will miss Caen, a clean, friendly and historic city that can still could show it's appreciation for the Liberation of 73 years ago. The ferry was full of noisy French school children so I spent the majority of the trip across snoozing on the deck in the sun. Unfortunately it became rather dreary and dark as we neared Portsmouth, the old city evidently little changed since I was last there in the 70s, other than the newest warships tied up along side HM Naval Dockyard and the sail like Spinnaker Tower dominating the skyline. We took a taxi to our next B&B, Bush Street East, flat 11, Havencroft, a ten minute drive away, dropped off our stuff then headed to the nearest pub for a beer and supper. An uncomfortable night in a small room with an uncomfortable bed was our only real memory of the city which we would be returning to in a week. Hopefully we can visit some of the old historic dockyard and see the HMS Warrior, Admiral Nelson's HMS Victory and the Tudor ship the Mary Rose at that time.   gws

 

 

 

Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth and Wightlink ferry to the Isle of Wight

Bush Street East, flat 11, Havencroft, Portsmouth

HMS Warrior

enjoying my Black Swan microbeer

Wandering In England & France Part 17 (Bayeux)

 

 

It was another beautiful day as we drove out to the ancient city of Bayeux, 20 miles or so west of Caen. It was always a wish of mine to see this place, home of the Cathedral and the famous 1000-year old tapestry I had learned about when I was a teenager. I remember it from the set of British stamps issued in 1966 to celebrate the Millennial anniversary of the Battle of Hastings. We parked in the medieval centre on cobbled streets besides half-timbered houses with the towering Norman-Gothic Cathedral looming in front of us. Our first objective was to visit the tapestry itself and we were both thrilled to see it for the first time. An embroidery of wool yarn on woven linen the tapestry, made in the 11th century, is 70 metres long and 50 centimetres high and recounts the tale of the conquest of England on 14 October 1066, led by William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy - an exceptional document about life in Europe in the Middle Ages. It is thought to have been made in Canterbury, around 1070 but there is still some debate about this. The tapestry appears to give the Norman version of events- a pro-Norman propaganda to justify the invasion of England. Whatever the history and it's source standing before it was a highlight of our trip. We toured the cathedral afterwards, a gem of the Norman architecture that was consecrated in 1077 by Bishop Odo, the brother of William and depicted on the Tapestry, who it is believed commissioned it and probably intended it to be hung in the cathedral nave. Following a serious fire in the 12th century it was  rebuilt in the Gothic style the next century and thankfully was untouched during the bombing in WW2. Before leaving Bayeux we spent an hour in the Musee d'Art et d'Histoire Baron Gerard nearby, presenting through ancient archaeological treasures recovered in the area and over 600 works of art from the past 500 years a detailed history of Bayeux. 

 Musee d'Art et d'Histoire Baron Gerard

 

 

A few miles away on the coast near the small village of St-Laurent-sur-Mer and at Pointe du Hoc we found the Memorial Museum at Omaha Beach where on D-Day American troops of the 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions were brutally cut down as they swarmed ashore, leaving the beach strewn with the wounded, the dead and broken equipment. It was here on the cliff-like slope that overlooked the beach they began to negotiate the barbed wire and by midday breach the German defences. At the same time, a little further to the west, the 2nd Ranger Battalion was charged with climbing the 30-metre cliff at Ponte du Hoc, assaulting the German battery and destroying it's guns. The site here still bears traces of the German artillery battery as well as deep scars from the fierce fighting which cost the lives of 135 Rangers. We left the coast and the brilliant sunshine with thankful hearts to those brave men one last time before returning to Caen and prepared for our next step of this trip - a ferry crossing back to England.   gws



Omaha Beach

 

They climbed aboard with anxious heart
The madly sea-tossed landing-craft,
The sea-fog on that sad morn
All but shrouded the pale dawn,
As if heav'n itself dared not see
The hounds of hell that day set free.

They disembarked under hail of shot
Spewing up all - what knew not what-
Facing those cliffs, with gunfire ablaze.
Waves bore broken bodies along
The length of that encrimsoned sand,
Where death was given so free a hand.

The foam is red.
Allis now still, save for the breeze
That carries back across the seas
The souls of America's sons,
While the sun, now and then, warms
Those twenty-year olds who sleep today
Facing the sea in Normandy.

Wandering In England & France Part 16 ( Arromanches & Longues-sur-Mer)

From Juno Beach we drove through some pretty French countryside, taking a few side roads that led to dirt trails used by the local farmers where we discovered some out of the way places with wonderful sea views.and bright yellow field of canola. We reached Arromanche where the British forces landed (Gold Beach). We could see close up remnants of the artificial port  built after the sections were towed over from England to ease and speed up the unload process so Allied troops could be supplied after breaking out from Normandy.

Arromanches

Between Gold Beach and Omaha Beach we came across the well preserved German gun battery at Lomgues-sur-Mer, a group of four reinforced concrete pill boxes each housing a long range field artillery piece of 150mm. This battery was subjected to intense bombardment by air and sea and you can see the damage the Allies inflicted, the chunks of concrete blown away and crater holes all about these massive guns. Three of the four guns were disabled by the British cruisers Ajax and Argonaut and the Germans surrendered  to the British the next day. It had turned out to be quite the day and we returned to Caen shortly after, planning to visit Bayeux the next day.   gws

Wandering In England & France Part 15 (Courseulles-sur-Mer)

Our little Renault Cleo, Beny-sur-Mer Cemetery

On our way to the Juno Beach Centre to see where the Canadians landed on D-Day we passed by the Beny-sur-Mer Canadian Cemetery in the village of Reviers,18 kilometres east of Bayeux. It was on this coast just to the north, and visible from this cemetery that the 3rd Canadian Division landed on June 6th, 1944. The 335 soldiers of the division killed that day are buried here with 1694 other Canadian soldiers and 15 airmen who fell in the advance inland when the Division engaged a German battle group formed from the 716th Division and the 21st Panzer Division. It is a beautiful, utterly peaceful and immaculate place that has been maintained with loving care by the local people. It was hard not to feel moved to tears as we slowly walked about reading gravestones and letters left behind by previous visitors. I will never forget this place and hope one day our grandchildren will have the opportunity to visit it as well and, more importantly, time will not have diminished the importance of the sacrifice of these soldiers.

 

They shall grow not old
As we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them
Nor the years condemn;
At the going down of the sun
And in the morning
We will remember them
- Lawrence Banyon

 

La Guerre! war declared!

The Royal Canadian Engineers opening a road to the Orne River bridges, Caen, August 4, 1944

Juno Beach

Juno Beach stretches for 8 km between St. Aubin to the east and Graye-sur-Mer to the west, just two more tiny spots on any French Michelin map. The D-Day mission of the 3rd Infantry Division under General Keller was to fight it's way ashore, break through the German coastal defences, and establish a bridgehead as far as Carpiquet airport on the outskirts of Caen, 18 km to the south. The poor weather caused the landings to be a few minutes late so the rising tide covered obstacles and mines that ripped open the landing craft, resulting in casualties on the way in. The Canadians charged ashore under heavy fire, often without tank support which was held up by the rough seas, The strong German defences were frequently untouched by the air and naval bombardment, leading to heavy Canadian losses in the first waves. The Memorial at Juno Beach allows you actually feel what these men went through and reminds of how much we are indebted to them.



Personnel of the 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade landing on D-Day in Bernieres-sur-Mer

We had lunch in Courseulles, sitting outside in a small patisserie beside the yacht basin enjoying the sun, then got back into the car and drove west along the coast, trying to get lost on the back roads. Which we did...gws