A week in Normandy
Posted: Mon May 18, 2026 6:34 pm
My mates & me try to get away for a week every Spring & this years destination was Normandy,so last Sunday I met them for the Portsmouth - Caen Ferry.I set off the day before as I wanted to see one of my sisters & her family down in Sussex.I detest that journey from Lancashire to Sussex so as I had all day to get there & it was a glorious Spring day I took the long but scenic route down the A49 to just north of Hereford then across Gloucester,Swindon,down to Salisbury,Winchester.I was doing alright until I got to Winchester,as a retired trucker I know most of the countrys trunk roads but the back roads are a bit of a unknown.I was trying to go across the downs but I had brought along my Garmin Sat Nav.I just wanted to use it to give me a map so that I could work out how to get to my destination but the Sat Nav kept trying to reroute me onto the M3 so instead of going across the Downs I ended up going via Guildford.I ended up getting to my sisters on time,but a 280 mile journey covered 370 miles!
On the Sunday we had a walk down to the 7 Sisters,& a pub meal.My BIL doesn't ride bikes but he told me to take the A272 to Petersfield,he's a lot more useful than the Shat Nav,I enjoyed that road
I left at 7PM,arriving at Portsmouth & meeting my mates at 9PM
We had booked some accom at Tracey sur Mer near Arromanche but weren't allowed to check in until 4PM so we did some D Day stuff on the way there.
First stop Pegasus Bridge,we were there at 7AM so had plenty of time to kill..
We had a good week doing the D Day / Battle of Normandy stuff all the way up to St Mere Eglise.We took in the US,German & British cemetries plus the recent British memorial.One day my mates went to the Falaise rout location,but at this point I wanted a day off from wwii so went for a big walk instead.Here's some photo's from the British memorial area
This is Arromanche
We were booked on the 08.30 Saturday sailing & got out of Portsmouth for 2PM.
We took the direct route home & being a Saturday it wasn't to bad but it started raining just north of Birmingham & got steadily worse through Cheshire & into Lancashire,it was really bad around Thelwall,the sky was black & visibility was poor due to the amount of spray swirling around.It's years since I rode a bike in those conditions,hopefully I won't be doing so again!
Next year we're planning on another visit to Scotland
On the Sunday we had a walk down to the 7 Sisters,& a pub meal.My BIL doesn't ride bikes but he told me to take the A272 to Petersfield,he's a lot more useful than the Shat Nav,I enjoyed that road
I left at 7PM,arriving at Portsmouth & meeting my mates at 9PM
We had booked some accom at Tracey sur Mer near Arromanche but weren't allowed to check in until 4PM so we did some D Day stuff on the way there.
First stop Pegasus Bridge,we were there at 7AM so had plenty of time to kill..
We had a good week doing the D Day / Battle of Normandy stuff all the way up to St Mere Eglise.We took in the US,German & British cemetries plus the recent British memorial.One day my mates went to the Falaise rout location,but at this point I wanted a day off from wwii so went for a big walk instead.Here's some photo's from the British memorial area
This is Arromanche
We were booked on the 08.30 Saturday sailing & got out of Portsmouth for 2PM.
We took the direct route home & being a Saturday it wasn't to bad but it started raining just north of Birmingham & got steadily worse through Cheshire & into Lancashire,it was really bad around Thelwall,the sky was black & visibility was poor due to the amount of spray swirling around.It's years since I rode a bike in those conditions,hopefully I won't be doing so again!
Next year we're planning on another visit to Scotland
