We left the lovely village of Wanne the morning after L-B-L and drove the relatively short distance back to the aire at Hamoir for the next night. Then we continued on into northern France looking for a place to fill up our GPL/LPG gas for the stove and heating. We’d commented a couple of times that the indicator was still showing ‘four lights’ but we’d been using it for weeks, so when it failed in the morning – in the middle of making breakfast and tea! – we weren’t that surprised.
As we headed west we fruitlessly tried several places – some were ‘out of service’ at the time, others never had it at all. We finally found one that was being serviced right then but was supposed to be ok in half an hour. We decided to wait, and – miracle of miracles – the technician came up and knocked on our window when he was done. He even stuck around to make sure it worked for us and didn’t leave until we’d successfully filled and I gave him the thumbs up.
We stopped for the night at a beautiful aire at Bray-sur-Somme. It was just lovely and we were almost surrounded by the river, and the banks were home to many geese and ducks, most of which had little ones of various sizes.
It was very calm and quiet and ended up being one of my favourite aires yet – and we’ve been to some really nice ones on this trip.
On Wednesday morning we drove southwest to the coastal town of Ouistreham hoping to get into the aire there, but it seemed to be fully booked up. It actually wasn’t a problem as there was a very large paved parking area not far away and we just pulled in there instead.
Thursday ended up being – as I expected – one of the few ‘serious’ days for me. After breakfast we went first to Pegasus Bridge as it was so close. It was a very important site in WWII and a number one priority for the British.
There are several displays and monuments to commorate what happened there.
We had a cup of coffee at the cafe – not the best and very expensive – and sat outside in the beautiful sunshine for awhile.
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Our next stop was west along the coast a bit, and we walked along the promenade above part of Sword Beach – the easternmost of the five landing beaches…
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There’s a nice memorial partway along before the next village.
We found a nice restaurant and had an excellent lunch in the sun – I realized later it might have been good if I’d had a hat to shade my forehead and nose!
Our next stop was a bit further west as I really wanted to see Juno Beach – where the Canadians landed.
There are two main points of interest and both were worth the visit.
There was a very nice looking museum but I couldn’t go in – it was all I could do to walk around outside and look at some of the monuments and read the descriptions of what happened.
I did cry as I walked around, but as I was wearing my sunglasses I don’t think many people noticed, although my sniffling might have given me away.
I must say that everywhere we’ve been – Netherlands, Belgium, here in France – they haven’t forgotten what they went through in both of the horrible world wars. All of the memorials and cemeteries are immaculately kept and the appreciation of what was done to help them is ever present – LEST WE FORGET!!
Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it…read a book Donald Trump!!! Or at least get someone to show you a cartoon depiction of the realities of war.
We probably would have gone to all of the five beaches and paid our respects but were really looking forward to getting home.
Since it doesn’t get dark so early now – yah!! – we drove for a bit south to the town of Falaise (where William the Conqueror is from) and parked up right below the castle, along with several other campervans and a couple of big trucks.
We made it all the way back to the house the next day – as it was May Day there wasn’t quite so much traffic on the roads so we made pretty good time.
After over nine weeks on the road it was great to get home. Comfy as the campervan is it’s quite nice to have a shower whenever you want and be able to do laundry – as long as the washing machine co-operates.
The places we’ve been, the experiences we’ve had and the races we saw were all wonderful – an excellent trip!
Sally McKenzie's European Adventures 