Travel

Travel Travels through Northern France

Step Six : Normandy

by Russell Adams

The plan; cycle east to Deauville from where we were based outside Houlgate, taking in the various coastal resorts along the way. Someone, however, had decided to relocate an alp and placed it directly in our path. We started battling our way up the mountain like true Tour de France competitors. At around 2000m, Sher dropped out with altitude sickness, at least that’s what I assumed as she was bent double by her bike threatening to throw up. Like Edmund Hillary I was determined to find the summit and carried on despite the pain, every bend another disappointment as another horizon appeared. After hours of this torture (at least 10 minutes anyway) I decided to return to Sher before the snows and frostbite set in. The long and the short of it being we gave up and rolled down in to Houlgate and had another seafood lunch with wine, then cycled west where the land is like a billiard table.

Houlgate and Cabourg are both Belle Epoque towns with great beaches and lots of people. The rich of Paris built huge seaside mansions here, any of which would make the Addams family or the Munsters feel right at home. It is amazing to think that these and other resorts on the English Channel attracted the elite French and British tourists when St Tropez was an inaccessible, fly ridden, fishing village. Two themes dominate this area of Normandy, 1066 and 1944. You see restaurants and bars called Le Hastings or Guilliame le Conquérant. So, we trotted off to Bayeux to see a long tea towel. The tapestry is a masterpiece of early propaganda, nearly half of the length is spent justifying the invasion. The legend (untrue obviously) is that Mathilde, (wife of William the Bastard as he was known to his friends) and her ladies in waiting made the tapestry, I like to imagine the conversation: Willy: Aye up pet, me and the lads have only gone and conquered England. Matty: That’s champion petal, me and the girls will sew you a nice wall hanging to celebrate.

Still, it’s in fine fettle for getting on for 1000 years old. Memorials and museums to the D-Day landings are everywhere, each village has banners hanging from lamps posts, highlighting individual heroes. We concentrated on the British and Commonwealth landings and still couldn’t cover everything. Fantastic memorials at the Pegasus Bridge, Merville Batterie and Bayeux Battle of Normandy Museum stood out. The French certainly do memorials and graveyards well, the only slightly worrying aspect is the gift shops, (a given at every museum) where they sell toy soldiers and D-Day monopoly !!

When we did venture east (by car) we found more Belle Epoque resorts that had been modernised to a greater or lesser extent. I have to say the French seem to do this better than us; no large fairground - maybe a tasteful carrousel, no amusement arcades - maybe a casino or racecourse, the new buildings designed to blend with the old and just generally neater and better kept. Camper vans are very big in France. This is the one area that may concern the average Brit. As they get so many, popular towns create parks for them on the outskirts. Here you find masses of vans parked up giving the impression of a posh shanty town. Brits would be excused for calling the police, checking the lead on their roofs and waiting for a dodgy character to offer them “ a grand new drive” with some left over tarmac.

At the end of these towns is the exception, Honfleur. Here you feel you are in Amsterdam or Copenhagen as the town is still a working fishing port and the touristy area is based around the old dock. Its original warehouses all now converted to restaurants and bars. The rest of the town has also been beautifully maintained.

So then it was back home, after a lovely restful month in France, just the odd issue: • A 3-hour delay after the government recommended covid test was rejected at Eurotunnel and we had to go to a local town for a new test in a French chemist. • A further 1½ hour delay due to “an issue in the tunnel”. • Persistent rain all the way home once reaching England. • No fuel on the motorways south of the midlands. • The M6 was shut.

It’s great to be home.

More Travels In France To Come Soon ...

TAKE A BREAK - SOLUTIONS - PAGES 12 - 13

Easy Crossword:

C A N V A S # L I T T L E # I # I # # S # # R # A # T R U C K # U N K E M P T # B # T # # P # # A # T # B A R O N # E A R S H O T # G # R # # R # # U # P # # # K I L O M E T R E # # # # A # # A # # E # C # T R A C T O R # S T O O L # # R # # K # # R # G # R E V O L V E # R O U N D # # S # # T # # V # A # C L O S E D # P R E A C H

Toughie Crossword ("Architecture")

P E N T H O U S E # T U D O R O # O # E # K # P # R # U # O R U N # C A R B O R U N D U M C # U # T # A # C # C # # # A H O N D O # I C H N E U M O N # # I # R # N # A # # # U # A P R O F I L E # L A B E L E R A # N # N # # # # # L # T # C L Y I N G L Y # M O O R I S H L # S # # # A # E # C # E # # A C T R E S S E S # K A T Y N D # # # M # H # S # A # H # E I N T O C A M P I N G # N OW A # I # E # A # N # E # I # E N I C H E # C L A S S I C A L

Sudoku:

3 1 5 6 7 8 4 9 2 8 6 9 1 4 2 7 3 5 4 2 7 5 9 3 1 6 8 2 5 3 7 6 4 9 8 1 6 8 4 9 3 1 5 2 7 9 7 1 8 2 5 3 4 6 1 9 2 3 8 7 6 5 4 7 3 8 4 5 6 2 1 9 5 4 6 2 1 9 8 7 3

CONNECT FOUR :

Q1. Types of eagle Q2. Famous people called Anthony Q3. Top four most populous towns/cities in Suffolk Q4. King Williams of England / United Kingdom