Monday
No route plan for today, the aim was to have a gentle start and then go see some more sites and have an explore before the ferry. First up was breakfast and the local boulangerie was open today.
There’s a law in France that if it’s still warm when you by it you must eat it immediately. It was only a 10 minute walk but the coolant didn’t stand a chance.
Fortunately my old man taught me well and so when in a boulangerie always buy and extra item.
Anyway after a gentle morning and packing everything up in the sun it was time to move on. First stop was the commonwealth memorial, possibly a highlight the statues were incredibly poignant and the wildflowers made a beautiful scene.
Mulberry harbour in the background definitely added to the atmosphere
From there it was on to Juno beach and the memorial there
And then working my way through seaside towns to Pégasus bridge. The original is in the museum now but you can see it from the access road and they put a replica in its place for traffic to use.
I reckoned I had enough time to make it to Honfleur so I chucked that in Google Maps with avoid motorways and headed off east. The roads were better than expected despite a lot of towns with 30km/50km limits and I made it for 1pm. For the first time I was somewhere busy! There was traffic in town and SO MANY people! Quite the change to the last few days where only the American Cemetery had been busy.
Anyways it’s a pretty harbour but I was short of time so I grabbed a quick bite to eat and then jumped on the bike to head back, a group of UK plated Harley’s had blocked me in which was annoying but I wiggled by and rode down the pavement a touch to get back to the road.
I wanted to pick up some wine before the ferry so it was a fast blast down the toll road back to Caen harbour, they’ve removed the toll gates on the A13 so you have to remember to pay online within 72 hours if you don’t have a tag. Anyway €2.80 got me back in good time and I was able to fit 4 bottles into the tops on my panniers.
Joining the ferry and it was clearly a popular one. 20 odd bikes this time including a group that was 50/50 Ducati’s with racing clutches and adventure bikes - quite the mix!
The crossing wasn’t as smooth heading back but not bad at all and it meant the restaurant was quieter so I got a view with my fish and chips.
Docking in Portsmouth took almost an hour which was frustrating and the weather for the ride back was forecast as rain the whole way. Fortunately it wasn’t as wet as I’d expected and at least the roads are quite late at night so it wasn’t a smooth ride home, even if I did arrive just before midnight.
All in all a fantastic weekend escape, now I just need to plan my August one!
