Here we go again.
Besancon to Cherbourg is roughly 500 miles, near enough in a straight line north east and you want decent roads to ride and WW2 things to see, other than Normandy and some of the U-boat pens on the Atlantic coast. You have though brought in Oradour, the perennial favourite.
You have two problems:
(1) You have neglected to tell us how many days / weeks you have set aside to cover the 500 (or more) miles. You've also forgotten to tell us whether you are a balls-out biker or back lane bimbler. Don't worry these are frequent secrets, the answer to which sometimes takes some prising.
(2) Whilst it was a global war, it did not directly envelop the whole of France. So, as you you've decided to start from Besancon, you'll have to mix'n'match - and definitely do some riding - to maybe bring in some of the less visited sites if you want to see anything war related at all. For example: You could - but like most things it really does depend on time available and what you
really want to do - pass through the Vosges and see the French WW1 sites and the towns and villages destroyed by the Americans (and Germans) as they engaged together, the Americans having landed from the Mediterranean in WW2. You could also detour a decent schlep in the wrong direction to see the site of the bloody slaughter of French Resistance fighters in June 1944 in the Vercors, hundreds of miles away from Normandy and Oradour. So, why not go to see something different to the 'safe' choice of Oradour? You might also ride some better roads, too. See below for basic details.
Now let's start:
You somehow got to Besancon; can you plot your return route by the same method?
How long have you got?
Balls-out or bimbler biker?
Do you have any decent maps?
Have you looked at any of the routes in other threads? The NW Channel ports are a popular landing point and Besancon a reasonably popular destination. Maybe you can reverse some?
* The popular biker town of Pforzheim was all but totally destroyed by Allied bombers and artillery shelling in the last days of the war. Hard to imagine now and all but unknown by the thousands of tourists (on motorbikes or not) who flock through the Vosges and Black Forest each year. It really was total war, devastating everything and everyone it touched. The small town of Turkheim has a nice amateur museum, devoted to the American and French forces' bloody battles in the area of the so called 'Colmar pocket', often in the dreadful freezing weather of winter 44-45, overshadowed of course by the Battle of the Bulge / Ardennes offensive launched by the Germans, a couple of hundred or more miles away, so it's often ignored. Dreadful none the less.
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id...es town destroyed by american bombing&f=false
http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php/312818-WW1-Le-Ligne-French-Vosges
http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/9223641/the-cruel-victory-by-paddy-ashdown-review/
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attrac...che_de_Colmar-Turckheim_Haut_Rhin_Alsace.html
Thanks for your suggestions.
