Riding in Normandy

We arrived too late in Cherbourg to find a campsite, so we stayed at a very nice hostel instead. The next morning, we began our ride along the beaches of Normandy towards Pontivy where we were to visit my family.

We found a very pleasant scenic highway along the water for the first part of our day, which made for great riding.





The highway took us through small, pretty towns, many of them on the water.

We had hopes to make it to Juno Beach, where Canadian troops landed during D-Day, but it was simply too far. We made it to Utah Beach, one of two beaches where American troops landed. I was a bit surprised by the monuments there - quite understated in comparison to the Menin Gate we had just seen.




Nonetheless, there are small memorials scattered all over the region, and it was very common to come across US, British, and Canadian flags.

From Utah beach, we cut across the Normandy peninsula, aiming to get to the other coast to camp. Although the scenery wasn't as impressive as the coast, the weather cleared up and we shot across with a decent wind at our backs. We made it to the other coast with time to spare and enjoyed the sunset on the beach.