Ideal as an introduction to touring in France, within easy reach via the Portsmouth > Caen ferry returning via Roscoff > Plymouth. In reality it's a 6 day trip though this includes one day spent getting to and from the ports in the UK.
An added bonus if you are into WW2 history as there are numerous sites to visit along the way:
- Pegasus Bridge - Captured and held intact by a Company of the British Airborne Battalion, who landed nearby in gliders, in the opening hours of D-Day. A vital and decisive victory as it limited the German from counter attacking the landing sites from the East. There's a museum and the famous Café Gondrée on the west side of the bridge, allegedly the first house liberated on D-Day.
- Sword Beach - British landing beach
- Juno Beach - Canadian landing beach
- British Normandy Memorial
- Arromanches-les-Bains - Site of the Mulberry Harbour, temporary portable concrete harbours floated over from England. Still visible to this day giving a somewhat awe inspiring impression of the scale and ingenuity involved in the D-Day landings
- Batterie de Longues-sur-Mer - German gun battery with guns still in place in some of the casemates.
- American Cemetery, Colleville-sur-Mer - Incredible sight, the main American graveyard.
- La Pointe Du Hoc - Heavily defended and hard won by the US Rangers. The shattered remains of the defences still remain.
- Easy Company Memorial - The company from the 101st Airborne Division made famous by the HBO series Band of Brothers. Close to Brecourt Manor where they took out a German gun battery that was shelling the beaches.
- Dick Winters Monument - A monument for the popular and likable leader of Easy Company
- Utah Beach - One of the American landing beaches
- Sainte-Mère-Église - Location of the first town liberated on D-Day where paratroops of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions were dropped directly onto the town in which a garrison of German troops were billeted. The paratrooper John Steele is immortalised as a dummy hanging by his parachute from the church spire, as well as having a restaurant named after him. John survived the ordeal by playing dead, this event is portrayed in the film The Longest Day.
- Lorient Submarine Pens - Away from the Normandy landings but a WW2 location of note all the same. Built and serving as a base for part of the German U-Boat fleet.
If you want a really deep dive into the Normandy Landings whilst you're there I'd recommend buying and reading Major and Mrs.Holt's Battlefield Guide to Normandy Landing Beaches.
Other sites of interest along the way are as follows:
- Mont St Michel - The famous Abbey and town on a tidal island. This requires some time to access, or even get appreciably close to. At least an additional half a day is required if you're interested. You can still view it from afar though.
- Saint-Malo - Walled ancient city with a port founded in the 1st Century BC
- Carnac Stones - More than 3,000 prehistoric standing stones, hewn from local granite and erected by the pre-Celtic people of Brittany. Impressive in scale and very interesting. Dating from around 3300BC, though some are believed to be as early as 4500BC.
- Josselin - A historical French town built around an impressive Castle. If you follow the route as created you will be staying here for a night. Well worth wandering around the town before dinner.
- Roscoff - Worth walking into the town for a drink and to find a suitable restaurant for a last night meal.
Photographs from our 2022 trip