We kind of figured that we'd already given the darling of our group Vivster an early birthday present by letting her wipe us out at UNO the night before but anyhow decided to also include a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday (..well at least the first few words) as we prepared to depart on the last of our prelim rides in Normandy to Omaha Beach
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| Happy Birthday Viv ! |
The weather was surprisingly sunny this morning but still cool and breezy as we made our way to Grand Maisy a sort of seaside town with not much going for it other than a nice main street complete with cafe and boulangerie and a beach covered by sea weed.
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| Coffee + Sun ! |
Back on the bike we soon reached the first of our days planned destinations at Pointe du Hoc an area still dotted with bomb craters and German fortifications as a memorial to the action of the US Rangers, an elite group of US troops, who scaled these cliffs on D Day to put out of action guns that could have endangered the D Day flotilla.
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| The moving Pointe du Hoc ! |
After lunching we cycled to nearby Omaha beach where soldiers waded through the shallow waters under immense fire to try and safely reach and secure a beach head against the Germans. At least
2, 000 were killed on D Day alone in this area.
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| What a motly lot (excluding Viv of course !) |
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| The expansive Omaha Beach ! |
A visual representation of the sacrifice was truly evident at the Normandy American Cemetry overlooking Omaha beach with its immaculately kept lawns and laser aligned headstones.
Over 9, 000 US soldiers are interred here. At 3p.m. a glockenspeil recording played a moving rendition of the star spangled banner as groups of American tourists stood solemnly with hands on their hearts.
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| The Omaha Memorial |
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| Laser guided precision ! |
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| Incredibly poignant ! |
After an emotional day out we cycled 25+ kms into a headwind back to Isigny sur Mer to finish our quota of coffee breaks for the day and allow a couple of us (me included) to pig out at the nearest patisserie !
Having finally arrived back at our lovely chateaux we booked (we thought) taxis to go out to Isigny to help Viv celebrate her birthday. Sadly after an hour of waiting we had to abandon our plans and settle instead for a throw down dinner (thanks to our master chef) of curried pumpkin with bread, tomato and yes breakfast cereal !!!
Only in France !
Only in France !
Tomorrow we get to do it all for real ! Happy birthday Dear Viv !
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| Chef Harro to the rescue ! |
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